The Professor and the Madman: The feminist theory 2.0

After finishing a truly sad yet inspiring novel about the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary and analyzing it from two different perspectives, the reader's response and the feminist theory, I have come to a conclusion about which theory has given me the most insight to this amazing nonfiction story. 

Although being able to identify the text from a readers response was very educational and useful, I have determined that the feminist theory has provided me with the most insight within The Professor and the Madman. Analyzing the novel from a feminist theory has given me the opportunity to learn about the status of women in the Victorian era, it has answered many of my questions about the novel and it has allowed me to fully embrace the text. 

In my previous blog post, I mentioned that there was a lack of female presence in the story and I wasn’t able to figure out why. I wanted to know why male characters were more prominent in the story rather than female characters. I later found out these answers when I was researching the book online and the Victorian era. If I had not chosen to analyze the text from a feminist perspective, I still would have been stuck with multiple questions in my head and I wouldn’t have been able to fully immerse myself into the text.

I believe that the feminist theory has allowed me to make connections from the text to my personal life. For example, after researching and identifying certain points in the text about the feminist theory, such as why women were so marginalized, I was able to relate the points to a previous assignment where I had to analyze a fairytale from a feminist perspective. This allowed me to make certain connections and also allowed me to deepen my knowledge on the feminist perspective, as I was able to understand on a deeper level the stereotypes of women and why they were seen as helpless compared to men.

In addition to making connections with other assignments, analyzing The Professor and the Madman from a feminist theory has given me the opportunity to learn about different perspectives within the world. For example, how some people support feminism and equality and how others are totally against it. While reading the novel, I was able to understand and learn about the similarities and differences of the social status of the 1800s compared to the 2000s. 

In conclusion, analyzing the text from a feminist perspective has really helped me understand the text and has deepened my knowledge of feminism. The Professor and the Madman was overall an amazing novel and I recommend it to anyone who is interested in learning about crime and history.