Herland

In Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, three male characters define masculinity and a man's perspective of the world, females, and himself. Two of the men, Terry O. Nicholson and Jeff Margrave, represent the two extremes of the male personality. They are polar opposites and their actions throughout the tale display such opposition. Terry epitomizes the proud, brutish, and sometimes selfish side of man who may have too much courage and too little belief. When it comes to an army of women and land full of nothing but females, Terry at first seems pleased. Terry's reaction to the idea of such a large amount of femininity and what he believed would be (as he put it later) womanliness, displays the males view of women as their to earn and keep due to a strong attraction they assume women will return. Terry soon becomes unimpressed and rude to these women however when he decides that none of them meet his standards, standards many men seem to have. From them on Terry refuses to cooperator accept anything that the women present him and his fellow explorers with, constantly searching for an escape or a method of defeating these women. Terry boasts of his manly strength and believes he can overcome any woman simply because she is a female.Gilman portrays this negative side of men which females tend to see through the decisions and comments Terry makes throughout the story.

Jeff Margrave is portrayed throughout Herland as the soft, understanding, and intelligent side of man. Jeff begins the journey with his colleagues as a follower. He has vast knowledge of ecological science and interests in a number of the natural elements the men find along the way. Jeff's issue is his quiet nature and submission to Terry at the start of the story. Jeff follows Terry's orders to try and fight off the women that Jeff believed were kind and innocent. Jeff does not let his own ideas and choices come through. This is somewhat peer pressure, and it is a characteristic of men that Gilman is trying to explain through Jeff. Later in the story however, Jeff begins to speak his mind as he realizes that Terry cannot do anything to him if he disagrees with him. When the men are teaching their Herland native tutors about the world outside of their home Jeff tells the tutors the harsh truth about male and female relationships with each other and with the world, even though Terry always tries to defend men. Jeff finally allows his true feelings to be known to those around him and blocks the "brutish" influence of Terry. Gilman presents an extreme contrast of the self-centered, thug-like man through Jeff and his gradual acceptance of himself and his ideas.