Nightingale and Barton: comparative analysis

Clara Barton arrives in London as a dignitary after the civil war, and sits down to discuss her experiences with Florence Nightingale, about the training of nurses. Nightingale greets Barton, and they begin with a little bit of small talk. "Ms. Barton," Nightingale begins, "I have heard that you were a nurse once, in your civil war."

"Well," Barton replied, "there was nothing civil about it. It was absolutely horrific. But we did our best. The men fight, and they commit untold atrocities unto each other, and all we can do is to help. I was on the right side of that war."

"Is there a right side to war? As I'm sure you know, I was in the Crimea and it was especially awful there. There was no…there was no sanitation. I tried to care for the wounded, but there was so much disease and it just ripped through our camp. I think more soldiers died off the battlefield than on it."

"It is difficult. I wish I could be in a position to do something about it. Nobody wants to see these stupid, endless conflicts, but the men make the decisions and they decide to kill each other."

"Don't get me started, Ms. Barton. Don't get me started. I have done many, many things. I have taken the lessons that I learned in Balaklava and started to formalize them to form a coherent vision of nurse training. But this is all I can do. I cannot become a doctor, or a politician, I cannot even cast a vote. We must do what we can."

"Sometimes, we cannot do even that. When the civil war broke out, I wanted to take the job of two men, so that two could go. They would not even accept that; no sacrifice from a woman. It would have insulted them so much. But enough about that. I wanted to talk to you about this nursing education of yours."

"It does what you would expect a woman to do -- to make it egalitarian. With training, everybody could be helped. That's simple, to me, and humane. People with medical needs can be attended to, because we are able to train nurses in such a number that everybody can receive the nursing help they need."

"That would be wonderful, Ms. Nightingale. I have acted as a nurse since I was a child -- it's a role they insist women are good for -- but I can see that with proper training nursing can be for everybody. It is the morally right and just thing to do. It is also something I think that we as women need to do. We can change the world with the roles we are allowed to have. I think we should have better roles, more status -- maybe then we wouldn't need such stupid wars at all -- but working within what we do have, we can change the world."

"Exactly, Ms. Barton. My idea is that if we are going to be nurses -- told we cannot do anything else -- that we can still change the way that all people think about the roles women play. We can teach the world that it okay to love and care for one another, that everybody is deserving of care in their hour of need. There are times when we might not be able to say what we want, truly and freely, but our thoughts are powerful and we can still be a moral beacon if we take the opportunities that exist."

"We can change things for the better, though. I am talking about suffrage. Recently I have been on speaking tours, and have come to meet many strong and powerful women, women like Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. They are working to get women the right to vote. If the world is 50% women, and we have the vote, we can have a strong influence on the way that the world is governed. And, just as importantly, I feel that the efforts of the suffrage movement are instrumental in getting people to take notice of what women are capable of. We may be, in the 19th century, an afterthought, relegated to the role of teacher or nurse or wife, but we shall vote, and that will bring us to equality, so that women in later times will be more respected."

"Now, I love to travel and would relish the opportunity to go to America and spread my ideas there. Do you see your future in the suffrage movement or in nursing?"

"I suspect nursing. The road to the vote will hopefully not be a long one, but you never know. But with nursing, I think we have an imperative to do what we can. There are always crises and catastrophes, wars, fires and disasters. When those strike, it is all we can do to help people, to care for them and provide assistance in their hour of need. I am interested in founding an organization that can bear this responsibility."