Sunday, February 11, 2007

Florence Nightingale Story: Outline

Exposition:
• 1837: Florence Nightingale is 17
o Florence Nightingale:
 Attributes:
• Attractive
• Kind
• Brilliant
• Independent
• Courageous
• Loved by a man named Julian
o Florence’s parents, Eric and Mary, expect her to conform to society’s mold for all women- happily married, live in a house, cook for her husband, mother children, make man happy- and nothing more
 Eric’s Attributes:
• Well-educated
• Stubborn
• Head of the house
• Bossy
• Wealthy
 Mary’s Attributes:
• House wife
• Not well-educated
• Shy
• Responsible
• Traditional
o Julian also has expectations for her:
 Marry him
 Be the mother of his desired seven children– 3 girls and 4 boys
 Cook
 Clean
 And be an all around respectable woman/ wife
• Florence thinks she should be happy. She thinks she should be excited about her upcoming marriage. Isn’t that what every woman waits for, even longs for? So what was wrong with her? Why was she so unhappy?
o Florence is confused:
 She wants be different
 She wants to strive for more than just a house wife
 Yet, she is afraid
• Women are not supposed to be more
o Society won’t allow it
• She does not want to disappoint her parents or Julian

Rising Action:
• Months later, middle of winter: Florence is still confused, not sure what to do
o Gazing out her window, Florence counts the snow covered trees while praying for some answers to her life
 Abruptly she hears a voice—surprised, she glances around the room but she is alone
• The voice starts speaking again
• It tells her he is God and what decision she should make
o She should strive to be more
 She should become a nurse

Climax:
• Florence refuses Julian ’s marriage proposal
o Causes horrible uproar in the family
o Eric, Mary, and Julian don’t understand why she would do such a stupid thing
• Florence tells family she wants to become a nurse
o Parents go crazy with anger – tell her repeatedly she will not be doing that, since nursing is not a respectable job for a woman… she mine as well go and be a prostitute for that matter. Nursing was no better.
o Eric and Mary tell Florence she has to choose between them and her so called “nursing whim”
• Florence chooses nursing

Falling Action:
• Florence goes Kaiserswerth for three months where she receives her nursing degree
• Immediately after finishing her training, she begins her nursing work
• 1854: Seventeen years pass: Florence is 34 years old
o She is a single workaholic
o The Crimean war is ending and the medical system for the soldiers is criticized
 Sydney Herbert, the head person at the clinic Florence works at, appoints her to recruit 37 women (plus herself) to go work in the military hospitals in Turkey in an attempt to make up for the harsh criticism
 Florence finds 37 very diverse women
• She becomes very close friends with Jane and Susan
o Jane’s attributes:
 Kind
 Fun-loving
 Smart
 Funny
o Susan’s attributes:
 Sweet
 Breath-taking-ly beautiful
 Compassionate
 Brilliant
• In the beginning the doctors shun them
• However after the first wave of injured soldiers come the doctors realize the women are actually helpful and good at their jobs
• Florence falls in love with James (one of the military doctors)
o James’s Attributes:
 Handsome
 Kind
 Excitable
 Honorable
 Trustworthy

Resolution:
• Florence, Jane, and Susan become the leading three nurses in the military in Europe
o They are outstanding nurses and are loved by the entire hospital staff and all their patients
• The nation wants to thank them for their revolutionary work and achievements
o Achievements:
 Florence, Jane, and Susan’s greatest achievement was that they revolutionized nursing. They made it socially acceptable for women to work in medicine, which in the past had been viewed similarly to prostitution. They gave the job of nursing to many women across the nation and the world, which raised the standards of patient care forever.
o The nation did this by funding two clinics, to be run by the three women, in Great Brittan
• Woman accepted this offer with utter amazement and happiness
• James proposes to Florence
o She accepts
o They go on to have one daughter, who will one day follow in the footsteps of her mother
o Florence may have lost one family but she gained another

External Conflicts:
• Society does not allow women to work in hospitals
• Women are discriminated against

Internal Conflicts:
• Florence does not want to disappoint Julian or her parents
• Struggles between what how she wants to live her life and how society tries to define and confine her life
• Does not know who to choose
o Her family
o Or the thing in which she longs for most in this world

Relationship between internal and external conflicts:
• Society defines women a very particular way
o This impacts Florence’s internal conflicts because society is what defines who she is supposed to be and how she is supposed to act. However this goes against everything she desires to be.
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Sunday, January 21, 2007

Florence Nighingale

Florence Nightingale was a woman who revolutionized nursing in her time period and whose legacy still lives on today. Florence was born in 1820 in the city of Florence, Italy. She was a well-educated child who was taught by her father, a well to do man of Cambridge University. Florence’s family was of the higher class and her parents had numerous plans for her life. They had assumed she would get married and have a “respectable” job for such a well-off woman. However, in 1837, her parent’s plans for her went awry. While walking in one of the many gardens on her family’s estate, Florence claimed to have heard a “calling from God” to do his work. At the time, she had no idea what this work would be, but she vowed to find it and carry out whatever may be needed.

As time wore on, much to the anguish of Florence’s parents, she discovered an interest for social issues and began to visit hospitals and other homes for the sick. From this, Florence developed an interest in medicine and decided to become a nurse, despite her parent’s strong disapproval. Florence’s parents believed that nursing was not a respectable occupation for such a well-educated woman such as herself. However, Florence did not agree. The next year, Florence went to Kaiserswerth and spent three months getting her nursing degree.

In early the spring of 1854, Britain, France, and Turkey declared war on Russia. The war, which was fought mainly on the Crimean peninsula, an agricultural land located off the northern shore of the Black Sea, was won in September. However after it ended, reporters criticized the British’s medical facilities for the injured soldiers. Sidney Herbert responded to this critique by appointing Florence Nightingale, whom he knew through some of her earlier works, to introduce female nurses into the military hospitals in Turkey. On November 4, 1854 Florence and 37 other nurses she had recruited arrived at the Barrack Hospital in Scutari, a place where the landscape was bleak, and the skyline relatively flat.

The doctors at this hospital initially did not approve women in their workplace because the doctors believed they would be in the way and relatively useless. So, in the beginning the doctors shunned the 38 nurses. However, not too long after their arrival newly injured soldiers arrived, swamping the doctors with work and causing them to rely greatly on all of the nurses. During Florence’s service in the Crimean war, she was dubbed “Lady in Chief” of the nurses. She had many jobs at the Barrack Hospital, some of which included banking on behalf of the soldiers and sending their earnings back to their families. She also created many libraries, known as “reading rooms”, for the soldiers. As Florence did this, she gained the respect of a majority of the British soldiers. The introduction of female nurses to the military hospitals was such a success, the nation wanted to show Florence their appreciation for all the progress she had made. The nation did this by collecting money so that she could continue to practice nursing in the civilian hospitals in Brittan.

Florence’s greatest achievement was that she revolutionized nursing. She made it socially acceptable for women to work in medicine, which in the past had been viewed similarly to prostitution. She gave the job of nursing to many women across the nation and the world, which raised the standards of patient care forever.

Sources:

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