Authors Intent: A Midwifes Tale

Looking through a diary of a midwife of the late 17th Century and early 18th Century takes a lot of patience and hard work. Not only to look through a diary of such depth and emotion but to analyze it and write a award winning novel takes much much more than just patience and hard work. Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, the author of the Pulitzer Prize for her book A Midwife's Tale looked into the story of a woman in Maine and found deep emotion and scandal of the 1700's. In writing this book she gives the readers newly formed images of the early years in Maine. She shows people that life in the early days is much more than what we imagined for a midwife. I believe that Ulrich wanted to give people a new perspective of life now, and to realize how much different life is than what it was when Martha Ballard was writing this diary. She wanted us to remember the life of a wonderful woman and how she lived. Her words make you realize how far we have come, and how far we have fallen. She shows us a world where life does have the same unfortunate events, but it is much more peaceful and caring. Where their is love and religion and neighbors caring for each other everywhere. In taking all the care and attention of writing this book through Martha Ballard's diary she has shown and given readers new ideas and images of life in the late 17th century and has remined readers how peaceful and loving it was even through all the hard times. She makes us crave for that and leaves us with a better understanding of how life used to be not only for a midwife, but for the world she lived in.