CATHERINE, CALLED BIRDY, Sexism, Ableism, and Me: What I Learned from Karen Cushman’s Novels

Great humanities fabrication is immersive. As a kid, it often made maine consciousness similar I’d clip traveled. Karen Cushman’s mediate people novels from the 1990s, The Midwife’s Apprentice and Catherine, Called Birdy, transported me. Historical fabrication besides made maine recognize what I had successful communal with radical from the past and which societal issues inactive existed successful my ain time.

The operation “girl power” was everyplace successful precocious 1990s popular culture, erstwhile I was successful 4th oregon 5th grade, and I associated it with loud, aggravated stone bands. My household has ever encouraged maine to beryllium autarkic and opinionated, but I astir apt thought autarkic women were a caller phenomenon. Although the aesthetics were wholly different, Cushman’s novels helped maine recognize radical person felt trapped by societal expectations and fought them passim history.

Catherine, Called Birdy is an epistolary caller written successful diary format. Birdy’s entries incorporate everything astir her regular beingness successful 1200s England, from mundane chores to saints’ days. As Sarah Rettger wrote astir Birdy on Book Riot successful 2013: “Wouldn’t you take keeping a diary implicit doing your regular spinning?” The 1995 Trophy Newbery transcript I work had a screen illustration of Catherine rigging a bucket to determination implicit a suitor’s head.

Lena Dunham adapted and directed Amazon Prime’s 2022 movie adaptation of Catherine, Called Birdy. She remembers the publication arsenic a puerility favorite. The movie, starring Bella Ramsey arsenic Birdy, captures the character’s unsocial dependable and rebellious personality. Her exclamation of “Corpus bones!” is repeated often successful some the movie and the book.

Birdy is simply a vivid quality — ne'er vague. She’s ambiguous, though, due to the fact that readers tin construe and place with her for assorted reasons. She wants to beryllium a monk, not a nun, demonstrating however thoroughly she rejects accepted sex roles. Her member Edward, a monk, says she wouldn’t win astatine disguising herself arsenic a boy.

Birdy thinks: “[W]ith these apples connected my chest, I would not fool adjacent the astir aged of abbots. Deus! Last twelvemonth they were but walnuts and I mightiness person gotten distant of it…I thought mayhap to articulation a nunnery instead, but arsenic the main concern of nuns is embroidery, it would beryllium similar falling from the spit into the cooking fire.” This transition contains Birdy’s trademark frank discussions of bodily functions and puberty.

This country besides shows however the publication lends itself to aggregate interpretations that enactment arsenic well. Birdy whitethorn privation to unrecorded arsenic a man, oregon person the aforesaid state arsenic a pistillate that men have. The monks’ activities, specified arsenic illuminating manuscripts, whitethorn entreaty to her much than the nuns’ needlework. The substance supports readings of Birdy arsenic perchance queer, adjacent if she lacks the vocabulary to picture this. LGBTQIA kids person ever existed. Birdy wants her autonomy astatine each costs.

No wonderment this publication was a touchstone to truthful galore Millennials, particularly queer Millennials. Rereading the publication arsenic an adult, Jeanna Kadlec wrote successful 2019, “it struck maine that the crippled was driven little by the question of matrimony oregon nary matrimony and much by Catherine’s analyzable narration to socially mandated feminine obedience and submission.” Kadlec wrote that she learned astir consent arsenic a kid partially from this book. Birdy’s refusal to hold to a matrimony she didn’t privation was powerful. In the book, Catherine’s begetter represents the oppressive, abusive patriarchy successful general, arsenic Kadlec’s effort points out. The movie develops him much arsenic a character. In the film, Catherine sees her father’s tender broadside erstwhile helium fears his wife, Lady Aislinn, volition dice successful childbirth.

Unlike Birdy, I’ve ne'er felt immoderate deficiency of acceptance from my family. I’m disabled and aromantic. I’ve often felt my nine successful wide pressuring maine to consciousness atrocious for myself, beryllium little opinionated, oregon to hunt for fulfillment successful romanticist relationships. Birdy has ever been a relation exemplary to nonconformists.

Soon aft finishing Birdy, I work The Midwife’s Apprentice, different award-winning mediate people caller by Cushman acceptable successful medieval England. The protagonist, Alyce, is simply a homeless, orphan miss who creates her ain individuality and spot successful the world. The villagers see a “two-headed calf” an omen of evil. Even then, I thought a “two-headed” carnal was a brace of conjoined twins. I was horrified to larn that disabled radical and animals were believed to symbolize evil. However, I besides sensed this was an important portion of disablement history, which I should cognize astir arsenic a disabled person.

The commencement of a “two-headed calf” successful The Midwife’s Apprentice was my astonishing gateway to probe “freak shows” and different dehumanizing aspects of disablement history. I archetypal recovered and work Michel de Montaigne’s effort “Of a Monstrous Child” connected my ain successful precocious school. Montaigne lived successful 16th period France and helped make essays arsenic a modern literate form. In this essay, helium describes children with assorted disabilities, including conjoined twins. This effort inactive horrifies maine due to the fact that it describes disabled children’s bodies successful an invasive mode and calls them “monstrous.”

Ironically, the ending turns overmuch much accepting:

Those which we telephone monsters are not truthful with God, who successful the immensitie of his worke seeth the infinitie of formes therein contained…We telephone that against nature, which commeth against custome. There is nothing, whatsoever it be, that is not according to hir. Let truthful this universall and naturall reason, pursuit from america the error, and expell the astonishment, which noveltie breedeth, and strangenes causeth successful us.

Montaigne writes that non-disabled radical statement disabled radical strange, abnormal, oregon unnatural, but they should not. We can’t beryllium unnatural if quality (or God) made america that way. The onus is connected non-disabled radical to alteration however they deliberation of and dainty disabled people. As I reread it, I tin hint the writer interrogating his ain biases, possibly having an epiphany. This is precisely however each large essays work, adjacent today. I inactive deliberation “natural” and “normal” are arbitrary and harmful labels.

The sexism and ableism successful the medieval settings of Karen Cushman’s novels were much convulsive and blatant than thing I’d witnessed oregon experienced arsenic a kid. However, these forms of oppression inactive exist. The opposition with my ain epoch helped maine admit them much clearly. I often recovered humanities fabrication truthful vivid and fascinating, it led maine to work much history, on with fabrication and essays from centuries ago.

Check retired much books astir the Middle Ages, oregon historical fabrication about immoderate era.