The Crux

The Crux is an important work of literature by the early feminist Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Published in 1910 it was influential piece, especially for young women. The story centers around a young protagonist Vivian as she falls in love with an explorer that has both gonorrhea and syphilis. Her concern is not that she will catch the diseases, but that she will hurt the "national stock," if she were to marry and conceive. The novel is a "story . . . for young women to read . . . in order that they may protect themselves and their children to come." Charlotte Perkins Gilman was a notable American feminist. While she was most famous for her writings, both fiction and non-fiction, on feminism and social reform, she was also a poet, artist, magazine editor, lecturer, and social reformer. She was a great influence on modern feminism because of her view on utopian feminism and unorthodox lifestyle views. Library Classics is dedicated to bringing the world the best of humankind's literature from throughout the ages. Carefully selected, each work is unabridged from classic works of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, or drama.