Take My Hand

One of the primary themes in Take My Hand is Civil’s desire to save people and unequal power dynamic needed for her to maintain her role as a savior. Civil’s decision to become a nurse and work at the Montgomery clinic fulfills that desire, and her subsequent actions with the Williams family illustrate the complex motivations behind her savior tendencies.

Civil chooses to be a nurse instead of a doctor because, “Medicine was a land of hierarchy, and nurses were closer to the ground. I was going to help uplift the race, and this clinic job would be the perfect platform for it” (12). She also feels a sense of purpose to “ease the burdens of poverty. Stamp it with both feet” (6).

Mrs. Seager represents this theme in her role at the clinic. She tells Civil: “Our mission [at the clinic] is to help poor people who cannot help themselves” (11). As the story plays out, and as Civil becomes more aware of the atrocities the clinic performs in the name of saving their patients, she still embraces her savior role. Race plays into her distinction between herself and Mrs. Seager; Civil believes Mrs. Seager’s policies are racist, but she does not see her own classism in her attitude toward the Williamses.