Would you ever think that a girl living in a dung heap would become a midwife's apprentice? In the book, The Midwife’s Apprentice by Karen Cushman, the life of a young girl is changed from a homeless orphan to a midwife's. She experiences obstacles because of her lack of confidence and conflict with the midwife but in the end she achieves her goal of becoming a midwife’s apprentice. Beetle,who later changes her name to Alyce, throughout the book she experiences bullying, hardship, lack of respect, and doubt about her ability. At the beginning of the book Beetle is miserable but, as the book goes on she becomes useful. Finally, at the end of the book Alyce is confident. The main character, Beetle is miserable at the beginning of the book. The text states that “The taunting, pinching village boys bedeviled the cat as they did her” This shows that Beetle is miserable because the boys are bullying her and her cat. The boys are making fun of her miserable self and that she is living in a dung heap. The text also states“she slept in when she could, and her own unwashed, unnourished, unloved, and unlovely body”. Beetle knows that she is unloved, unwashed, and unlovely and she is accepting it. She thinks that it would be better if she accepts who she is and how miserable she is. As the book continues, …show more content…
Finally, at the end of the book Alyce is confident. Alyce changed her character because when she started to help the midwife around her cottage, food and warmth wasn’t her main priority because she was getting food and shelter for helping the midwife.. She started to become useful when the midwife wasn’t home and people needed help, which forced her to at least try. After all the times she was helping people, she was confident in her ability as a midwife’s apprentice. She even thought that one day she could be a midwife. When I was