Herland Motif: Female Agility and Physicality

In the beginning of Herland, the three explorers, Jeff, Terry, and Vandyck enter the island with a preconceived idea of male chauvinism present and the belief that they could easily coax the women into letting them explore and study their island and civilization.  However, when they get there, the group of men quickly find that their belief of male superiority in terms of physicality is completely false.  Their first encounter with the women of Herland brings them into a dangerous chase to talk to them involving climbing trees and jumping from one to another.  Vandyck narrates, "As we climbed we could catch glimpses of them scattering above us.  By the time we had reached about as far as three men together dared push, they had left the main trunk and moved outward, each one balanced on a long branch that dipped and swayed beneath the weight (12)."  This narration shows that the men, even when armed as a group, were afraid to venture up the tree as the women had done.  The men were surprised at the agility and quickness of the women, proving their previous conclusions false.


Once the men began to get to know and trust the women more, they are eager to learn the language of the women and to be able to communicate clearly with them.  Their teachers lead them into a gymnasium where the women exercise daily in an unconventional, yet effective way.  Vandyck says, "Terry was the strongest of us, though I was wiry and had good staying power, and Jeff was a great sprinter and hurdler, but I can tell you those old ladies gave us cards and spades.  They ran like deer, by which I mean that they ran not as if it was a performance, but as if it was the natural gait.  We remembered those fleeting girls of our first bright adventure, and concluded that it was (28)."  With these words, Vandyck admits that even amongst the presence of agile men, the women around them are far more superior in terms of athleticism and physicality.  He comments on how natural their actions seem, and this shows that when women are free and believe that they are strong as opposed to being put down and called weak like in a traditional society, they become more capable of achieving this high level of strength.