40 pages • 1 hour read
Karen CushmanThe Midwife's Apprentice
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1995A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 14-17Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 14 Summary: “The Manor”
One day, Alyce goes to the rich home where she sent Edward to find work, wanting to rescue him if he needs it. The cook explains she watches the boy so that he doesn’t get bullied by the bigger boys. She sends Alyce to fetch Edward from the hen house and then starts up a conversation with herself, which is one of her favorite pastimes because she “hardly ever disagree[s] with what was said” (90).
Chapter 15 Summary: “Edward”
Alyce finds Edward in the hen house playing a game of kings and knights with the chickens. He is thrilled to see her but doesn’t want to leave with her, as he’s found a decent life at the manor. Edward convinces her to stay the night, and as both sleep, they are comforted by the fact that the other is “safe and warm and sheltered and not too very far away” (95).
The next day, Alyce helps the men clean the sheep before their shearing. In the process, her hands become truly clean, and she takes leftover soap to wash the rest of her, finding that, under all the dirt, she is actually pretty.
Chapter 16 Summary: “The Baby”
One night as a thunderstorm hits, rich travelers arrive at the inn, including a woman who’s in labor. A man runs to the village for the midwife, but she is busy with another baby and cannot come. As Alyce watches, too afraid to help, the inn dissolves into chaos, until finally Alyce knows she has to try. All night, she tries things of her own, as well as techniques she learned from Jane, and by morning, she delivers the baby, a boy who has “the black hair of his father and the red face of his mother” (105).
Chapter 17 Summary: “The Midwife’s Apprentice”
Alyce receives offers to remain at the inn, work for Magister Reese in Oxford, or care for the boy she helped deliver. As she thinks about each of these options, she realizes they aren’t what she wants. Truly, she wants to learn all she can about being a midwife from Jane. It will be difficult and uncomfortable, but she decides she doesn’t mind because “though her belly would likely never be full, her heart was content” (110). She returns to the village, but Jane turns her away. Alyce despairs before she remembers the discussion between Jane and the magister, and she marches back to Jane’s cottage, announcing that she’s ready and willing to try and fail and try again. This time, Jane lets her inside.
Chapters 14-17 Analysis
In the climactic final chapters, the transformation Alyce has undergone is clear: “From someone who had no place in the world, she had suddenly become someone with a surfeit of places” (109). Not only does she have steady food and shelter and people who respect and care about her, but she has choices to make that revolve around not her imminent survival but her happiness and contentment.
When Alyce visits Edward at the manor and finds that he is content, The Power of Kindness is evident. Though the life Alyce helped him find isn’t perfect, there are enough good things at the manor to make him feel like he belongs there. This helps Alyce with restoring her confidence, as seeing Edward so well adjusted starts to convince her that not everything she does is a terrible failure. In addition, Alyce’s time at the manor bolsters the thoughts she first had at the festival about being beautiful: After cleaning herself off with soap, Alyce realizes she has much to offer in many ways, and this scene is also a representation of her transformation from who she was into who she becomes. Edward’s appearance in Chapter 15 does something similar. Alyce initially goes to the manor with the intention to take Edward with her because she believes she can do better by him. However, Edward doesn’t want to go because he’s found a place for himself.
Ultimately, Edward’s contentment shows Alyce that The Comfort of Finding’s One’s Place is an attainable goal, even if the journey starts in a difficult place. Once Alyce’s immediate needs are fulfilled, she finally has the freedom to consider what she really wants. Buoyed by her confidence in successfully delivering an unexpected baby in Chapter 16, as well as her understanding that Jane—while “unwelcoming” and imperfect—has important skills to share, Alyce realizes both what she wants and where she wants to be as she resolves that she is, indeed, a midwife’s apprentice.
