Dystopia – …on the B.L.

Read Yes
Length 147
Quick Review Written over a hundred years ago, this underappreciated utopian novel is a small powerful punch. It is still incredibly relevant in today’s society as a critique on gender and society.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman is best known for her short story “The Yellow Wallpaper.” She never shied away from the difficult subjects at a time when very few women even received an education.

Herland is the story of three young men, who have ventured on an exploratory expedition. Along their journey they find out about a country inhabited solely by women. They could not believe this to be true, so they took off to discover it for themselves.

The story is told in first person narrative by Vandyck Jennings observing the new country, the inhabitants, their ways and beliefs, and the reaction between the women and his counterparts. His travel companions are Terry Nicholson and Jeff Margrave. They are all very educated men embodying very different yet mainstream Western beliefs on the role women play in society and the home. Jeff believes women are purity anchoring society in goodness meant to be worshipped as delicate in body and mind. Terry believes women are objects to be possessed and controlled whose existence is solely for the pleasure and benefit of men, who are superior. Vandyck is in the middle choosing to look at Herland and the inhabitants through an educated lense but still preferring his homeland.

When the men arrive in Herland they can’t stop looking for the men believing women are incapable of surviving without men. They are taken as prisoners. The women learn all they can from the three men, who are the first men they’ve encountered in 2,000 years. Through their interaction the men learn and are shocked by the organized and intellectual abilities of the women.

Though it was written in 1915, it is still incredibly relevant in today’s society. In many ways society has not progressed much further from the three viewpoints embodied by the men. Women are still seen as delicate in need of protection, seductresses, or far too emotional to function in any capacity with a greater power and reach than mother and homemaker. Men, and even women, are still shocked and intimidated to find a successful, organized woman.

Gilman is able to tackle incredibly complex and difficult subjects in a mere hundred and twenty-two pages. She is able to tear down the traditional meaning of feminine and the meaning of motherhood. She shows women are equally capable, if not more, of organized and intellectual society. Gilman explores the meaning of society, gender, sex, and happiness.

Memorable Quotes
“They were inconveniently reasonable, those women.”
“These stalwart virgins had no men to fear and therefore no need of protection.”
“This led me very promptly to the conviction that those “feminine charms” we are so fond of are not feminine at all, but mere reflected masculinity – developed to please is because they had to please is, and in no way essential to the real fulfillment of their great process.”
“If, by any accident, you did harm any one of us, you would have to face a million mothers.”
“They aren’t human – they’re just a pack of Fe-Fe-Females!”
“There never was a woman yet that did not enjoy being MASTERED.”

Title: Herland
Author: Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Publisher: CreateSpace Publishing
Published: 1915
ISBN: 9781534848474

Read Yes
Length 311
Quick Review It’s a remarkable work of dystopian fiction, which has been talked about for decades. It’s a highly influential book in the world of contemporary fiction.

I have been hearing about The Handmaid’s Tale for a long time now. It’s been on my to read list for just as long. Amazon has created a TV show of the same name, and I wanted to read the novel before watching the show. So that was my shallow push to finally get around to reading it.

To be honest, it’s a book I read because it is so widely talked about, and not out of pure love for the genre. As a reader, I do not like Atwood’s style throughout. It’s odd and difficult to follow at times. Nor does it follow grammatical rules at all whatsoever. I majored in Literature in college, and have experience with textual analysis. From a scholarly standpoint, the style is incredibly compelling and fully supports the plot. More importantly the style gives credence to Offred, the protagonist, as well as help the reader understand where she starts and her evolution. The style changes throughout the story as Offred progresses taking steps to reclaim her previous self. I won’t say more, so I don’t ruin it for you. The style is intrinsic to the story. I do not think it would be such a compelling work of fiction if the style were more traditional.

It was a difficult book to read, at this point, for me. I live in a country which is experiences a lot of upheaval and frankly illegal/unconstitutional actions. These are the first steps towards societies depicted in dystopian fiction. For me it was difficult to read because there were points where the novel was not depicting a fictional world, but things I see happening right now today.

I was entirely uncomfortable reading The Handmaid’s Tale because of how women are treated. As a self-proclaimed feminist, I was uncomfortable and at times a bit queasy. Although, these are all intended by the author, I’m sure; no one writes dystopian fiction saying: yes this is the perfect world.

I had a hard time getting into the novel because of the style, but once I got used to it, I really enjoyed it. For me, the ending was both perfect yet entirely unsatisfying.

Read it. It’s fabulous and deserving of the hype surrounding it. It ranks high within my list of interesting dystopian novels.

Memorable Quotes
“It’s good to have small goals that can be easily attained.”
“They blamed it on the Islamic fanatics, at the time.”

Title: The Handmaid’s Tale
Author: Margaret Atwood
Publisher: Anchor Books
Copyright: 1986
ISBN: 9780385490818