Analysis Of The Novel 'The Midwife's Apprentice'

     Before I watched 'A Midwife's Tale', a movie created from the diary found by Laurel Ulrich chronicling the life of a woman named Martha Ballard, I thought the women in these times were just housewives and nothing else. I pictured them doing the cleaning and the cooking for their husbands and not being very smart because of the lack of education or them being unable to work. My view on the subject changed however when I watched this specific woman's life and her work.

In the U.S society, there is a distinguishment between the different classification of employment. Those categories of employment are either classified as “blue-collar” or “white-collar”. Blue-collar jobs are referred to the line of employment that require manual labor such as factory workers and truck drivers, as for the white-collar jobs require high skills and higher education such as doctors and lawyers (Chambliss and Eglitis 159). Although, the professions are labeled as blue or white collar through its needs, the different labels indicates one’s position in the ranks. Each rank is often associated with characteristic that either make them upper class or lower class. Furthermore, “people’s life experience and opportunities are powerfully influenced by how their social category is ranked”(Chambliss and Eglitis 159). Therefore, one’s lifestyle depends on which category they fall into within the rank. That being the case, journalist Alfred Lubrano wrote the book, Limbo: Blue-Collar Roots, White-Collar Dreams, which describes the cultural conflict experienced by white-collar professionals that grew up in blue-collar homes. It tells readers how the white-collar professionals found it difficult to apply to their blue-collar families, due to the fact, that they often held values and engaged in behaviors that apply to the upper-class. As in order to fit in within the groups, they would have to adapt to the upper class life. So the transition from a blue-collar life to a

Historian Laurel Thatcher Ulrich provides a glimpse of America post Revolutionary war through her critically acclaimed book, A Midwife’s Tale, which is the interpretation of Martha Ballard’s seemingly humble diary—a record of her life as a midwife, mother, wife, and caregiver from 1785 through 1812. The book features Ballard’s account of her average day’s activities, which, in turn, serves to represent the tasks of women in her society; however, Ulrich cross-references the diary with documents such as court transcripts, land records, maps, and other diaries in order to piece together a more detailed account than one gathered solely from Ballard’s words. While popular belief envisions women in this timeframe as being constrained to the home and a litter of children, it is Ballard’s diary that reveals that women played a major role in other aspects of society, including the market economy, medicine and childbirth, versus just being mothers and homemakers.

This generation of women, may it be young or old, are fortunate to live in a country where you can be anything, do anything, and say anything that men can. Although in theory the playing fields are still not completely even, we as a nation have made some substantial progress in women’s rights. Just a few hundred years ago, women livered mundane lives and rarely got to speak up for themselves. In the book, The Midwife’s Tale by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, it follows the life of Martha Ballard through the use of her own diary. Martha Ballard captures the lives of common women in the Early Republic Era by providing an authentic record of the role women played in their communities throughout the developmental years of the United States.

In the short story, “Desiree’s Baby,” Kate Chopin exposes the harsh realities of racial divide, male dominance, and slavery in Antebellum Louisiana. Although written in 1894, Chopin revisits the deep-south during a period of white privilege and slavery. Told through third-person narration, the reader is introduced to characters whose individual morals and values become the key elements leading to the ironic downfall of this antebellum romance. As Chopin takes the reader through the unfortunate circumstances and unexpected twists of Desiree’s life, a Southern Gothic tale emerges. While Armonde is Chopin’s obvious villain, one should not assume that the other characters are not antagonists themselves, as

Algernon is demonstrated as a comical character. He is also shown to be a liar and this is seen when he tells Lady Bracknell that there were “no cucumbers in the market” to make the cucumber sandwiches; when he ate them all. He is also very open with women and engages is physical contact before permission from Cecily’s guardian, Jack. Algernon also meets Cecily in a wrong manner as he runs off to Jack’s country house uninvited; which isn’t reflective of an Ideal Victorian man at all.

When Thomas Jefferson wrote the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence, it became one of his greatest legacies. In the first line he wrote, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal" (U.S. Constitution, paragraph 2). Jefferson wrote these words to give inspiration to future generations in the hopes that they would be able to change what he either would or could not. The word “men” in the Declaration in the early 1700 and 1800’s meant exactly that, but even then it only was true for some men, not all. Women, children, and other segments of the population such as slaves and Native Americans were clearly not included. Jefferson himself was a slave owner and held the belief that women were

She told the nurse that she was not enjoying her pregnancy but believed that she will learn to love her baby once it is born. She went on to state that she had not discussed her feelings with her husband and family and asked the nurse to keep the conversation private.

