Book Of The Unnamed Midwife Analysis

In Meg Elisons, Book of the Unnamed Midwife, a deadly fever takes most of the women and children of the world's population, Karen was one of the few females to survive. In the male dominated world, change was required in order to have protection and survive. Karen had to change her life from a sophisticated nurse to a barbaric way of living, disguise herself, and move frequently to protect herself and survive. Karen was quickly introduced to the new barbaric lifestyle she would have after she woke in the hospital. She had been admitted to the hospital when she had caught the fever, leaving her to awake alone since the majority of the population had died. After Karen woke she went back to her home to eat and sleep. That’s when she woke to …show more content…
During the apocalypse, Elison depicts Karen being in danger because she is a woman. She does this through the circumstance, “One of them pointed at her and got the attention of the man next to him by swatting him backhanded on the chest… They broke into a run headed straight toward her” (Elison 25). At first, she was confused. Karen had no idea why these men were running at her, but she knew she was not going to stand there and wait on them to reach her, so she ran too. Along the way, Karen had met two men named Joe and Chicken who she was with when the men began to run at her. All three fearful the two men went with Karen to hide until the other men were gone. Although, Karen didn’t understand what was going on Chicken informed her, “They wanted you. They saw you a girl, and decided they want to take you with them, so they run you down” (Elison 26). At that moment Karen realized she wasn’t safe in her own skin. She went to look for men's clothing, so she could hide that she was a woman. Fortunate for her, she was able to present herself as a man well. Karen tells that she found, “a compression vest to hide my tits… Shaved my head.. Got men’s cargo pants and combat boots, with a couple of loose shirts and my hoodie on top” (Elison 30). After she found a way to disguise herself, she went through what kind of demeanor men portrayed, so she could mock them and not be found out. Finding …show more content…
Once Karen realized she was in danger because she was a woman she was ready to leave her city. “Getting out of the city took longer than I thought”, Karen informs us (Elison 30). The goal was to get out of the city without being seen. Although she had already changed her appearance, she was still worried that her true identity would be revealed. This was not the only time Karen had to leave. She was found when she was hiding in a house, but not only was she found, the men that found her also realized that she was a female. The men were trying to break down Karen’s door when they finally gave up and one said, “We’ll be back, sweetheart. All of us. Get ready to come along. There’s no other choice” (Elison 51). This is when she knew it was time to leave again or the men were coming back for her. In Karen’s case, she didn’t know what for and she was not trying to find out. While Karen was traveling, she was deciding where the best place for her to go was. She tells us she’s “Hoping to make it into Colorado, but Utah is slowing me down” (Elison 89). Karen was not sure of what she was going to find, all she knew was she wanted to find somewhere safe and find out if any other women and children survived. She did, however, find a small town in Huntsville with a small community that was very religious, so she stayed a few days with them. After being with them that short