Herland

by

Charlotte Perkins Gilman

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Herland: Chapter 12: Expelled Summary & Analysis

Summary
Analysis
Van writes that even though all the men meant to return to America eventually, they don’t like the idea of being kicked out of Herland for a crime. Terry is furious and kept under guard in a private set of rooms. He argues that the women in Herland don’t know the first thing about sex, and Van observes that what Terry really means is that the women don’t understand his brand of masculinity. Van himself now views masculinity in a new light and Jeff has been “thoroughly Herlandized.” Moadine keeps watch over Terry while preparations for leaving Herland are made—Ellador and Van will go with Terry. Jeff, however, privately says he wouldn’t dream of bringing Celis to the dirty streets of America and tells Van he must tell Ellador what it’s really like. Van realizes there is something to this and decides to be more honest with Ellador about America.   
Van, Terry, and Jeff all resent the idea of having to leave Herland in disgrace, although it is really only Terry who is required to go. The sense of disgrace, however, is felt by all three men because they know that Terry’s actions will be interpreted as possibly indicating what masculinity and manhood are like in the rest of the world. Furthermore, Van is caught in the awkward position of having to make Ellador understand the bleak social conditions of American society after spending so much time trying to convince her of its virtues.
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Van tells Ellador she must prepare herself to be somewhat shocked by the appearance of American cities, which are not as clean as Herlandian ones. Ellador persists in believing that life in America must be much more exciting and fulfilling than life in Herland, saying that the Herlandians have done what they could with one sex, but that America must be far better because it is a bi-sexual culture. Even when Van tries to explain to her the existence of corruption, insanity, and disease, Ellador overlooks it. As for himself, Van notices that he now considers Herlandian life—with all its health, peace, and prosperity—normal and thinks of life elsewhere as abnormal. Above all, Ellador wants to see what marriage and women outside of Herland are like. Still, Van begins to dread what will happen once Ellador sees the rest of the world.
Van predicts that Ellador will experience intense culture shock and even bewilderment when she finally sees America, just as Van, Jeff, and Terry were astonished to discover the reality of Herlandian culture. However, Ellador will not be pleasantly surprised, but rather disillusioned. Van’s desire to make her understand this reveals his own latent hope that she will decide to stay so that he, too, has a reason to stay.
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As the time to leave draws near, Van recognizes more and more of the defects of American culture and society. Van realizes that he, Jeff, and Terry felt like they missed the larger part of life when they entered Herland and discovered that there really were no men. More importantly, they assumed the women felt the same way. What Van and Jeff have come to realize, however, is that a man’s world means little to Herlandians. When the three American men think of manhood and manliness, they picture men everywhere doing the world’s work and improving everything, whereas when they think of women, they simply think of the gender. For Herlandians, this is reversed: when they think of womanhood, they think of doing the world’s work; when they think of men, they simply think of the gender. Just telling the women that things are different elsewhere doesn’t alter the Herlandians’ beliefs about womanhood.
Not only do Jeff, Van, and Terry find themselves in a more traditionally feminine role in their marriages (having to allow their wives to take control in order to sustain the marriages at all), but they also feel as if they are perceived the same way women typically are in America. In other words, the men are now merely thought of in terms of their gender rather than as important members of society. This is a unique opportunity for each man to reconsider their long-held beliefs about women. Terry’s great mistake was in refusing to adjust his beliefs to reflect the reality that surrounds him in Herland.
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Quotes
One of the transformations that Jeff and Van (but not Terry) go through in Herland is that they begin to see women “not as females, but as people.” Because the Herlandians have no concept of Western “marital indulgence,” they struggle to understand why Terry attacked Alima the way he did. Because sex is inextricably bound with ideas of motherhood, Ellador struggles to understand why women would want to do it without intending to create a child and calls it unnatural. Even when Van tries to explain it as a way to show love between married couples, Ellador struggles to understand and asks him to continue being patient with her—to her, and others, the process of conception is holy and it must stay that way.
