Her renowned short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” (1892), for example, deals with the mental suffering of a woman within the confining and repressing institution of marriage. Gilman has processed her disagreement with the oppression of women within in patriarchal society in numerous poems and works of fiction. This thesis will examine how Gilman contrasts her imagined utopia with reality, and thereby creates a reversal of gender hierarchies. She herein thematizes the issue of gender inequality through an isolated and thriving all-female society and pictures the possibilities that would arise for women without the limitations of patriarchy. Charlotte Perkins Gilman is ranked among the most influential voices of the feminist reform movement of the Fin de Siècle, and is best known for her utopian novel Herland (1915). For feminist writers, the utopia enabled them to envision emancipation from patriarchal structures and challenge prevailing gender hierarchies (Kessler, Daring to Dream xviii). Not only did they reflect the country's prevalent dissatisfaction with deficient political, economic and social conditions, but they also provided a platform for writers to explore alternative structures beyond the limits of reality. Following the success of Edward Bellamy's Looking Backward 2000-1887 (1888), utopian novels gained in importance and popularity as a medium for discussing issues resulting from the radical changes occurring at the time. The reformist mindset that followed the rapid industrialization and urbanization of the US-economy during the turn of the 20th century led to a re-emergence of utopian literature (Bartkowski 7).
They were sisters, and as they grew, they grew together – not by comparison, but by united action. They had had no kings, and no priests, and no aristocracies.
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