Memoirs of a Woman Doctor

The first chapter of this book seemed to make me feel like a feminist, which I rarely consider myself to be. I think, though, that I was more unnerved and angered at this depriving culture than at the sexism occurring throughout the story. I did not like the fact that from the very beginning the narrator admits that she is ashamed of being female because of the way that her own mother had made her feel. That infuriated me because for a daughter to learn from her own mother that she is lesser of a person than a male, her own brother at that, is just a horribly disgusting and depressing thought. Mothers should instead teach their daughters to be strong, confident, intelligent, and equal.
I am not sure if the whole part of the mother, grandmother, and father searching for a suitor for the daughter together while she was so young is worse or not. I realize that it was part of their culture, but if they could have taken the slightest bit of interest in their own offspring, they would have then realized how uncomfortable and terrified the girl had been. It was revolting that the mother had tried to dress up her daughter to flaunt her new stages of womanhood to a stranger. I completely understood her rebellion, as I could see myself doing the same thing, and decision to pursue her knowledge and career to undermine the teachings that women are inferior to men.
I thought that the second chapter which told in great details the processes and workings of the human body were interesting. I also thought that the narrator used her rebellion in a positive way instead of a less knowledgeable yet still rebellious method to stand up to her family and to society. She proved to her family, society, and peer male students that she could complete and surpass their standards within the medical field which was pretty amazing and courageous. Just like she mentioned in the start second chapter, the narrator realizes that she, a woman, was lacking substance in the end of that same chapter and into the next. She found that she learned how to feel without thinking and have passion. I liked how these chapters were described because these emotions, or lack of, were separated and then brought back together to show thought and it just clicked that life without love, passion, or feelings really is not a true life. At twenty-five years old this woman realized that she had not really been living a full life. It was a really interesting concept to have pictured like that.
I really did not know what to think of chapter four. I was confused at why the narrator would so willingly and thoughtlessly allow herself to fall into a marriage. Nothing against marriages, but this one was doomed from the beginning. She could see his needy, vulnerable eyes and could fell something weird. Why did she not follow her first instincts? The first date that they went on together he started schmoozing her telling her she was beautiful and proud to be with her because she was a doctor. That was pathetic and I think that she wanted to be accepted and acknowledged for her strong deeds. This was just him trying to manipulate her mind from the beginning. He should have been saying things about her mind instead of her career status, plus it was just weird how the whole conversation that night flowed. I did not like it.
Again the narrator showed her strong, self-fulfilling characteristics in the fifth chapter when she realized that she was not content with her hasty marriage and surrendering search for love and decided to separate or divorce. It was really sad the way that she described her loneliness and one of the sentences stuck out to me because it was a really good way to describe such an empty feeling. She said that, “the nights grew longer, and the bed grew wider.” This statement was what just made me picture and empathize with her lonely, searching emotions.
The last chapter just completely turned the whole book upside down because the narrator found love. I thought that it was incredible how instantaneously they seemed to fall for each other. Not only did she find love when she needed it, but it also seemed to fit perfectly into that time of her life. She was ready to love and looking for something more than just rebellion. I really liked the way the last chapter was described, especially when the narrator realized that her life needed to be about helping others instead of proving her success or wealth or superiority to anyone else. She needed to finally live for herself instead of proving to everyone else that she could do something, she just needed to live and be happy.