Letter Number Four to Margaret Sanger

Letter Number Four to Margaret Sanger

Married at the age of seventeen, by the time she reached

twenty-eight she had given birth to four children and had two

miscarriages. She is worn out and doesn't know what to do with

herself. The last child she gave birth to, now nine months

old, was on her bathroom floor accompanied by a neighbor. The

doctor did not arrive until two hours later. She was almost

had blood poison and was still suffering from milk leg, which

is a painful swelling of the leg caused by inflammation and

clotting in the veins and affects some postpartum women. Since

her husband does not make a good amount of money neither to

support the family nor to hire someone to help out, this

resulted in her having to get right to work with supporting

the family.

The winter time is hard to cope with because coal was too much

but the family needed to be kept warm. She gets all torn up on

trying to keep up with the families needs because six children

with her husband is hard to take care of for one woman. She is

not happy with her life and does not have any time for

amusement for herself. She is asking Margaret Sanger to help

poor people like herself (writer of the letter). She is also

asking Sanger to help her because if she has anymore children

she would not be able to bear the child's suffering because

after all expenses are paid she feels like they don't have any

money left as it is at this point.

This woman feels like there is no point in living anymore. She

is always worried about getting pregnant. She tried to stay

away from her husband in sexual activity but resulted in him

getting angry and bad-tempered. He is stubborn and doesn't

think his wife is suffering or under any pressure. It is hard

for her to see her children sick and to make their clothing

and the list could go on. She is not asking for much but some

knowledge from Sanger to help her get through life a little

more easily. She is having heart trouble and doesn't want it

to get worse by having more children. She would like to see

her children grow and be able to be there for them rather then

her die and her four children be lonely.

This letter reveals the life many women lived in the 1920’s.

There were so many poor women who would try not to get

pregnant but there was no way of stopping it. Many women would

try to stay away from their husbands but would result in an

angry conflict. Many women were stay at home mothers