In her memoir, Call the Midwife, Jennifer Worth recounts the stories of unusual characters she encounters as a midwife in post-war London’s East End slums. The slums of the East End served as a popular tourist destination for the middle class. Some middle-class philanthropists visited the slums to comprehend the tragic situation of the working-class, whereas other, less-benevolent middle class citizens toured to satisfy their curiosity and to gawk at the poverty-stricken inhabitants (Koven). To an extent, Worth herself is a slummer— she is a middle-class women experiencing first hand the disgusting conditions and filthy bodies of the working-class women in the East End. Although Worth interacts with all types of working-class women, she only
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As a wife and mother of twenty-five children, Conchita is trapped in an endless cycle of childbirth and childcare. When Worth questions Conchita’s husband, Len, about her period, he responds, “‘Yer can tek it from me, nurse, she ain’t ‘ad no periods for years’” (135). Conchita produces children so frequently that her menstrual cycle does not have time to resume. Conchita’s body essentially acts a machine for the mass production of children. Despite the tragedy of Conchita’s story, Worth seems to overlook the horror of Conchita’s fecundity and represents her as a beautiful, radiant mother of twenty-five because she fulfills, and even exceeds, the maternal role expected from the middle class standards.
In her memoir, Call the Midwife, Jennifer Worth creates a dynamic between the portrayal of working-class mothers and the portrayal of working-class women. On the one hand, working-class women, such as Conchita and Mary, are depicted as beautiful and radiant; whereas on the other, working-class women that reject the expected motherly role, such as Lil and the unnamed prostitute, are depicted as horrific. As a middle class citizen herself, Worth subconsciously projects her values on the various working-class women in the East End
As a wife and mother of twenty-five children, Conchita is trapped in an endless cycle of childbirth and childcare. When Worth questions Conchita’s husband, Len, about her period, he responds, “‘Yer can tek it from me, nurse, she ain’t ‘ad no periods for years’” (135). Conchita produces children so frequently that her menstrual cycle does not have time to resume. Conchita’s body essentially acts a machine for the mass production of children. Despite the tragedy of Conchita’s story, Worth seems to overlook the horror of Conchita’s fecundity and represents her as a beautiful, radiant mother of twenty-five because she fulfills, and even exceeds, the maternal role expected from the middle class standards.
In her memoir, Call the Midwife, Jennifer Worth creates a dynamic between the portrayal of working-class mothers and the portrayal of working-class women. On the one hand, working-class women, such as Conchita and Mary, are depicted as beautiful and radiant; whereas on the other, working-class women that reject the expected motherly role, such as Lil and the unnamed prostitute, are depicted as horrific. As a middle class citizen herself, Worth subconsciously projects her values on the various working-class women in the East End