Prisons For Animals (1928)
AUTHOR: Gilman, Charlotte Perkins
PUBLICATION: "Prisons For Animals." Vegetarian and Fruitarian Vol. 27, no. 6 (1 June 1928): 16.
ProQuest, American Periodicals database. Subscription access.
KEYWORDS: animals, zoos, freedom
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SUMMARY (Deborah Madsen):
In this short magazine article, Gilman contrasts the liberty experienced by wild animals with the range of suffering of animals confined in zoos. Spring as a time of rebirth and reawakening provides an emotive context in which Gilman notes the deprivation of the necessities of life in nature (water for an elephant, space in which to run for a deer) and the unnatural elements of a confined environment (like the scent of natural predators in close proximity) to underline the cruelty and perverse pleasure of using animal suffering as a spectacle. She calls for a boycott of all such exhibitions, to discourage the practise of caging animals.
Last updated on April 16th, 2026
SNSF project 100015_204481
How to cite this page:
Madsen, Deborah. 2024. "Prisons For Animals [summary]." Vegan Literary Studies: An American Textual History, 1776-1900. Edited by Deborah Madsen. University of Geneva. <Date accessed.> <https://www.unige.ch/vls/bibliography/author-bibliography/gilman-charlotte-perkins-1860-1935/prisons-animals-1928>.