Chapter 39: Dear Sirs

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Dear Sirs: Miss Frask, once cel­e­brat­ed for her unmatched typ­ing speed and effi­cien­cy in her pro­fes­sion­al prime, now spends her days qui­et­ly typ­ing ser­mons for the local church, far removed from the live­ly pro­fes­sion­al envi­ron­ment she once inhab­it­ed. Her rou­tine is unex­pect­ed­ly dis­rupt­ed when a young and inquis­i­tive girl named Made­line, or Mad, shows up at her office with a bold request to meet some­one named Wake­ly. Intrigued by Frask’s quick typ­ing, Mad’s fas­ci­na­tion sparks an unex­pect­ed con­ver­sa­tion that bridges their seem­ing­ly dis­tant worlds. Through this encounter, Frask is reluc­tant­ly drawn back into mem­o­ries of her past at Hast­ings Research Insti­tute and her inter­ac­tions with Madeline’s par­ents, Eliz­a­beth Zott and Calvin Evans.

As the dis­cus­sion unfolds, Frask begins to share her mem­o­ries of Hast­ings, weav­ing a nar­ra­tive of pro­fes­sion­al sab­o­tage, sys­temic dis­crim­i­na­tion, and per­son­al betray­als that Eliz­a­beth faced as one of the few women in the male-dom­i­nat­ed sci­en­tif­ic field. Eliz­a­beth, despite her ground­break­ing work and excep­tion­al intel­li­gence, had been repeat­ed­ly dis­missed and under­mined by her male col­leagues. Frask recounts how Elizabeth’s career was derailed when she became preg­nant with Madeline—a fact that the insti­tu­tion used to jus­ti­fy her unjust fir­ing. This rev­e­la­tion leaves Made­line stunned, offer­ing her a glimpse into the adver­si­ty her moth­er endured and the sys­temic obsta­cles that women like Eliz­a­beth faced in pur­su­ing careers in sci­ence.

Moved by Madeline’s earnest ques­tions and her own unspo­ken guilt about stand­ing by as Eliz­a­beth suf­fered at Hast­ings, Frask begins to reeval­u­ate her own actions dur­ing those years. When she comes across a dis­parag­ing arti­cle in Life mag­a­zine that mis­rep­re­sents Elizabeth’s accom­plish­ments and casts her in a neg­a­tive light, Frask decides to take action. Over­com­ing her ini­tial hes­i­ta­tions, she writes a bold let­ter to the mag­a­zine, detail­ing the dis­crim­i­na­tion, uneth­i­cal behav­ior, and out­right lies that Hast­ings and fig­ures like Dr. Donat­ti per­pet­u­at­ed to under­mine Eliz­a­beth. To her aston­ish­ment, the let­ter is pub­lished, trig­ger­ing wide­spread pub­lic out­rage and bring­ing Elizabeth’s sto­ry into the spot­light. This moment not only redeems Frask but also begins to set the record straight about the injus­tices Eliz­a­beth faced.

Mean­while, Eliz­a­beth, far from embrac­ing the new­found sup­port from the pub­lic, remains deeply pri­vate and focused on pro­tect­ing her daugh­ter. Still car­ry­ing the scars of her past expe­ri­ences, she is hes­i­tant to acknowl­edge the grow­ing recog­ni­tion of her strug­gles and achieve­ments. Her pri­or­i­ty is shield­ing Made­line from the bit­ter­ness and hard­ships that shaped her own life. How­ev­er, Har­ri­et, a close friend and con­fi­dante, per­sists in remind­ing Eliz­a­beth of the impact she has had on oth­ers. Har­ri­et shares an arti­cle by Roth cel­e­brat­ing unsung female sci­en­tists, includ­ing Eliz­a­beth, and high­light­ing the bar­ri­ers they over­came to make mean­ing­ful con­tri­bu­tions. This recog­ni­tion, while unac­knowl­edged by Eliz­a­beth, begins to paint her lega­cy as one of qui­et strength and per­se­ver­ance.

Amid these devel­op­ments, the chap­ter delves into the intri­cate rela­tion­ships between the char­ac­ters, illus­trat­ing how their shared his­to­ry and indi­vid­ual choic­es shaped the present. Frask’s trans­for­ma­tion from a pas­sive observ­er to an active advo­cate under­scores the impor­tance of con­fronting past wrongs and tak­ing respon­si­bil­i­ty for com­plic­i­ty. Her actions, though belat­ed, rep­re­sent a redemp­tive arc, demon­strat­ing that change is always pos­si­ble, even for those who once stood on the side­lines. Sim­i­lar­ly, Elizabeth’s resilience in the face of sys­temic dis­crim­i­na­tion high­lights the endur­ing strug­gle of women in male-dom­i­nat­ed spaces, and her deter­mi­na­tion to pro­tect Made­line from that real­i­ty under­scores her role as both a sci­en­tist and a moth­er.

The inter­play between per­son­al redemp­tion, sys­temic cri­tique, and the endur­ing pow­er of truth cre­ates a lay­ered and emo­tion­al­ly res­o­nant nar­ra­tive. This chap­ter not only expos­es the harsh real­i­ties of dis­crim­i­na­tion in the sci­en­tif­ic com­mu­ni­ty but also cel­e­brates the resilience of those who con­tin­ue to chal­lenge it. It under­scores the impor­tance of ally­ship, the val­ue of speak­ing out against injus­tice, and the qui­et but pro­found ways that indi­vid­u­als can inspire change in the face of sys­temic inequities.

Through its rich­ly drawn char­ac­ters and detailed explo­ration of past events, the chap­ter offers a com­pelling com­men­tary on resilience, jus­tice, and the endur­ing fight for recog­ni­tion in the face of adver­si­ty. The rela­tion­ships and rev­e­la­tions with­in its pages high­light the pow­er of redemp­tion, the com­plex­i­ty of human con­nec­tions, and the lega­cy of courage that shapes the paths of those who dare to stand against the sta­tus quo. It leaves read­ers with a sense of hope, tem­pered by the knowl­edge that change often requires both indi­vid­ual courage and col­lec­tive action.