A Brief History of a Feminist Future: A Feminist Analysis of Works by Dodd and Butler

Abstract

This project is a feminist literary analysis, exploring themes in two works of fiction written approx. 100 years apart. The works are dystopias, stories were worlds have gone wrong. Dodd's A Republic of the Future and Butler's Parable of the Sower were compared. Although written by women with totally different perspectives in different time periods, similar themes emerged due to the ingrained influence of paternalism in our society. Both writers and works reflected contemporary issues of their day and can be considered responses to the feminist movement. Dodd's writing was a warning, a critique, of the promised progress of the first wave of feminism. Butler's characters reflected the ideals of the third wave of feminism. As dystopias can serves as warnings to current society, the ability of the writers to predict life in American in the 21st century is also considered.