The Crux: A Novel by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Author: Charlotte Perkins Gilman | Published: 1911
The Crux: A Novel Synopsis
Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s novel, The Crux, is a significant early feminist work that explores complex themes of gender, citizenship, eugenics, and frontier nationalism. Originally published in serial form in the feminist journal The Forerunner in 1910, The Crux follows the story of a group of pioneering New England women who venture west to establish a boardinghouse for men in Colorado. The novel's protagonist, Vivian Lane, finds herself entangled in a romantic relationship with Morton Elder, who carries both gonorrhea and syphilis. However, the novel's focus is not solely on Vivian's risk of contracting syphilis, but rather on the potential harm to the "national stock" if she were to marry Morton and bear children.
Excerpt from The Crux Online Book
Along the same old garden path,
Sweet with the same old flowers;
Under the lilacs, darkly dense,
The easy gate in the backyard fence—
Those unforgotten hours!
The "Foote Girls" were bustling along Margate Street with an air of united purpose that was unusual with them. Miss Rebecca wore her black silk cloak, by which it might be seen that "a call" was toward. Miss Josie, the thin sister, and Miss Sallie, the fat one, were more hastily attired. They were persons of less impressiveness than Miss Rebecca, as was tacitly admitted by their more familiar nicknames, a concession never made by the older sister.
About Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Charlotte Perkins Gilman was a pioneering American writer, lecturer and activist. Known as an advocate for women's rights, she is best remembered for her short story The Yellow Wallpaper, which is widely recognized as a feminist classic. Born in 1860, Gilman lived and worked during the late 19th century when sexism was commonplace. Despite this, she was determined to make her voice heard and advocated tirelessly for the emancipation of women from oppression and exclusion from society.
Gilman wrote prolifically throughout her life on a range of topics including feminism, socialism, race relations, child labor laws and other social justice issues. She wrote fiction stories such as The Yellow Wallpaper and nonfiction works such as the essay collection Women and Economics (1898) which argued that economic freedom for women would lead to their emancipation from male domination. Find out more about Charlotte Perkins Gilman at sevenov.com.