The Problem of Babies and Bathwater

Many utopias are closed environments that aim to preserve the benefits of a supposedly harmonious culture: neighbors who care; a meeting of the minds regarding philosophy and dress and upbringing; easy communication, which--as Sapiens points out--gets more difficult in communities larger than 100-150 people. 

The utopians don't want any of the attendant negatives.

Basically, utopias want small-towns, villages, without all the yucky stuff, such as lack of diversity and, oh, witch trials. 

Because, yes, witch trials are more likely to come about in closed, insular environments than in open, cosmopolitan ones. 

One of the irritating aspects of both "it's takes a village" leftism and "once upon a time, people were respectful and knew the difference between right and wrong!" right-Pollyanna-ism is the failure to allow that good thoughts by themselves do not produce well-working societies. There is a need for infrastructures. 

Diversity AND harmony don't come about by magic. They don't marvelously materialize because people who really, really want them run around saying so. In fact, diversity and harmony are naturally at odds, which is why dictatorships always revolve around removing choice.

As my Terry states, 

"True unlikeness bothers people. Pluralism pushes people’s buttons, which is why they always want something easier to manage. Diversity won’t stay put, different only to a point. Besides, no matter how many people are satisfied, any system will leave someone out. And that someone will complain."

Gilman, to her credit, attempted to create a fully diverse society with Herland. In fact, it is implied in several places that it is somewhat more diverse than even Gilman admits to her upper-class audience. 

The problem? As my Terry suggests, Herland wants the diversity to stay put, controlled, different only to a point. Not so diverse that the citizens will actually passionately disagree about, oh, abortion or vaccinations or individual rights or Motherhood or government or crime or punishment or religion...

Enough diversity to be admirable. Enough to show that the system works. But not enough to actually put anything or anyone at risk, to result in, say, witch trials or a turnover in leadership. Gilman, like many utopians, wants to split the good stuff from the bad without allowing for underlying principles--the very things that create the good stuff may lead to outcomes she doesn't want. 

So, for instance, Gilman presents education as exploration. For Anne of Green Gables lovers, Miss Muriel Stacy, the new teacher who inspires Anne to sit for her boards, is a great example of what Gilman argues for in Herland. Even Terry admits that allowing children to explore is better than having them learn by rout. And Alim confesses that although Terry's world attracts him, "his description of public and private schools, despite the sports, made my skin crawl." Gilman gives her young women comfortable clothes, a right to self-knowledge and individual person-hood. 

Yet Gilman fails to allow that such exploration and person-hood could lead a truly passionate young woman to question her society's boundaries, no matter how supposedly fulfilling.

My Moadine acknowledges Terry's point here:   

“Small desires lead to larger ones. A young woman who likes jewelry will eventually see such trinkets in entirely positive terms. Artistry. Beauty. Decoration. Genius. She will question why she should forbear having a child, someone with potentially the same interests and desires. She might even decide to keep that child close, raise it to her expectations, carry on her vision. Others like her might gather, perhaps form a guild. They might wish to bargain their creations for more materials. And if that justifiable request isn’t fulfilled, the young woman and her friends might question the workings of a society that diminishes them, keeps them from visions of excellence, honestly pursued.”

I [Terry] stared at Moadine, my hands hanging loose.

"Yeah, that,” I said, sounding like Alim. “Change, disagreement, varying opinions—they’re all inevitable. Only crazy people think a presidential election shouldn’t split a nation.”

Moadine knew about American politics by then. Not that she admired them—but who did?

I have Moadine go on to argue that culture--not force--keeps Herland's citizens from going too far: "The nail that sticks out gets hammered down." 

Moadine has a point. The problem? Powerful cultural expectations don't dovetail with the accepting, tolerant, and "roll with the punches" culture Gilman wants to create. Take into consideration, for instance, that many supposedly more "harmonious" countries than the U.S. have far stricter immigration laws. 

And Terry counters: "The squeaky wheel gets the grease." Eventually, always, inevitably, the culture changes. The noisiest, non-harmonious elements make themselves felt. 

(Thanks to Eugene for the comparison between the phrases!)

In fact, ironically enough, the search for a utopia can be part of a cultural upheaval. When that upheaval arrives, either top-down rules or in-place infrastructures prevent the whole thing going off the rails into anarchy. To avoid the use of the former (dictatorships quelling grassroots revolutions), the latter need to be in place already. Impossible to add them overnight.

Chapter 10

His in Herland or Astyanax in Hiding