The novelist and social theorist Charlotte Perkins Gilman, whose writings were widely read and discussed in the early twentieth century, played an important role in the debate about the theories of Charles Darwin and their application to society. Darwin’s theory of evolution did not directly apply to social ideology, but various intellectuals of a human society need not be competitive, but can emerge through collective action within society.
Gilman identified herself with this latter ideological camp and applied evolutionary theory in the movement for social change. The central thesis of this group of Social Darwinists was that although people, like all life, are the products of natural evolutionary forces, the principles of change that determine the development of organisms have in work that is societally relevant and that makes the best use of that person’s talents.
Gilman was not merely engaged in an intellectual debate. Motivated by her ethical vision and convinced of the plasticity of human nature, Gilman vehemently sought to break the molds into which people, especially women, had been thrust. In both her fiction and her social theory she urges women to further social evolution of a balance that would include what she saw as female qualities of cooperation and nurturance.
What this question is testing
Your task
Pin down exactly what the question asks about the passage — a detail, the author's view, the structure, or the main point — before looking at the choices.
Common trap
Answers that restate a true detail from the passage but don't answer the specific question being asked.
Winning move
Anticipate the answer in your own words from the passage, then find the choice that matches that prediction.
Reading along? Open the full official question in LawHub — we show a fragment here and keep the reasoning in our own words.