A Midwife's Tale by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

Martha gets the honor of showing the world that women of her time did all they could to be as independent as possible. In The Midwife’s Tale, Laurel Ulrich explains, “She gardened, sewed, cared for her grandchildren, nursed the sick, laid out the dead, and delivered babies” (276). She was a woman of many talents. Martha lived by a value that she expects the same respect in return and undertakes full authority over the responsibilities she considers to be her own.

Women were expected to do so much but at the same time so little. They had no power to do what they desire because men had all the power to control them. Society had an expectation of how women were supposed to act. For instance, Mary’s father cared for his sons education he wanted them to know how to read, write, and to do sums, as for his daughters he only cared that they knew how to read and sew. That is the basic that women were allowed to learn it was not important for them to know more since all they were going to work for is taking care of children. Here is an example, “…Gender roles within those families the reinforcement of gender ideals such as “helpmeet” and “notable housewife” by religious and civil authorities, and the simple

Laurel Thatcher Ulrich proves with this book is that the every day journal entries that may seem mundane and unimportant at first are actually very important to understanding Martha’s life. If one is to truly understand Martha Ballard’s life historians must dive deeper than the larger, more attention grabbing details of her diary, such as the Puritan family incident. It is the daily seemingly “less important” events that can show Martha’s internal struggles and emotions of what she had to go through as being a women during that time period.

After marriage, the husband was considered lord and master of the family. But not all the women were meek and submissive. By the 1700's, the woman’s status had rapidly improved in colonial America. A wife and child made as much as a man did. Although women did not have equality with men, their status greatly improved from their status in Europe. A woman’s station in life was determined by the position of their husbands or fathers. The women of the poorest families, compiled to work in the fields, stood at the bottom of the social ladder. One of the surest signs of the accomplishments a family had made, was the exemption of their women from the fields. Before 1740, girls were trained in household crafts and the practical arts of family management. But afterwards they began to study subjects that required reading and studying such subjects as grammer and arithmetic. The women of the upper classes occupied themselves mainly with planning the work of the home and with supervising the domestic servants. Along with these tasks the women also baked, nursed, and sewed. But there were many social restrictions placed on the women of that time. One such restriction was that a wife, in absence of her husband, was not allowed to lodge men even if they were close relatives. For

Women did not have an easy life during the American Colonial period. Before a woman reached 25 years of age, she was expected to be married with at least one child. Most, if not all, domestic tasks were performed by women, and most domestic goods and food were prepared and created by women. Women performed these tasks without having any legal acknowledgment. Although women had to endure many hardships, their legal and personal lives were becoming less restricted, although the change was occurring at a snail’s pace.

Women working men’s jobs were not as welcomed in society as they were in factories. People held on to the belief that women should be house wives and not have to do much in the way of work. The man should provide for the family, and the women should take care of the family. Many of the women who worked were lower class and had to help provide for their families, or were the only providers for their families. Women who worked men’s jobs were looked down upon and thought to be no better than dirt. Although women working in factories were still women, men did not show them the same respect as they did a woman working as a secretary or teacher.

Medical knowledge and the production of textiles were valuable and necessary commodities – medical knowledge was essential for everyday problems as well as during outbreaks of disease. Textiles were crucial for the local and national economy as they were locally produced, traded and exported. Martha was a midwife who helped successfully bring hundreds of babies into the world and she was also played a huge role in seeing to the wellness and welfare of the community. As a midwife, Martha served anyone who required her, regardless of their religion, race or place in society. Socializing was an important part of daily life. Even when Martha spent days at home, she was still connected to the locals, which is evident in the way she described the visitors she had. In 1790 alone, “Martha recorded 642 encounters, at home or abroad with 299 persons outside her family” (Ulrich 92). Martha was paid for her services – she sometimes had to travel great distances in treacherous weather to reach her patients and she kept records in her diary about the circumstances she found herself in while carefully recording births, deaths, marriages, weather, and other events, both important and mundane.