Call the Midwife fills that need we have to see how poor people live and also serve them. These midwifes spend their time serving members of the community no matter the problems that arise and we don’t often recognize that effort. These women as we talked about in class also often don’t have people supporting them and they are taken advantage of, so seeing them be cared for in such a supportive way is amazing. The emotional bond that the show thrives on is vital because people don’t always make connections with facts and tables but hearing stories of a young girl in a workhouse or having to give up their child because they were unwed and forced into prostitution, makes it real. I started watching the show a couple years ago and while it may not be the perfect solution to learning about this time and place compared to history texts and the like because it is a TV drama after all. But seeing the people interacting or even learning about how a woman’s body works during pregnancy and childbirth is so important. So many things they do in the show or in Jennifer Worth’s books have never occurred to be before I started watching and reading because poverty and pregnancy isn’t really talked about. We haven’t escaped that woman’s world being separate from the rest of the work and seeing how these people and especially women lived is important.

The first chapter of a novel is the foundation of the story; its job is to introduce characters, insinuate a future conflict, establish a tone and point of view, and hooks the reader so they keep reading. The idea behind a hook is to present a problem or question that intrigues the reader, in such a way that they will continue to read the whole book. The conflict or questions that should arise in the first chapter is how the author should divulge key information without offering to much important information. Disclosing certain pieces of information in the first chapter, is the best way to hook the reader and form a relationship between the reader and the main character (Starting your story). In the first chapter of Emma, the author, Jane Austin,

Life in the Iron Mills is a novella that is hard to classify as a specific genre. The genre that fits the most into this novella is realism, because of the separation of classes, the hard work that a person has to put into their every day life to try and make a difference, and the way society influences the actions of people and their relationships. However, no matter what genre is specifically chosen, there will be other genres present that contradict the genre of choice. While the novella shows romanticism, naturalism, and realism, this essay is specifically centered around realism. The ultimate theme in Rebecca Davis’ Life in the Iron Mills is the separation of classes and gender. It is the separation of classes when the people in the

Surely, she craved to write—meaning to work here—endangered her husband’s position as an authority. He would not have control any longer toward the narrator—his wife. In the 19th century upper class and middle class women were not expected to earn their own living. Women rarely had careers and most professions refused entry to women. In the middle of the 19th century it was virtually impossible for women to become doctors, engineers, architects, accountants or bankers. After a long struggle the medical profession allowed women to become doctors. It was not until 1910 that women were allowed to become accountants and bankers. However, there were still no women diplomats, barristers or judges. Women were allowed to become teachers majority of women became teaches but this was also a low paying job.

The writer ends the first phase of the tale with Desiree’s expression of her feelings at that point: “Oh mamma, I’m so happy; it frightens me” (32). This comment is both a conclusion of the first phase of the story and a prediction of what’s to come next.

Hearing the word midwife leaves many people thinking of unprofessional, inexperienced women who help deliver babies naturally, without the help of medication. In truth, nurse-midwives are registered nurses who have attended additional schooling for women’s health and are taught to make women feel as comfortable as possible. In the beginning, remedies were the females’ legacies, their “birthright”; these females were known as “wise-women by the people, witches of charlatans by authorities”. (Ehrenreich, 1973). “Females were wanderers, traveling from one place to another, healing the sick and wounded.” (Ehrenreich 1973). These women were among the first human healers and they were especially helpful when it came to childbearing. The midwives

The poem “The Mother” written by Gwendolyn Brooks in 1945, is a poem that focuses on the immeasurable losses a woman experiences after having an abortion. The poems free verse style has a mournful tone that captures the vast emotions a mother goes through trying to cope with the choices she has made. The author writes each stanza of the poem using a different style, and point of view, with subtle metaphors to express the speaker’s deep struggle as she copes with her abortions. The poem begins with, “Abortions will not let you forget” (Brooks 1), the first line of the poem uses personification to capture your attention. The title of the poem has the reader’s mindset centered around motherhood, but the author’s expertise with the opening line, immediately shifts your view to the actual theme of the poem. In this first line the speaker is telling you directly, you will never forget having an abortion. Brooks utilizes the speaker of the poem, to convey that this mother is pleading for forgiveness from the children she chose not to have.