“Good nurses follow rules…but the best know when to break them.”
As a protégé of Florence Nightingale, Lib abides by the medical rules that revolutionized nursing towards reducing mortality rates. Her role as the overseer representing the medical world in the small town makes her much stricter. On arrival, she barely compromises when it comes to performing the duties that she has been assigned. However, when it comes to saving lives sometimes following the rules can lead to unnecessary suffering or deaths. During the Crimean War, she learned that breaking rules can occasionally accomplish the intended goals in the medical field. As such, Lib goes out of her way to help the young girl who is apparently starving and being abused by her family.
“And why must it always be presumed that a woman’s views are based on personal considerations?”
The narrative takes place at a time when misogyny was part of human society and women were treated as lesser beings. However, as women proved the patriarchal notions wrong, their place in the workplace was still questioned or discredited. In the statement, Lib responds to Byrne who claims that she believes in science rather than religion because she is widowed. She highlights the tendency of society to link the judgment of women to their personal preferences or aspects. Being in a town that is religious Lib is seen as an individual who has lost her faith and relies on science. This leads to several instances of judgments and by extension preconceptions based on gender.
“If Earth was such unworthy soil for God’s best specimens, why did he perversely plant them there?”
Lib is a Protestant with preconceptions about the Catholics in this small town that believes in the "miracle" of the young girl. Her stay brings up the debate between science and faith regarding whether the occurrence is a miracle or faux. Not only does Lib want to prove that the phenomenon is untrue but also highlight the superiority of scientific knowledge. In the quotation, Lib asserts her misgivings about religion and its teachings because they seem to contradict her views. It makes sense to her that the violence and suffering that she witnessed during the war proves the lack of divine intervention in the world.
