Feminist Works

In Women in Fiction, we just finished reading two really great books that correlate with a lot of the topics we have been discussing in this course.

The first novel is titled The Handmaid's Tale. It is set in the future after the American government has been taken down by another group that is forming. Violence toward women increased so much that a group of religious people decide to create a Theocratic Nation in the United States. Women are forced to quit their jobs, hand over their bank accounts to their husbands, fathers or brothers and belong in the private sphere again as mother, wife, sister. After awhile, women are assigned specific roles such as birthing babies for men who hold power, cooking and cleaning and so on. The entire story is written in diary form from one of the women who is paired with a married man to produce children for him. While the society is supposed to be protecting women, removing the male gaze, etc, it ends up quite differently. The main character actually longs for many aspects of the male gaze throughout the novel. It was a very interesting read while considering all we learned/are learning in this course, as well.

The second novel is titled Oranges are not the Only Fruit. This one deals more closely with some of the recent articles we have read. It focuses on an adopted, Black child forced to grow up in a very religious home. In her teen years she begins to start dating other girls, is given an exorcism by her church, and thrown out by her mother. It is written in diary form, as well.

These novels really apply a lot of the concepts we have discussed in the course but in a literary format.