Shaking Hands

"The doctor and me have got to be kind of partners..." (Jewett 60).

In Sarah Orne Jewett's The Country of the Pointed Firs, Almira Todd expresses that the doctor can't see and help every patient seeking it, and, therefore, she supports him by reaching out to other patients with her knowledge of herbalogy. Although the two have different procedures in curing, they both are able to assist people in need of one. The cooperation of two people with such difference is also seen in Gloria Naylor's Mama Day when Miranda calls Dr. Smithfield in need for assistance of curing Bernice's pain caused by a drug foreign to Miranda. Not many men play significant roles in both stories overall. In the case above, Mrs. Todd, who also have a large figure and the way of showing affection somewhat more masculine than feminine, is indicating the importance of the doctor getting her support in order to take care of the townspeople, making the women as important as the men. In Mama Day, Miranda is also shown to have a high respect in her town and a irrational power--a power much greater than what the men has in the novel. Both stories magnificently hint women's power. Do the art works portray the superiority of women over men, written in order to support a theory exceeding the feminist one, or did they want to signify the importance of women's role and its maternal qualities in the society? What kind of qualities of women apply to them so that they are kind of a sacred being? Except for the giving of birth to children, what are their significant qualities? Do the stories indicate the importance of men and women shaking hands and working together? If so how? In what way? What would be the most efficient way of the two genders cooperating with each other?