Beryl Markham: Feminism

Title of Unit Name Institution of Affiliation In the book West with the Night by Beryl Markham, the writer outlines and explains in details a number of themes, which touch across a variety of issues in the society. The themes, do address very pertinent society issues which either require a shift in the mind set towards them, an improvement on how they are handled, more measures to be put in place to improve them among many other reasons/intentions why the writer has decided to discuss the themes. One of the themes which Markham brings out and discusses elaborately in the paper is the theme off Feminism. The writer provides an elaborate discussion of the topic, which helps to point out various critical talking points in regard to the subject of feminism in the society. Feminism is a good example of a theme/ issue which the writer wants us to think differently about as a society. When talking about feminism in the book, Beryl Markham spends a lot of time as a young lady working and she spends a lot of time in East Africa CITATION Mar14 \p 85 \l 1033 (Snodgrass 85). She distinguishes herself as the first person to leave England and cross the North Atlantic in from the West direction. In the book, the writer talks about the 1935 incident when she was a bush pilot. She worked in Nairobi at the time. She was commissioned to take an oxygen canister to a miner who was sick in the village of Nungwe. At the place where the sick miner was, Beryl spends some time with him. The sick person is a Dutch nationality who is suffering from Black water disease. After taking the canister to the sick person, Markham gets to be disturbed by the information that a colleague who is a pilot by the name Wood, gets lost in the Serengeti plains. The pilot has been lost for two days and immediately Markham sets out to find the pilot. The above two incidents present god scenarios in which Markham as a lady is tasked with the responsibility of taking care of individuals who need the help. In the first incident, the sick miner is in need of oxygen urgently, while in the second one is a pilot who has got lost and who needs to be traced back. As a woman, Markham gets out of the comfort zone and decides to take a bold move to solve the two scenarios above. As a woman, she does not fear anything but instead makes bold moves to provide solutions to the problemsCITATION Mar14 \p 87 \l 1033 (Snodgrass 87). They are good examples of women at the positions of help to the society, despite what can be viewed as limited capacities to women. At the time when Markham does all the above, is the colonial time, when many women had limited opportunities and ability to make significant contributions to the society. They are good examples of the women who portray the strength of a woman in the society. After, the saving incident both Wood and Beryl get to discuss the reason why they are able to endure all the dangers as well as hardships in their duties. In the book, Markham presents herself as one of the strongest feminist figures who lived before. In the autobiography, the book continues to present even more information on the subject of feminism. Still in the autobiography, the writer presents her childhood stories, whereby she left Britain for east Africa. Her father was a farmer who built a farm at a place known as Njoro. While young, Beryl experienced a number of adventures which includes an attack by a lion which belonged to a neighbor, who had left it to freely roam. The quick intervention of the neighbor saves her life. It is an incident which she says that she vividly remembers in her life. It is an example of some of the incidents...