Pockets of Resistance: Some Notes Towards an Exploration of Gender and Genre Boundaries in Herland

Abstract

Charlotte Perkins Gilman challenged, explored, and circumnavigated boundaries. Her writing continually interrogates the restrictive boundaries of patriarchal institutions and of enclosed spaces. Gilman debated the limitations of personal freedom and questioned the ways in which women function outside or beyond them. She considered the possibilities offered by pockets, which she saw as gendered spaces and an example of the boundaries or constraints that women had to deal with. Gilman's interest in pockets articulates her challenge to the boundaries of dress codes. This chapter explores Gilman's metaphors by offering a close reading of her 1915 novel Herland and shows how she redefined and regendered domestic, ideological, and textual spaces. It also looks at The Yellow Wallpaper and shows that is not the only text by Gilman to manifest modernist elements. Moreover, the chapter analyses the way Gilman exploited the literal and metaphorical resources offered by pockets. Finally, it argues that Herland as fictional space can be interpreted as a lesbian ‘pocket’ of woman-identified women.