Quote 7
The Olinka do not believe girls should be educated. When I asked a mother why she thought this, she said: A girl is nothing to herself; only to her husband can she become something.
What can she become? I asked.
Why, she said, the mother of his children.
But I am not the mother of anybody’s children, I said, and I am something.
You are not much, she said. The missionary’s drudge. (62.3-7)
Nettie learns that women are not thought of very highly in Olinka culture. To the Olinka, a woman’s only importance is with respect to the men in her life. Nettie, on the other hand, sees women as having inherent value.
Quote 8
Tashi is very intelligent, I said. She could be a teacher. A nurse. She could help the people in the village.
There is no place here for a woman to do those things, he said.
Then we should leave, I said. Sister Corrine and I.
No, no, he said.
Teach only the boys? I asked.
Yes, he said, as if my question was agreement.
There is a way that the men speak to women that reminds me too much of Pa. (63.14-20)
Nettie recognizes that to the Olinka, her only value is her position with respect to men. Nettie is valuable because she can educate boys. In addition, the Olinka men, just like Pa, are very interested in maintaining their dominance over women by denying females education and by speaking down to them.