Turned – Charlotte Perkins Gilman

The short fictional drama with a touch of romance, Turned written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is an emotional story of divorce and the mistreatment of women from a woman’s/the author’s point of view.

The story talks of how intolerant and mistreated women were, whether they were rich or poor or foreign or not. When Mrs. Marroner finds out about her husband’s secret, she is furious and takes it out on the wrong culprit. After calming down, she searches for people to hold responsible. This really brought out the story, very well. It shows how people can look at things straight away before thinking about what to do or who to blame, in other words: they act before thinking. By doing this, the Author has expressed her emotions, through the actions of the protagonist, Mrs. Marroner, which shows us how Charlotte feels about this particular topic. She uses Mrs. Marroner to show how women feel about divorce and the mistreatment of women, when their husband’s are accused for cheating. The setting of Turned is in the rich or elegant part of Boston, America at the home or manor of Mr. & Mrs. Marroner.

The characters include of Mrs. Marroner who is referred to as the protagonist as she is in conflict with the antagonist being Mr. Marroner. There is also Gerta who is an 18-year-old servant of Mr. and Mrs. Marroner and at the beginning of the story she is seen as a child in Mrs. Marroner’s eyes.

The conflict of the story is when Mrs. Marroner discovers her husband’s secret. The climax of the story is when she leaves home with Gerta and the Resolution…read the book to find out.

The theme and apparent purpose of the story is to describe the feelings and emotions of divorce and the mistreatment of women. Charlotte Gilman achieves her purpose quite well as she includes many emotions and adjectives of the victim, being Mrs. Marroner, as well as the cheating husband and the other woman, Mr. Marroner and Gerta. Charlotte also includes the actions taken by each women, wife and other, and n this case it was Mrs. Marroner forgiving Gerta and allowing her into their new home.

Charlotte Gilman uses an interesting style of writing in this story. She uses passages on each page, which makes the story easier to follow and gives time to think about what’s occurring. The use of language was very effective as it has a lot of detail involved and it created an emotional tone for the reader. It was a very one-sided, bias language as it set the image that men are always the antagonists and women don’t cheat or lie to their husbands.

Turned was not a good read, as it was seen boring, uninteresting and the language was very bias and one sided against men, giving the reader a bit of a sexist attitude towards the story. The emotions of the husband weren’t portrayed strong enough, giving the image to the reader that the husband is the enemy. The story is seen as unrealistic compared to today or the real world as most wives wouldn’t have accepted either the maid or husband ever again.

Turned is not recommended for those who are interested in adventure or action and those in their low teens. It is recommended for those interested in drama and a touch of romance, like a soapie and those who are interested in English Literature and the usage of mature and developed language skills. Turned is more directed to females and from high teens onwards.