Reshaping the Balance: How Gilman Critiques and Constructs a Feminist Utopia in Herland

Abstract

Based on the perspective of utopian fiction, this article examines Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s Herland from three critical angles: social systems, gender consciousness, and ecological environment. In terms of social institutions, this article contends that Gilman uses Herland to criticise social Darwinism; in terms of gender consciousness, the article contends that Gilman designs the ideal characteristics of an independent woman by describing the duality of her characters; finally, in terms of the ecological environment, Gilman consciously connects women to Mother Earth, thus completing a critique of the industrial model of patriarchal reality and the problem of environmental protection. However, Herland also has some limitations. In some ways, the characterisation of women of purely Aryan descent reflects Gilman’s ethnocentric tendencies. Gilman combines eugenics and feminism, and her sense of racial superiority arises from the interplay of the specific historical circumstances of the time. In any case, as a female utopian novel, its critique of the social reality of the time is profound, and its exploration of an ideal society is positive.