Nurse is an employee of Bertha Young and cares for Bertha and Harry’s young daughter, Little B. Nurse seems to have a very close bond with Little B, even though she is Bertha’s daughter and not her own, and is resentful of Bertha’s attempts to spend time with the baby. Although Bertha’s wish to bond with her daughter is genuine, Nurse views her desire to feed her daughter as interference and this type of interaction, between an upper-class woman and her child, as unconventional and improper.
Nurse Quotes in Bliss
The Bliss quotes below are all either spoken by Nurse or refer to Nurse. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Bliss
Quotes
She stood watching them, her hands by her side, like the poor little girl in front of the rich little girl with the doll. The baby looked up at her again, stared, and then smiled so charmingly that Bertha couldn’t help crying: “Oh, Nanny, do let me finish giving her her supper while you put the bath things away.”
“Well, M'm, she oughtn't to be changed hands while she's eating,” said Nanny, still whispering. “It unsettles her; it’s very likely to upset her.”
How absurd it was. Why have a baby if it has to be kept—not in a case like a rare, rare fiddle-but in another woman's arms?
Related Characters:Nurse (speaker), Bertha Young (speaker), Little B
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
145
Explanation and Analysis:
Bertha goes to the nursery and watches the Nurse feeding her daughter, Little B. Bertha is jealous of the connection between the Nurse and her daughter and wishes that she could spend time with her daughter in this way. Bertha’s situation here represents the norm for middle and upper-class women in early 1900s in Britain. It was very common for children to be raised by a nanny and, because society was strictly divided into roles by class, it was deemed improper for women of Bertha’s class to look after their own children since physical jobs like childcare were viewed as Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui e
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The timeline below shows where the character Nurse appears in Bliss. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Bliss
In the nursery, Nurse is feeding Bertha’s infant daughter, Little B, her supper. When the baby sees Bertha, she...
(full context)
...Bertha and Bertha is so delighted that she can no longer contain herself and begs Nurse to finish feeding Little B herself. Nurse is irritated and does not think that this...
(full context)
Nurse re-enters the nursery and tells Bertha that someone is on the phone for her. Bertha...
(full context)