Abstract

Charlotte Perkins Gilman was a prominent American novelist and feminist, well-known for her works The Yellow Wallpaper and Herland, which have drawn considerable attention from scholars at home and abroad and aroused wide discussion since their publication. In most cases, the former was regarded as a classic of gender politics and the latter, a feminist utopia. Through the detailed analysis of the two works, it can be found that Gilman has interwoven the spirit of community into the two works, considering it as the right path to gaining women’s equality and freedom. In The Yellow Wallpaper, Gilman just implicitly puts forward women alliance as a potential way to liberate women; while in Herland, Gilman describes the harmony between people (women) and the surroundings, between people (women) and people (men), which demonstrates that Gilman is more resolute and more confident in community and cooperation. In the meanwhile, from the two works, it can be found that Gilman’s thought on community is changing and more and more progressive and that the forming of community is a more effective way to contribute to personal growth and development.

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