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The Doctor
Works with the doctor in the hospital where Thi Bui gives birth. She is cold, clinical, and impersonal—she gives Bui’s son a checkup and transports Bui with him to another room, then leaves them there and says, “Here is your baby. Good night!” Like the doctor’s indifference to Bui’s feelings, the nurse’s manner shows Bui the contradiction between her own experience of giving birth (as a singular, lifechanging moment that connects her to her mother and ancestors) and the world’s relative indifference to what is now seen as a routine medical event. The contrast between the nurse and the midwives who help Má give birth six times helps Bui illustrate the differences between Vietnamese and American culture.
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The Nurse Character Timeline in The Best We Could Do
The timeline below shows where the character The Nurse appears in The Best We Could Do. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1: Labor
...the medicine and Thi worries about her mother, who is vomiting in the hospital bathroom. A nurse brings a “tray of surgical instruments.” This reminds Thi of overhearing Bố tell Má a...
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...eyes.” Thi thinks “don’t let him fall,” and she holds him to her belly before the nurse takes him away and he starts to cry. While Thi deals with the placenta, “Má...
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Má and Travis leave, and the nurse takes Thi to another room, where the baby gets a crib by her side. The...
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