The Witches of New York

“In the building beneath the tower that held the time ball, a mindful order of women sat—side by side, row on row, storey upon storey, one hundred young ladies in all, working round the clock to translate the wishes of men to dots and dashes.”

As a description of the New York landscape, this passage highlights the difference in expectations based on gender as an engrained aspect of the city. Women work in service of men, while men are able to entertain wishes and grand ideals. McKay uses humor here by subverting expectations; she uses fairy tale-esque language to describe the mundane task of transcribing Morse code for telegraphs.

“Printed matter […] soon crept across the rose-patterned wallpaper, replacing blossoms and stems with headlines, illustrations and odd bits of news.”

The decorations on Beatrice’s wall both predict her eventual commitment to writing her book, A Census of Astonishments, and reveal how she differs from traditional gender roles. Rather than being a literal wallflower, her interests are in investigative work.

“Lydia believed the only path to a woman’s betterment was through making her own way.”

This passage implies a generational attempt at moving away from traditional domestic gender roles. By encouraging her niece’s personal development, Lydia is actively disrupting women’s expected lifestyles. Throughout Beatrice’s childhood, Lydia normalizes women’s ability to choose different paths for themselves.