From “Herland” To “Ourland”:On Gilman’s Herland And With Her In Ourland From The Perspective Of Ecofeminism

Charlotte Perkins Gilman(1860—1935)is an important writer in the first wave of Women’s Liberation Movement.Her works include novels,poems,plays and social analyses.Gilman shows her concern on the fate of women in all her works.Without exception,Gilman expresses her special attention to women’s issues in Herland and With Her in Ourland.At present,domestic and foreign researchers focus on the novel Herland and a short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” while With Her in Ourland does not get enough attention it deserves.This paper discusses two novels —— Herland and With Her in Ourland from the perspective of ecofeminism,aiming to explore Gilman’s concern on women,environment and her humanistic concern.Chapter One mainly introduces Gilman,her works,previous studies on her works in both foreign country and China,the structure and the significance of the paper.The introduction to ecofeminism is also given in this chapter.The origin,development and major points of ecofeminism are briefly discussed.Chapter Two elaborates on Gilman’s ideas about emancipating women through analyzing women’s images in the two novels.In Chapter Three,Gilman’s views on environment are discussed.Gilman fictionalizes a garden-like city in Herland while she depicts the horrible situation of America in 19 th century in With Her in Ourland.Through the striking contrast,Gilman tries to prove that women’s ability of housekeeping can not be underestimated.Instead of being housekeepers,women should apply their abilities to the administration of the whole society.Chapter Four explores Gilman’s humanistic concern by illuminating her thoughts on education,religion and relationship between men and women.What Gilman expects is to improve women’s status and to ensure the healthy development of society.By reconstructing educational systems,reevaluating religious tradition and providing a concrete and advisable example of ideal relationship between men and women,Gilman anticipates a better world in which women’s social status can be improved greatly and human society is developed in a much well-organized way.Through analyzing the two novels,a conclusion is finally drawn: Gilman does notonly care about women’s issue,but also she appeals for constructing harmonious ecosystem and advocates social reforms.To some extent,Gilman can be defined as an ecofeminist.What Gilman expects is a better world for both men and women,taking the liberation of women as the starting point.