The center of Alcott’s sketches is a young woman named Tribulation Periwinkle, inspired in all likelihood from herself during her brief career as a nurse. The opening lines of the text confront the reader with this energetic young lady who, “wants to do something”. This brief sentence is pregnant with meaning, for it conveys, in a precise and concise manner, the circumstances of women during an era where opportunities were scarce and limited.
Tribulation wanted something to do. What is really meant by this brief statement is the girl’s immense desire for opportunity. She wanted to exert herself in the service of her country and fight alongside men. But given the fact that this was not an option for young women during the eighteen hundreds on account of narrow-mindedness and gender-roles, we see her struggle to find a self-affirming position as early as the first passage in the book. Tribulation did not want to be an actress or get married like her sister. Similarly, she had rejected the idea of writing a book or going back to her career as a school mistress.
Deep down, and in spite of the societal norms of the era, Tribulation knew well what she really wanted. She coveted a strong desire to go to war with the young men of her town, and feel that she was fighting alongside them. Yet, she also knew that this was impossible. Her dilemma came to an end, however, when her younger brother came up with an idea suggesting her to offer her services as a nurse to the soldiers of the Civil War.
On the surface, the idea seemed prodigious, and just what Tribulation was looking for. But once set in motion, the process proved to be far more difficult than she had ever imagined. To start with, the task of finding a vacant place on the nursing roster was a complex one. Moreover, it was extremely hard to find and secure transportation to Washington because the trains at the time were at once scarce and full. The name of Tribulation seems to fit the heroin so perfectly at this point of the narrative, for it was only after a series of tribulations that she managed, at last, to start on her interesting journey through New York State, Baltimore and Maryland, arriving in the end to Washington D.C.
In the hospital, the wounded soldiers from the Battle of Fredericksburg awaited her, and many were the tasks she had to perform. She had to wash them clean first, feed them, put them to bed, and talk to them while tending to their wounds. Being an enthusiastic young lady, Tribulation knew well how to do her job. Her relationship with her patients was compared to that of a mother with her infants. In a particular episode, she became incredibly close to a brave man named John. John was a blacksmith from Virginia. He set an example of bravery and good nature to all his companions, and Tribulation soon became fond of him. Unfortunately he passed away shortly after their acquaintance, for his injuries were fatal. John’s death saddened her deeply and even though she knew him but for a brief period, the impact he made on her remained for a very long time afterwards.
The sketches expand to include the doctors and nurses’ circumstances and hardships as well as those of soldiers. The hospitals were erected to tend the wounded soldiers in the first place, but were so short in working hands that the recovering soldiers were expected to help as soon as their health allowed them to. Sometimes, such tremendous efforts from weakened men enfeebled them so much that they found themselves shortly afterwards worse than they were initially and occasionally even dead. The conditions of the nurses were quite similar, for their nutrition was limited while the amount of work they had to do was colossal. The hygiene of the hospitals was included in the sketches as well during Tribulation’s sickness in order to throw the light upon every single side of the sketched events. Shortly afterwards, Tribulation was so weakened that she had to put an end to her career as a nurse.
