The Crux

´The Crux´, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, is a fictional novel about an entrepreneurial group of women in North America. First published as part of a series in the feminist journal ´The Forerunner´ in 1910, ´The Crux´ tells the story of Vivian Lane and her female associates, who move away to start a boarding house for men in Denver, Colorado. Often cited as an important early feminist work, the novel metaphorically and directly examines social issues relating to gender, the role of women, politics, marriage, and stereotypes. The fictional leading character, Vivian Lane, meets and falls in love with Morton Elder who carries the diseases gonorrhoea and syphilis – which becomes a barrier to marriage and having a family more due to the utopian notion that it would harm the 'national stock', rather than the concern of being a risk to Lane's health. The book was originally written, in Gilman's words, as a "story for young women to read in order that they may protect themselves and their children to come."