Survival and Transformation: The Tale of Karen in a Post-apocalyptic World

In Meg Elisons’, Book of the Unnamed Midwife, a deadly fever takes most of the women and children of the world's population, Karen was one of the few females to survive. In the male dominant world, change was required in order to have protection and survive. Karen had to change her life from a sophisticated nurse to a more barbaric way of living, disguise herself, and move often in order to protect herself and survive. Karen was quickly introduced to the new barbaric lifestyle she would have after she woke in the hospital. She had been admitted to the hospital when she had caught the fever, leaving her to wake alone since the majority of the population had died. After Karen woke she went back to her home to eat and sleep. That’s when she

During the apocalypse, Elison depicts Karen being in danger because she is a woman. She does this through the circumstance, “One of them pointed at her and got the attention of the man next to him by swatting him backhanded on the chest… They broke into a run headed straight toward her” (Elison 25). At first, she was confused. Karen had no idea why these men were running at her, but she knew she was not going to stand there and wait on them to reach her, so she ran too. Along the way, Karen had met two men named Joe and Chicken who she was with when the men began to run at her and with their help they all hid until the other men were gone. Although Karen didn’t understand what was going on Chicken informed her, “They wanted you. They saw you a girl, and decided they want to take you with them, so they run you down” (Elison 26). At that moment Karen realized she wasn’t safe in her own skin. She went to look for men's clothing so she could hide the fact that she was a woman and did that successfully. Karen tells that she found, “a compression vest to hide my tits… Shaved my head.. Got men’s cargo pants and combat boots, with a couple of loose shirts and my hoodie on top” (Elison 30). After she found a way to disguise herself, she went through what kind of demeanor men portrayed, so she could mock them and not be found out. Finding mens clothes wasn’t the only way she changed to

In the start once Karen realized she was in danger because she was a woman she was ready to leave her city. “Getting out of the city took longer than I thought”, Karen informs us (Elison 30). The goal was to get out of the city without being seen. Although she had already changed her appearance she was still worried that she would be found out. This was not the only time Karen had to leave. She was found out when she was hiding in a house, but she wasn’t only found, the men that found her also realized that she was a female. The men were trying to get to Karen when they finally gave up and one said, “We’ll be back, sweetheart. All of us. Get ready to come along. There’s no other choice” (Elison 51) That is when she new it was time to leave again or the men were coming back for her. In Karen’s case she didn’t know what for and she wasn’t trying to find out. While Karen was traveling she was deciding where the best place for her to go was. She tells us she’s “Hoping to make it into Colorado, but Utah is slowing me down” (Elison 89). Not real sure of what was to be found anywhere Karen was just trying to find somewhere safe or if there were any other women and children. She did, however, find a small town in Huntsville with a small community that was very religious, so she stayed a few days with them. After being with them a few days, “She was relieved to get away