Herland: Chapter 7: Our Growing Modesty Summary & Analysis

Jeff, Terry, and Van prepare to take their first tour of the country to teach the younger women about life outside of Herland. Terry bemoans the fact that there are no razors they can use to shave their beards. Jeff points out that the women in Herland don’t seem to grow any facial hair and Terry sneeringly points out that this is the only truly feminine thing about them. When the men leave the fortress, they go with their tutors. Although Jeff and Van are very close with their tutors, Terry struggles with Moadine. Van senses that Moadine sometimes laughs at rather than with Terry. Van also shares that he began losing respect for Terry during their time in Herland. Despite Terry’s popularity with both men and women in America, in Herland his intense masculinity seems to stand out as a fault rather than a virtue. 

One day when Terry, Van, and Jeff are introduced to a large group of women, Terry asks if they all only have one name. Moadine says that many women have more than one name and that these second names are typically descriptors (such as wise or great) that they earn. Terry asks if they have surnames passed down from mother to child. Moadine tells him that they see no need for family names because everyone is descended from the same source. Van asks why individual mothers don’t want to pass on their names to their children for identification purposes. Moadine and Somel explain that they keep careful records tracking lineage and each individual knows their genealogy back to the First Mother, but questions why the entire community would need to know which child belongs to which mother. To Van, this highlights another difference between “maternal and […] paternal attitude[s].”

Terry asks if there are enough names for each child to have her own and Moadine says that there are enough for each living generation. Van notes that this, as with every other Herlandian institution, highlights their “reasonableness.” In his research into the country’s records, Van is astonished by the obvious effort each generation makes to improve upon the practices of the previous generation. Van, knowing that if he asks about this conscious effort to improve then the tutors will ask him how things are done in America, decides not to comment on it because he won’t be able to show that America’s way is better. Even though Terry maintains his belief that Herlandian culture is inferior to America’s, Jeff and Van experience the growing sense that Herland has some distinct advantages.

Van, Jeff, and Terry quickly learn not to comment on certain Herlandian practices and characteristics because they know it will lead to questions about conditions in America that might be embarrassing to answer. Van says the food supply in Herland is a prime example of this. He explains that centuries ago, after the country was completely cultivated, the Herlandians estimated how many people could comfortably live off the food the land could supply and chose to limit their population to stay within that number. Furthermore, they developed the view that the country as a unit belongs to everyone equally and continue to think of the entire group as a community. Instead of limiting their sense of time to individual lives, they consider and plan for future generations. Accordingly, every plant serves a function: to produce an abundance of food for years to come. 

Because the women are so skilled at determining the truth about social conditions in America, Jeff, Van, and Terry tacitly conceal as many details as they can. Terry is angry about this and says that the women can’t understand a man’s world, but Jeff questions whether American life—with all its poverty, wars, and disease—is truly better than the peace and health  in Herland. Terry insists that Herland must have its faults, which calls to Van’s mind the speculations he and the other men made about what Herland would be like. He notes that they initially expected frivolity, submission, pettiness, and jealousy, but found practicality, inventiveness, and unity. Still, Terry insists they will find out Herland’s faults soon enough.

Curious about the possible faults of Herland life, Van asks Somel what she believes these faults are. Somel admits that everyone has their faults, but also that their standard of perfection seems loftier than it used to be. Somel says that one of Herland’s earliest endeavors was to eliminate bad qualities by asking women with negative qualities not to have children. The women in question would often agree not to have children, but those who did were not allowed to educate them. Van is initially horrified, but Somel explains that only those who are fit for motherhood (which is most of them) educate their children. All mothers, of course, are happy to allow the most capable women teach their children because it is the best thing for them.