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Louisa May Alcott and Little Women The morality of the 19 th century Victorian Era is renown in modern times as a standard, from which the society of today has deferred from in as many ways as conceivably possible. Yet there were those at that time whom thought even then that the moral integrity of youthful society was degrading at a vicious speed. So when a novel filled with didactic tones, professing the assets of domestic ism along with feminism, appeared in 1868, parents were clamoring to buy Little Women for their young girls. The young girls themselves loved to indulge in the antics of Jo March and Teddy Lawrence; reading each chapter like watching another episode in an ongoing sitcom. Coming from strong transcendentalist roots, Alcott was an idealistic as well as a realistic Victorian author, whos early experimentation with childrens literature brought her the status as being one of the most influential writers in American history. The March family story begins during Christmas time amid the confusion of the Civil War.
Though far away from the actual battlefields, this New England family still feels the affects of the war. Little Women starts off by the family hearth where sisters Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy anxiously await news from a chaplain father off on the front lines. As they sit there, the girls complain of their despondent situations, which in actuality are really not that bad. This picturesque beginning is important and informative for it casts the mold from which the girls futures are shaped. As their mother, known lovingly as Marmee, bursts into the cozy scene, the main piece falls into place, and the timeless story of Little Women starts to unfold.
Christmas is a time of joy, sharing, and love. The Marches do not have much, but on this particular occasion, the girls learn the essence of the golden rule. By giving up their Christmas breakfast to a family truly in need of this charity, the sisters not only find out the true meaning of kindness and self-sacrifice, but they are also rewarded for their good deed by a sympathetic neighbor next door. This is the beginning of a lasting relationship with the stern but kindly benefactor Mr. Lawrence, and his grandson Teddy, or otherwise known as Laurie.
Teddy first comes into the March circle by a chance meeting with Jo at a dance party. After this fateful event, Laurie becomes like a sixth sister to the March girls, but exceptionally to Jo. Later on in the book, a major event is when Teddy professes his love for Jo, but with Jo turns him down for she loved him only as a friend. At the end of the book, readers find Laurie finally finding his mate in Amy when they happen to meet in Europe. Meg also finds romance in Teddy's tutor John Brooke. Excluded from the relationship scene is Beth who, from the beginning, is portrayed as being too good for this world.
Her sickness from scarlet fever, and her early death is the turning point in Little Women. As Meg leaves in marriage, so does Amy in her trip to Europe, and Jo in her job to New York; Beth embarks on the ultimate journey from which there is no return. Beths sickness and inevitable death is the main tragedy of the novel, but it is also one of the best things that could have happened to the remaining girls. When the sisters reflect back on their lives amid this sad situation, each one starts to grow and mature from this experience. Especially in Jos case, when she travels to New York City to work as a governess. While there, she becomes acquainted with Professor Frederick Beer who teaches her to peel away the childish layers of the past, and blossom into the woman she has the potential to be.
Little Women slowly winds down to a finish with the fruitful finishing of Jos first novel. Always the author of the family, paralleling Alcott's real-life situation, Jo finally finds the inspiration and idea for the right kind of book. Instead of creating fantastical fiction pieces, she concentrates on what is more realistic and familiar. This gesture of maturity finally shows readers that Jo is now a grown up woman who knows what to make of her life.
As the family gathers together one sunny afternoon, the cycle of growth and maturation is almost at completion. With children of their own, the remaining March sisters and their mother reflect on these past few years. Just as the tone in the beginning suggests vigor and curiosity of youth, the end promises the stability and tranquility of each womans settled future. Louisa May Alcott ensconced this novel in heavy didactic undertones.
This can be attributed to her family background, for she was the daughter of transcendentalist philosopher / teacher , Bronson Alcott. Without actually preaching morality outright, Louisa May Alcott cleverly created situations and variations in her plots that provided readers with an idea of following the right course through believable examples. This was a major reason for her wide spread popularity with children and parents alike. The protagonists in Little Women are by no means perfect, therefore children of almost all ages could relate to the flawed characters. On the other hand, parents wanted to buy Little Women so that their children could learn from the moralistic themes streamed throughout the book (Louisa May Alcott 8). This intimate knowledge of her youthful audience comes from the Alcott looking back at her own early days, and producing from her own experiences, realistic adventures for the characters in Little Women.
Alcott wrote Little Women with the intent on it being a mid-nineteenth century apprenticeship novel for young ladies. The book can also be called a bildungsroman because the characters in it develop as the story progresses; they learn and become mature through a series of learning processes. Often times novels in this genre are autobiographical, and Little Women is much an epitome of bildungsroman ways of literature. Alcott draws so heavily from her own past experiences that it was sometimes hard to tell whether or not it was Jo talking or if it was Alcott speaking (Davidson 11).
