Where Are the Brotherhoods?

From a man's perspective, sisterhoods seem to be more prevalent than brotherhoods in the pieces I have studied this year. Sisterhoods arise for a multitude of reasons, but the most common cause seems to be the desire to ameliorate one's position by working with others in the same position.

In 'A Jury of Her Peers' there is an obvious bond between the female characters. Mrs Hale and Mrs Peters are sympathetic towards Foster, who is suspected of mariticide. Knowing the husband's faults and sharing a domestic life as well they are able to understand what compelled her to commit such an act.

To the reader and to the men investigating the case Foster's innocence is never likely. But without a key motive, any prosecution is likely to fail. When Mrs Hale and Mrs Peters find the dead bird, they know they have found Mrs Foster's motive for killing her husband. But instead of sharing the find with the men, they simply look at each other. "Mrs. Peters turned her head until her eyes met the eyes of the other woman. There was a moment when they held each other in a steady burning look in which there was no evasion or flinching" (17, A Jury of Her Peers). This is the most powerful part of the story. Throughout the story, Mrs Hale and Mrs Peters have sympathised greatly for her because unlike the men, they appreciate the context. All three woman have experienced the same ilk of treatment and because of their similarities, they create a group, a sisterhood. Mrs Peters and Mrs Hale's sympathy becomes so great that they are compelled to help their other sister, Minnie Foster.

The Handmaid's Tale also maintains sisterhoods as one of its main themes. In the Red Centre, women often helped each other in order to prevent the group being punished as a whole. Moira does this when she forces Janine to stop imagining that she is somewhere else. When Moira says, "You can't let her go slipping over the edge. That stuff is catching" (229, Handmaid's Tale) The reader can assume that Moira didn't just help Janine for her own good. It is more likely that she feared everyone would be punished if Janine was deemed crazy by the aunts.

Offred's relationship with Ofglen is also a sisterhood. Not only because they both risk being punished by talking to each other but also because Ofglen tries to incorporate Offred into the secret Handmaid sisterhood, spurred on by Offred's special relationship with the Commander which could have been a rich source of information. At first Offred is keen to join and provide information, but her attitude changes dramatically once she begins to have a relationship with Nick. "I hardly listen to her, I no longer credit her. The things she whispers seem to me unreal. What use are they, for me, now?" (282, Handmaid's Tale). What that had made Offred so eager to help and become part of the sisterhood are now not so enticing. The things that she had yearned for were things that would improve her situation. But once she gets these things, like gossip and companionship through the Commander and Nick she no longer yearns for other things so much, like freedom.

Ameliorating one's position by working as a group has long been documented in history as causes of bonds being made, whether in the form of brotherhoods or sisterhoods. Because there seem to have been more sisterhoods than brotherhoods in all the stories we have covered, we can therefore assume that women must of been suffering more than the men. After all, in all of the stories that we've read, women have been subjugated by men. But desire to improve one's situation isn't the only cause of sisterhood like groups being created. After all, the men that banded together to subjugate women could have been referred to as brotherhoods. But for some reason, I don't see them as brotherhoods. What do you think?