Hospital Sketches Primary and Secondary Source Pape

The Image, Education, Training, and Work of Civil War Nurses: A Comparative Analysis of Louisa May Alcott’s Hospital Sketches Student’s Name Institution of Affiliation Course Instructor Date A Comparative Analysis of Louisa May Alcott’s Hospital Sketches Hospital Sketches, written by Louisa May Alcott, is a firsthand and detailed view of Civil War nursing. In this source, Alcott paints the picture of the appearance, discipline, and routine work of the nurses and thus provides a unique insight into the role of the nurses at a time when everything in the United States was in shock. By comparing her account with secondary sources, particularly Chapter 6 of “Nursing in the United States during the 1800s: Inspiration and Insight Lead to Nursing Reforms” by Fairman and D'Antonio (2013), the individual and group experiences of nurses during the Civil War are discernible. In Hospital Sketches, Louisa May Alcott paints a picture of Civil War nurses as considerably overworked, largely untrained, and motivated by nationalism and a sense of responsibility like the kind of nurse that Alcott was without any professional training in nursing or education. This portrayal, on the one hand, explores the historical icons of nursing by women, and on the other hand, brings out the Civil War period in which professional nursing began to develop its own identity. The Image of Nurses Nurses are depicted as done to the worst in Hospital Sketches by Alcott, and despite their kindness, they are overworked, ill-equipped, and placed in an environment that demands a lot from them. The culture of nurses in the 1800s, presented by Fairman and D'Antonio (2013), was primarily built around the principles of selflessness, sacrifice, morality, and dedication...