Analysis Of Call The Midwife By Jennifer Worth

Hook. Background. In her memoir, Call the Midwife, Jennifer Worth portrays the bodies of working-class women, such as Mary and Conchita, as a mere objects for sexual pleasure and the production children to emphasize their tragic loss of autonomy and social mobility.

As a young immigrant to London, Mary’s background contributed to the regression of her autonomy. Despite her idealization of London, Mary had an abrupt realization of the difficulty of independence when she arrived. Worth describes her situation, “Completely alone, talking to no one, sleeping in the Cuts at night” (165). Sadly, Mary’s first autonomous experience after fleeing Ireland was accompanied by isolation and vagrancy. It was not until Mary met a man, Zakir, that she felt

comforted and revived. However, her relationship with Zakir marks the beginning of the end of her autonomy.
Similarly, Conchita never had the opportunity to experience true autonomy because she was committed into a relationship at such a young age. Jenny Lee explains the history of Len and Conchita’s relationship, “He [Len] cut loose, and went off to fight in the Spanish Civil War … He was lucky to survive. But survive he did, and came home to London with a beautiful Spanish peasant girl of about eleven or twelve” (132). Presumably, up until the age of eleven or twelve, Conchita depended on her family for support and from then on, Len supported her. Due to constant provision, Conchita never experienced independence. The very horror of Conchita’s history lies in the fact that she never developed her own voice.
Mary’s autonomy was further suppressed when she unwillingly entered the business of prostitution. Mary describes her first encounter with a prostitute, “Then, with even more skill, and to the screams of delight from her audience, she started to produce ping-pong balls from her vagina, and throw them at the audience. The speed and the number were bewildering” (175). Initially, the appalling description evokes an anti-maternal image. Generally, a woman’s body is regarded as a pure vessel used to deliver new life into the world; however, the prostitute produces numerous unnatural objects to create a spectacle for her customers. Unfortunately, in the occupation of prostitution, the body becomes an object for entertainment and pleasure and therefore, results in a complete loss of autonomy for the woman. Mary experiences a loss of autonomy firsthand again when the brothel employs her as a prostitute. She depicts her daily routine, “‘Sometimes I would bring the men back to the cafe, but sometimes we just did it in alleyways or doorways, up against a wall, anywhere — even the bomb sites. I hated myself’” (187). As a prostitute, Mary’s body is portrayed as a piece of meat used for others’ pleasure. She can no longer provide consent for who enters her body, when he enters her body, and where he enters her body. Essentially, Mary loses complete autonomy.
Although the life of a housewife seems ideal compared to the life of a prostitute, Conchita continually struggles with a loss of autonomy as well. As a wife and mother of twenty-five children, she is trapped in an endless cycle of motherhood. When Jenny Lee questions Len about Conchita’s 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. Her body is illustrated as nothing more than a machine for the mass production of children. In fact, a strange connection exists between the volume of children produced by Conchita and the volume of ping pong balls produced by the prostitute in Mary’s brothel. Jenny Lee illustrates Conchita’s twenty-fifth newborn, “His head was smaller than a ping-pong ball, and looked disproportionately large” (289). The correlation between the two women reinforces the fecundity of working-class women. The working-class women did not have access to contraceptives, thusly their bodies were governed by men. Conchita acts as the prime example of a dependent woman confined in an endless cycle of childbirth and childcare.
Conchita’s social mobility is also limited by the demand of her family.

Jenny Lee describes Conchita and Len’s home, “The house was literally teeming with young people and children … Older children were carrying tiny ones around, some of them were playing out in the street, some of theme were doing what might have been homework” (133). Immediately, the word “teeming” suggests an infestation of children. Although the family appears to be living harmoniously, the shear number of children is, nonetheless, unimaginable. With a household of over twenty children to care for, Conchita is bound to the house. As the housewife, her life is dedicated to cooking, cleaning, and caring for the children. Unfortunately, Conchita’s duties as a mother impair her ability to discover a new passion or work outside of the house. Therefore, Conchita’s maternal obligations stagnate any progression on the social

ladder..
A language barrier also restricts Conchita’s social mobility.

Conchita cannot communicate with other members of the community and even her husband because she only speaks Spanish. Jenny Lee states, “It was clear that Mrs. Conchita WArren spoke no English. In all the time that I knew here the only words that I heard her speak, apart from dialogue with the children, were ‘si’ and ‘bebe’” (130). The only two words Conchita speaks, “yes” and “baby,” embody the perception of working-class women. The woman has two duties: submit passively and produce children. Although Conchita does not express contentment with her situation, an undercurrent of tragedy exists. Due to her lack of contact with the outside world, her life of endless chores and childbirth seems normal. She is plagued with one of the most tragic horrors, naivety, which results in her stagnant social

position.
On the other hand, Mary loses her social mobility due to her failure as a mother. The Reverend Mother explains to Jenny Lee why Mary’s child was confiscated after birth, “‘But you must understand that it is very, very rare for a prostitute to leave the trade. It is too easy to make money. A girl is hard up, and the opportunity is always there’” (197). Mary’s reputation is permanently tainted because of her employment as a prostitute. From now on, she is perceived as an unfit mother and caretaker by the state. In fact, Mary’s body transforms into the physical manifestation of her failed motherhood. Jenny Lee describes Mary after the baby was confiscated, “She had been breastfeeding, and now, with no milk being drawn off, her breast were horribly engorged … Both breasts were enormous, as hard as stone, and the left side was bright red and hot to touch” (195). The breasts represent the lifesource of a child after birth; however, the deformity of Mary’s breasts symbolize her inability to properly provide for her child. As a working-class woman, Mary’s purpose is to produce and care for her children, but evidently, she cannot. Therefore, as a failure of a working-class woman, Mary maintains no chance of advancing socially.