Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Term Paper # 110611

English > Analysis
Literature > American
Women Studies > Historical Figures

An analysis of the author Charlotte Perkins Gilman as a turn of the century feminist.

1,377 words () | 14 sources | MLA | 2002 United States

Paper Summary:

This paper presents a biographical account of Charlotte Perkins Gilman's life and looks at how she was a leader in the nascent feminist movement of her time. The paper then analyzes several of Gilmans' works and looks at how they express her feminist ideals. The paper asserts that Gilman was a leader in feminism because of her efforts to help women recognize their inner strength through education and because of how she expressed her ideas about feminism in her poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and lectures.

From the Paper:

"The personal details of Gilman's life are reported in "The Glass Ceiling Biographies." She was born July 3, 1860, in Hartford, Connecticut. Frederick Beecher Perkins, her father, was a librarian and magazine editor. Her mother was Mary Fitch Perkins. Her father abandoned then divorced his family when Gilman was young. She did not have a relationship with him; he only sent occasional letters and books to read. Her mother took her two children to Providence, Rhode Island, where her family resided and withheld love from both to harden them to life's misfortunes. Gilman's schooling was largely self-induced by reading mostly history and evolution, and she briefly attended Rhode Island School of Design. Although Gilman's young life was painful, it gave her exposure to her great aunts, the Beechers, who were independent activists and writers. "

Sample of Sources Used:

"Addams, Jane." Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language. 1996.
"Biblio and Links on Charlotte Perkins Gilman." 11 April 2002 <http://hubcap.clemson.edu/~sparks/gilmbib.html>.
Baym, Nina, ed. "Charlotte Perkins Gilman." The Norton Anthology: American Literature. Shorter 5th ed. New York: Norton, 1999. 1656-1657.
"Connecticut Writers." 1999. University of Connecticut Libraries. 7 Jan. 1999. 11 April 2002 <http://www.lib.uconn.edu/CTWriters/gilman.html>.
DeSimone, Deborah M. "Charlotte Perkins Gilman and the Feminization of Education." WILLA. 1995. Updated 11 April 2002. 11 April 2002 <http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ ejournals/WILLA/fall95/DeSimone.html>.