A Midwife's Tale Summary

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.

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.

While this book could be considered very academic, I considered it to be a leisurely read because it was so well written by Kerber. The passion behind the authors want to reveal this unknown historical event of what Kerber refers to as, “ The Womens’ War”, makes the book inspirational. The true meaning of the term “Republican Motherhood”, made the word radicalism come to live in this historical setting. In result of these women changing and breaking the wall of a traditional role, they are finally accepted not just as domestic creatures, but as capable partners to create virtuous citizens. It is an empowering book that opens the reader’s eyes to the one – sided history that previous to this book had been the only text by historians

A woman is shouting and giving commands. She’s ordering people to fetch her birthroot, she’s rubbing a woman’s head and belly, and she is calling a baby forth into the world. This was the life of a midwife in the medieval times. The story The Midwife’s Apprentice by Karen Cushman is about an orphaned girl named Alyce who became a midwife’s apprentice and wanted a place in the world, but she wasn’t confident in herself and she thought she was a failure. Alyce realized that she couldn’t give up and that she had to be more confident in herself. At the end of the book she decided to become the midwife’s apprentice again. Alyce is a lonely and miserable girl who sleeps outside on a dung heap until a midwife recruits her to be her apprentice.

In the essay "What Pregnant Women Won't Tell You - Ever", Elyse Anders talks about the downsides of pregnancy. Some of which I wasn't aware that could happen but other I was. I was aware of common symptoms like having a trouble staying awake, morning sickness, frequent urination, pooping and not being able to drink. But, I was not aware of the others.

Kate Chopin's “The Story of an Hour” and Gail Godwin’s “A Sorrowful Woman” are similar pieces of literary work. Both stories offer a revealing glimpse of extremely unhappy marriages due to being forced into stereotypical roles. Both stories portray women, who are trapped in their marriages and trapped in their socially expected matriarchal characters. They are identified by their role as a wife and mother.

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

History can be considered a metaphor and representation because it is the way people represent it. Using history as a way to sum up past events is applying the word to an action. Gaddis describes history as a metaphor and representation by showcasing a study of the past as a way to prepare for the future by expanding experiences to strike a balance and paint a metaphor. A historian is able to strike a balance once there is a recognition that there is a trade-off between literal and abstract representation. Meaning abstractions make generalizations to hold up over time which oversimplify complex realities to overcome different constraints that separate in time from their subjects. For a historian to paint a metaphor, one must consider tension between significance and insignificance, polarities of generalization and particularization, the gap between

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.

In this essay I will be focusing on how the role of women in dystopian societies focus on sexual roles and motherhood. In Hand maids tale there were different names and roles for women within Gilead in order of status.

This documentary is an inspiration for women who wish to convince a child. There are various methods a mother can give birth. However, it is left for the woman to decide which method works for her own baby and the doctor should educate the woman about the different solutions. Nonetheless, the doctors should not persuade the woman to have one treatment over another while in labor because the doctors are not the ones that are carrying the scars of childbirth all their lives.

The aim of the task is to be able to demonstrate sustained focus on investigatory questions while using a range of sources. Therefore this task will emphasize on midwifery as a specific career option and produced questionnaire of 5 question as to why students of the class as chosen Midwifery as a career path.

Traditionally, most women have the pressure to do their duty to the family, either by being the woman they want her to be or by complying with what they ask her to do. The two novels discuss this aspect but in two very different ways. In Memoirs of a Women doctor, our unnamed heroine decides to

“The reason I asked for the arm-wrestling match was to make you realise, that women at times require three-four times the effort that you just put in, and there is also a lot of blood and cuts most of the times, hence it’s quite a tough job, even by your high standards!”

The book ‘The Joys of Motherhood’ is centred around the protagonist Nnu Ego who is also referred to as ‘the Mother’ in the chapter titles. The book focuses on her struggles from the time she was young till her death. The book actually ends with her dying of exhaustion by the side of the street; stressed and alone even though she had children which is ironic because one of the reasons she wanted to have children in the first place was so that she won’t have to die alone. The title of the book is another irony because even though its called ‘the Joys of Motherhood’, the book clearly shows that Nnu Ego remains unhappy,even though she is eventually blessed with children. The book is set in Lagos, Nigeria in colonial times and pre-colonial times. This review aims to examine the themes and how they relate to the course work. The textbooks used for this course and the movie shown in class have quite a lot in common with this book. They both examine pre-colonial and colonial times and the way of life back then; the beliefs and everything else. The aim of this essay is to examine how the book ‘the Joys of Motherhood’ relates to the coursework.