Though Alcott's life was not exactly like Jos life in Little Women, the parallel still exists even after she idealizes the perfect family down onto paper. The tone of this book is very sentimental and idealistic, while at the same time not overly pretentious and ostentatious to the point of fantasy. Idealism prevails throughout the story and many believe that the reason why Alcott made the March family so wonderful was because that was what she wanted for herself. Unfortunately, Little Women would only ever be sentimental pictures of a family life that never was (MacDonald 11). Alcott appealed to that little piece inside all people that yearn to be part of a loving March family (Louisa May Alcott 9).
Even though family life was less than perfect for Alcott, it was still the driving force in her life. The ultimate reason for Alcott's creation of Little Women was to help her family financially. Only through some intense wheedling from her publisher Thomas Niles, did Alcott finally agree to write a childrens novel. Her works before were mainly gothic or reminiscent pieces, and the Little Women was a definite change of pace (Louisa May Alcott 9).
The idea of change is implied in the settings of the book. Contrasts between cozy New England, exotic Italy, and adventurous New York City provide the locale for the sisters journey through life. Italy and New York City were written into the book to emphasize Amy and Jos exploration of the world away from home. New England is placed as the main setting for the March household, and the theme that home is where the heart is, is implied through out the plot. Fortunately, though Alcott emphasized the colour and atmosphere of New England so much, she did not overshadow the other events and happenings in the book (Shealy 5).
The structure of Little Women is written in episodic form, which allots specific chapters to specific characters and problems. Examples such as Meg Goes to Vanity Fair and Jo Meets Apollyon show that each girl has a chapter devoted her personal problem, and her solution to that problem. The novel was written in two parts, Part I came out in 1868, while the Part II came a year later (Kopacz 43). The process in which the March sisters mature through adolescence and early adulthood is paralleled to John Bunyan's book The Pilgrims Process (1678, 1684) early in the novel. The girls start off with individual problems, and it is up to them to journey onward to find solutions to these problems.
Amy has haughtiness written all over her, Beth is painfully meek, Jo is too rough, and Meg is too obsessed with wealth and vanity (Louisa May Alcott 9). With Marmee's help, the girls learn that by working together and sharing, they could make the journey of discovery much easier to handle. The growth and coming of age for girls are particularly tough in a male dominated society. As the March sisters first see glimpses of their prospective futures after they leave the safety of home (Elbert 143), they soon realize that much of their present independence has to be sacrificed. Whereas men gain so much from marriage, the woman must be content in giving up once treasured practices. Sexuality also dominates the adolescent period when girls and boys finally notice each other.
This was a touchy subject back in the mid-eighteen hundreds because sexuality went up against the pure and celibate Victorian ideal for women (Davidson 11). Little Women has appealed to generation after generation because of one very important reason: the readers have a common bond with the characters. Instead of being flawless, Alcott's work was considered unconventional because of her characters lack of perfection. By letting her protagonists actually live a life on their own, shes creating a special appeal that young readers enjoy immensely, more then if the sisters were perfect little angels (Louisa May Alcott 9). The major conflict within the novel was the sisters struggle to balance their independence with the restrictive aspects of marriage. Feminism and domestic ism clash in: one praises the ideals of independence and self-reliability, while the other promotes dependence and male domination (166).
Alcott was never married herself, and she was a known supporter of womens rights (Elbert Preface X). In the Mid- 19 th century, marriage was the easiest and most obvious way for women to become financially stable. Though some jobs such as being a governess, teacher, or companion were acceptable work for women, only by marriage to success could they bring financial stability (Kopacz 47). In the novel, instead of making domestic ism an enemy of feminism, domestic practices will actually help the feminist cause (Elbert 154). Author Sarah Elbert in her book A Hunger for Home: Louisa May Alcott and Little Women stated that one part of the domestic life that Alcott emphasized through a comical experience was the idea of the work ethic (153).
Household chores seem to be all drudgery and laborious work, but it induces independence and the appreciation of work in the girls (154). In one chapter, Marmee had let the girls forgo their daily duties for a week, and set it as an experiment that all play, and no work, is as bad as all work, and no play (Alcott 107). In a series of disasters in the end, the sisters learnt the hard way what Marmee had been saying all along. Self-sacrifice is another theme that runs through the novel. Ever since the girls first gave up there Christmas breakfasts willingly, and getting compensated by a wonderful Christmas dinner, they realize that doing good can bring good too. Self-sacrifice is seen within all the characters.