Van’s statement that he and Jeff see women “not as females, but as people” hearkens back to Somel’s words when she explained that Herlandian women like Van because he seems more like “people.” In Herland, Gilman uses the word “people” to eliminate sex-based terminology that she believes highlights perceived differences that are then used to justify the subjugation of women in American society. The gender-neutral term “people” establishes both men and women as equals who have more commonalities than differences.
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Celis reveals that she is pregnant. Ellador is momentarily jealous but tells Van that it’s better that she’s not pregnant and asks Van if they can wait to try for a baby until it’s safe and their travels are over. Although somewhat stung by this, Van says that he wants Ellador with him no matter what and will let her decide when they try to conceive. To the reader, Van admits that Ellador’s companionship is enough to live on. He struggles to explain what Ellador’s love means to him. Van admits that men in general say some great things about women but also think that they are “limited beings—most of them.” Van describes how men honor women for certain qualities but dishonor them by violating their virtues. As Van explains, women are valued only as long as they stay in their place—the home.  
Van says that women are “limited beings” (in this context, he means American women, not Herlandian ones) but does not quite point out that it is men who limit what kind of lives women can lead. In his own marriage, Van lets Ellador set the boundaries, thus giving her the power to limit what life he can lead, at least regarding sex. However, there is still equality—in return for letting Ellador control their sex life, Van gets to stay married to her, which is something that has become increasingly important to him. Their relationship began with friendship, which means there was always some tendency to equality and which helps make it easier to create an equality-based marriage. 
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Over time, Van begins to understand that Herlandian women are different than American women—they cannot be treated as inferiors because they are not shy or weak but must be treated as equals. Both Jeff and Van accept this after their marriages, but Terry does not. Consequently, Van and Jeff have happy, comfortable marriages while Terry’s falls apart.
The success of Jeff and Van’s marriages is due to their willingness to adapt to their wives’ expectations—the same way American wives are expected to adapt to their husbands’ expectations. Again, gender roles are reversed, but the changes in Van and Jeff highlight that gender roles are not actually defined by nature or biology—they can be adjusted or even eliminated, and doing this can lead to happiness.
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Shortly before their departure, Van tells Ellador that if she wants to stay then he will fly Terry down and then come back to her. However, she insists on leaving with him to see the world. During this time, Terry grows angrier and angrier at the women. Still madly in love with Alima, Terry yearns to see her, but discovers she has left that part of the country to avoid him. To Van, Terry complains of the way Alima fought back when he tried to “master” her, calling it an indecent move. Noting the irony in this, Terry smiles and says he just wants to get her alone again. However, she never comes to see him as the day for his departure approaches.
Although Terry has finally reached the point where he is willing to admit that Alima may have been somewhat justified (he shows this by recognizing the irony of saying it was wrong of her to fight while he was trying to rape her), he remains unrepentant. This highlights the fact that nothing about his experiences or life in Herland has truly transformed him. Presumably, when Terry returns to America he will slip right back into his former role of popular lady’s man.
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A council of the wisest women in the land present information they gathered from the men—not just what the men told them, but what they studiously avoided talking about during their captivity—to Ellador. They explain to her all the conclusions they have come to about the outside world, including the worst parts of it. After the council talks to Ellador, Jeff and Van are asked to come into the room. Somel and Zava are there and they ask if they are correct in thinking that despite the world’s progress, disease and violence run rampant. Jeff and Van confirm the truth of this. The tutors say that, given this confirmation, the men must swear not to tell anyone where Herland is until Ellador has returned—and then, the Herlandians will only agree to let in more outsiders if Ellador presents a positive report of the outside world. They agree and Terry, Ellador, and Van leave Herland together.
Having learned all they can from the men, the women of Herland come to the conclusion that their own small country is better off maintaining its isolation. By doing this, they prevent the same corrupting influences (war, disease, and—on another level—the toxic masculinity that Terry represents) from destroying all the work they’ve put into perfecting their own culture. Still, as is characteristic of Herlandians, they look forward to Ellador’s return because it is a chance to learn even more about the outside world—if only to use this information to guard themselves against it.
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