Hospital Sketches

Content Warning: The section of the guide includes discussion of illness and death.

Nurse Periwinkle’s day begins with the arrival of injured troops. Hearing “they’ve come!” she initially fears “the rebels” and springs from her bed to die “on the ramparts” (19) if necessary. Her roommate calmly explains that 40 ambulances have arrived with soldiers wounded from Fredericksburg. The nurses will need to wash, dress, feed, and comfort them, a process that will occupy them throughout the day.

After three days of experience, Alcott has a sense of what will be expected of her. She initially looks forward to the wounded arriving, but after spending her days surrounded by illness and death, she “indulged in a most unpatriotic” (20) longing for quiet days at home. After her roommate hurries out, a child pops into her room to summon her, and she goes out to meet her duties.

Leaving her room, her first impression is of “the vilest odors” (20), which she has been warned is a fixture of hospitals. She bears it by sprinkling herself and everything around her with lavender water. Making her way through the bustling area, she arrives in the main hall where the wounded, “our brave boys” (21), await.