In chapter two “The Midwife”, we have Tara’s mother as the assistant of a midwife where Tara’s mother begins to learn how to become a midwife, with the help of the midwife. The entire midwifery concept had been her father’s idea. As a good wife, the mother was only doing what would be expected of her by her husband. Her father was knee to ensure that his family attains self-reliance.
Tara’s mother was a stay at home mother, when the midwife needed assistants, she asked the mother for help. Tara’s father was very hard on “self-reliance”. The father expects everyone in his family to help with the community. “This is a calling from the Lord”’ the father said to the mother because she refused to go to another childbirth with Judy. The first time she went to a childbirth it went bad. She came back looking tired and drawn and describes the difficult birth as “awful”. The Dad wanted for her to learn how to bring babies into the world so that in the “End of Days”, she’d be able to deliver babies.
The next birth is easier, and as the months go by and spring and summer turn to fall, the mother assists with dozens of births. The mother tells Tara’s father that she’s at least prepared to deliver a baby on her own. The father insists she actually deliver a baby by herself in order to improve her skills. But midwifery is not illegal in the state of Idaho, if is not sanctioned, and midwives could face criminal charges if anything goes “very wrong” during the birth.
The mother begins to deliver babies on her own and becomes so popular that she even hires an assistant. Andrey and Tara are instructed in herbal remedies and palliatives, Tara enjoys seeing her mother feel joy at finally being in change of something. The mother charges about five hundred dollars per birth and soon has a steady income on her own. She would make more money than her husband. When the mother pays to have a phone installed, the dad balks at the new technology.
This chapter shows that Tara is absorbing the doctrine her family has been teaching her. She is skeptical of medical and government institutions alike and is proud able to deceive and skirt them at every turn.
picture of my draft 🙂
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