March 8, 2026

The most interesting character in Mark Twain's The Gilded Age is a young woman living in Philadelphia who is determined to become a doctor. When I first read this book, I was fascinated by the portrayal of this person and I was curious how much of this was based on the lives of real women of the time period.

This morning, I got my answer. The Philadelphia Inquirer published a story about the Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania which was founded about a generation before Twain wrote his book. This institution was the first medical school in the world dedicated to the training of women physicians. So there is no doubt that this fantastic literary character was displaying the same traits as the women of that Philadelphia college.

The picture used in the Inquirer shared many similarities to one of the illustrations in Twain's book. Both show young women examining a dead body while surrounded by skeletal remains. In the work of fiction, the family and friends of the young woman thought that she would abandon her dreams after coming face-to-face with death. On the contrary, this only convinced her more strongly of the need for more doctors and better doctors, especially those with the knowledge and life experiences of being a woman.

So when they tell her that seeing the dead body was probably enough to make her give up her goal of being a doctor, she responds with a "NO!!". Saying that only now (after seeing the dead body), does she truly understand the importance of being a physician. She then remarks that this is a noble profession for a woman.

Therefore, on this International Women's Day, let us honor those trailblazing women from the time of Twain who rejected the roles society placed on them and instead fought, against all odds, to make the world a better place. Let us also take a moment today to recognize all the women of our own times that have followed in the footsteps of these trailblazers and continue to prove what a noble profession being a doctor is for women.