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Literary Devices
Definition of Allegory
An allegory is a work that conveys a hidden meaning—usually moral, spiritual, or political—through the use of symbolic characters and events. The story of "The Tortoise and The Hare" is... read full definition
An allegory is a work that conveys a hidden meaning—usually moral, spiritual, or political—through the use of symbolic characters and events. The story of "The... read full definition
An allegory is a work that conveys a hidden meaning—usually moral, spiritual, or political—through the use of symbolic characters and... read full definition
Chapter 1: A Not Unnatural Enterprise
Explanation and Analysis—Eden:
The country of Herland serves in the novel as an imperfect allegory for the Garden of Eden. Gilman starts to hint at this allegory in Chapter 1, when Van describes the aerial view of the place:
[W]e could not help seeing this much, even on that excited day—a land in a state of perfect cultivation, where even the forests looked as if they were cared for; a land that looked like an enormous park, only it was even more evidently an enormous garden.
The "perfect cultivation" of Herland is reminiscent of Eden before Adam and Eve's expulsion. The blending of forest, garden, and park into a landscape that supports exploration, survival, and play echoes the way Eden meets all of Adam and Eve's needs. As the men enter Herland and learn more about it, it indeed turns out to be a paradise. The men worry that they are the devil, invading the paradise and introducing the temptations of vice to totally innocent inhabitants. In the Bible, a serpent convinces Eve to disobey God and eat fruit from the Tree of Knowledge. Eve then shares the fruit with Adam, and God expels them from the garden as punishment. Humanity's goal, from then on, is to do all they can to earn admission to the garden again. Herland seems so perfect that the men think they are going to corrupt it.
As it turns out, the women are not as naive as the men think. Their paradise has not been given to them by a benevolent God who has stipulated how they can and can't use it. They know that bad things exist in the world, and they have worked hard to construct a "perfect" society for themselves. The men try to downplay knowledge of the world's evils, as if they are keeping the women from eating from the Tree of Knowledge just yet. Eventually, they find out that the women have seen through their ruse from the beginning and have been planning for limited contact with the outside world that won't destroy the integrity of their country. These women are too savvy to "fall" from paradise. Instead, it is the men who are eventually "expelled" from Herland for Terry's sexual violence.
Related Themes:
