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Herland

 Charlotte Perkins Gilman
 

Key Facts

 
title ·  Herland
 
author · Charlotte Perkins Gilman
 
type of work · Novel
 
genre · Utopian fiction
 
language · English
 
time and place written · 1915, California
 
date of first publication · 1915
 
publisher ·  The Forerunner (Gilman's magazine)
 
narrator · Vandyck Jennings, one of the three men who discover Herland
 
point of view · First person
 
tone · Politically earnest, with elements of humor and satire
 
tense · Past
 
setting (time) · Early twentieth century
 
setting (place) · A hidden plateau, somewhere in the unexplored tropics, where an all-female society has been thriving in isolation
 
protagonist · Vandyck Jennings, a sociologist and amateur explorer
 
major conflict · The struggle of Van and his friends Jeff and Terry to come to terms with the society of Herland, which challenges their sense of identity and their understanding of relations between the sexes
 
rising action · From the entry of the three men into Herland through their education and their deepening relationships with Ellador, Celis, and Alima
 
climax · Terry's thwarted assault on Alima
 
falling action · The subsequent division of the group, and the departure of Terry, Van, and Ellador
 
themes · The subduing of women's humanity; the rationalism of Herland's society; the rejection of tradition; the sanctity of motherhood
 
motifs · Embarrassing contrasts; female physical prowess
 
symbols · The well-tended forests; Herlandian clothes
 
foreshadowing · Van drops several hints about Terry's final explosion and the ugly end of their stay in Herland throughout the story.
 
 
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