The Birth House Analysis

Words: 1000
Pages: 4

Helen Keller once said, “All the world is full of suffering. It is also full of overcoming”. Sometimes people must make sacrifices and overcome tough adversities in order to reach their full potential. In the end, pain and suffering will be overcome through perseverance and having the courage to voice our opinion. The Birth House by Ami McKay, follows the daily struggles of the main character, Dora Rare, a young female and midwife in training, as well as the other women in the town of Scots Bay during the early 1900s. Through the experiences of Dora, Mrs. Ketch and her children, and Ginny, McKay suggests that given a strong community, women who have endured suffering can overcome their situation.

Firstly, McKay begins to assert that women can
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Ginny, intimidated by her husband and fearful of getting in trouble with him, “She speaks so soft [but] it’s clear she’d just about throw herself in front of a wagon if she thought it would please her husband, always following after him, whispering yeses” (89). The pain and suffering the women of Scots Bay experience is also due to the lack of control the women have over their own bodies. The men of the town want to make decisions for the women, choices about their body, which only the individual should be entitled to. In addition, some of the women, including Ginny have been forced by their husband’s to give birth at the maternity home. The dilemma with this situation is that the women undergo emotional and physical suffering. At the Canning Maternity Home, Ginny “was squirming, trying to get loose from his hands” (346), trying to escape the suffering, both mental and physical. Ginny represents the majority of the town women who endured suffering and fought to have their opinions heard. Mckay suggests that with the aid of a loving community, any suffering endured can be