Should there be limitations to when and how a doctor performs emergency surgery on a living woman, specifically a pregnant one? To properly perform a cesarean section, a doctor needs equipment such as scissors, a scalpel, forceps, and a retractor. The woman should also be put on some sort of anesthesia because of the incision made. During the 1900’s, doctors had access to medicines that made performing a C-Section more efficient and less painful, but due to poor living conditions, some women did not experience the same quality treatment. In his story “Indian Camp”, Ernest Hemingway poses this situation to his readers and ultimately reveals prejudice and sexist themes. A boy named Nick, and his father travel to an Indian camp in upper Michigan to perform a C-Section without using proper equipment. Even though Nick’s father performs a miraculous surgery, the Indian women is a victim of sexism and racism because of the male characters’ misogynistic behaviors and the substandard surgical conditions.
…show more content…
As Nick and his father approach the camp, they notice how the men sit away from the Indian woman’s shanty to avoid the “noise she made”. The men act annoyed with the Indian woman and instead of feeling pity for her, they mock her pain. While Nick’s father is performing the cesarean section, the men invasively hold the Indian woman down and laugh at her pain as she bites Uncle George. Not only do the Indian men mock her pain, but so does the doctor. After the procedure and the baby is born, the doctor says the husbands are usually the “worst sufferers in these affairs” and pays no attention to the Indian woman’s “pale” and near death condition. The doctor is more concerned with the male characters’ minor injuries, Uncle George’s wound and the Indian man’s foot, suggesting that the doctor is sexist towards the Indian
As Nick and his father approach the camp, they notice how the men sit away from the Indian woman’s shanty to avoid the “noise she made”. The men act annoyed with the Indian woman and instead of feeling pity for her, they mock her pain. While Nick’s father is performing the cesarean section, the men invasively hold the Indian woman down and laugh at her pain as she bites Uncle George. Not only do the Indian men mock her pain, but so does the doctor. After the procedure and the baby is born, the doctor says the husbands are usually the “worst sufferers in these affairs” and pays no attention to the Indian woman’s “pale” and near death condition. The doctor is more concerned with the male characters’ minor injuries, Uncle George’s wound and the Indian man’s foot, suggesting that the doctor is sexist towards the Indian