Mothers are pictured as the care giver of the families and the ones who love their children unconditionally no matter the situation. They’ll do anything to support their family and raise their children right. In “The Queen of Mold” by Ruth Reichl, the mother in the story is pictured as the one who makes a meal almost out of nothing, just to provide and have something on the table for her family. Even though the food she cooks is moldy, this is how she demonstrates her motherly love.. In “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker, the mother is portrayed at first as an over excited mother waiting for her over achieving daughter Dee. As the story progresses the excitement for the daughter starts to go away and her motherly love towards Dee becomes complicated because Dee thinks she is greater and much smarter than the rest. Both of the stories depict complex motherhood, in Reichl story her mother’s love becomes complicated when she cooks food for the guest and her daughter tries to save the guest from being killed, while by the end of Walker story she only has love for the one daughter that has always been by her side and that’s Maggie.

“I am determined to be cheerful and happy in whatever situation I may find myself. For I have learned that the greater part of our misery or unhappiness is determined not by our circumstance but by our disposition”- Martha Washington. This quote from Martha Washington on Brainyquote shows that she will always be happy no matter what the situation and that you're unhappiness is not determined by circumstances but by your character. Martha Washington was George Washington’s wife and she usually was found helping people and or making clothing and bandages for a nearby hospital. Martha showed her character by ingenuity/intellect and patriotism.

“Most girls were trained from childhood for the traditional roles of wife, mother, and housekeeper. They learned how to grind grain, how to cook and make beverages, especially beer, and how to spin and weave cloth for clothing. If a woman worked outside of her home, her job usually grew out of her household

The mill factories of the early 19th century are quite different from what we know and perceive to be factory work today. One might be surprised initially that a girl would want to go to the mills given the current perception of them, but in this time the mills were quite attractive initially for many women. Mary Paul initially tried to find work as a domestic for a farming family but after that failed, she moved to the mills in Lowell looking for work (Dublin 121). Most women in the early 19th century didn’t have opportunities to earn and income. Lowell was such a unique place at this time as it provided women work for money and a chance to move of their own accord to somewhere new.

The women split up into three different categories: Martha, Handmaid, and the Commander’s wife. Martha’s are women who cook and clean. Offred observes Rita, a Martha at Serena Joy’s house, and says; “She’s making bread, throwing the loaves for the final brief kneading and then the shaping” (10). While at Serena Joy’s house, Offred watches Rita, and she sees her making bread, which is a Martha’s job. Moreover, Handmaids are women who have intercourse with the Commander, then carry their baby, and give the baby to the Commander and the Commander’s wife.

Character Analysis She’s cold... she’s hungry... and she’s alone until she knocks on the door. The book “The Midwife’s Apprentice” starts off by introducing us to an unnamed orphan who scours from village to village just to get a meal. Later on in the book, she finds a role as The Midwife’s Apprentice she continues with this role for the majority of the book.

One of the fìnal clues in the story, the irregular stitching in Minnie’s quilt patches, connects immediately with Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters. In the late nineteenth century, explains Elaine Hedges, small, exact stitches were valued not only for their durability. They became a badge of one’s prowess with the needle, a source of self-respect and of prestige, through the recognition and approval of other women

“A midwifes tale,” made in 1997, directed by Richard P. Rodgers and Laurie Kahn-Leavitt, tells the story of a hard working woman living in early America’s Maine in 1785. Martha Ballard held many roles in her lifetime, some of them being; a mother, wife, employer, aunt, nurse, and midwife. When Martha was fifty she started writing a journal about everything she saw, experienced, and accomplished for the next twenty-seven years of her life. This includes birthing over 1000 babies, along with having her own, living on a farm, watching her husbands mill burn down, and witnessing the death of her daughters. This film tells the story of Martha’s life by play reenactment, and also showing the research and information from the journal given to us by a historian, Laurel Thatcher Ulrich.