For example, Marmee gives up her husband for her country, Beth gets sick and ultimately dies from scarlet fever contracted while being charitable to the Hummels, and both Jo and Meg give up some of their pride and time to work for the family's benefit. The March family also sacrifices their once complete family unity by marrying away. So sacrifice is an important part of the contents in Little Women (Louisa May Alcott 8). Poverty has always been seen as something to be ashamed of, but Alcott suggests that poverty is just a better way to learn how to appreciate the simpler things in life. The girls do not realize how much they actually have in love and family, when all they can think of are material wealth and money problems. A comparison can be made between the Lawrence mansion and the March household.
Before their befriending each other, the Lawrence mansion was a cold and dreary place for young Laurie to live in. Though the Lawrence's had the financial wealth, the Marches truly had the most valuable treasure in a close family (Kopacz 45). Marriage has always been an important issue for women, and Alcott expresses her opinions through Little Women. She believed that marriage was not the only choice for women, and that independence is still a good alternative. But in accordance with her writing to sell, and her understanding of different personality types, Alcott manages to pair the girls up accordingly. Meg marries John Brooke, who though poor, is a loving and hard-working husband.
Through this relationship, Meg understands how to become more pragmatic with her financial situation (Elbert 156 - 7). Beth will never marry for she was made to be too good for this world, so by dying at an early age, Alcott never had to worry about Beths future (MacDonald 4, 11). All of Alcott's readers expected a marriage between the best friends, Jo and Teddy, but these implications proved false when Jo rejects his proposal. Susan Elbert claims that a marriage between Jo and Laurie would be almost incestuous, for Jo is like a foster mother to Laurie, calling him my boy, so such a relationship would never have worked (155 - 6). In the end, Jo falls in love and marries a German professor who in many aspects calms her roughness and gives her stability (Louisa May Alcott 9). Laurie does have a happy future with Amy later because they meet in Italy and realize all their similarities and like interests, and soon get married after the tragic early death of Beth.
Even though Louisa May Alcott tried to marry the girls off without too much sacrifice of free will, readers can still sense that the women were being sold short of what they deserved (Magill and Mazzeno 3664) Some critics not only believe that Alcott sold short the women in her novel, but they also believe she failed her readers. On the other hand, some critics view Alcott as a literary genius of her time. Those who are more favorable towards Little Women usually refer to the period in which the book was written, when it would have been received more hospitably. And those who are more critical towards this childrens author (Wells) do not take her seriously because they try to analyze her writing using modern, 20 th century views. There is also the male and female aspect of Alcott's criticism, where modern men and women see Little Women from different viewpoints.
Altogether, the variety of literary criticism on Louisa May Alcott reflect the variety of audiences that Little Women has touched or influenced over the years. Editor Frank N. Magill and co-editor Laurence W. Mazzeno lends the argument that, though Little Women has the reputation of being little more than a moral battering ram aimed at nineteenth century adolescent girls, the book was actually much larger in scope and more complex in feeling (3663). Daniel Shealy even suggests that instead of containing too much didacticism, Little Women is actually written with very little outright pre achiness (4). This lack of a holier-than-thou attitude kept up the books popularity even after more than a hundred years has passed since it was first published.
In 1868, little did Louisa May Alcott know that over a hundred years later her new book Little Women would become a famous American literary classic. Nina Auerbach believes this to be due to the nostalgic quality of Little Women that has made generations of people yearn for a domestic haven such as found in the March home (Auerbach as ctd. in Shealy 9 - 10). Madeleine B. Stern points out that this emphasis on domesticity was not because Alcott lacked literary prowess in other areas of novel writing, but rather that she chose the simple, down-to-earth approach of the domestic novel because she had perfected it (29). On the other hand, this clear and simple way of getting the message through opens up new areas for critics to attack Little Women.
Examples of critics who think Alcott oversimplifies her stories are Nina Baym and David E. Smith. Baym believes that Alcott takes complex adult themes, which are only perfect, if they are complicated, and simplifies them to fit into a life lesson for young girls. In this simplification of a rather more detailed plot, Baym suggests that the themes become generic and lose their true message (Baym as ctd.
in Shealy 9). Using another route to criticize Little Women is author David E. Smith who takes a look at Alcott's use of John Bunyan's book Pilgrims Process. He believes that Alcott takes Christian (the main protagonist) and once again oversimplifies his journey to fit into a simple plot in Little Women (Smith as ctd. in Shealy 9). The general negative consensus of oversimplification is once again expressed by Brigid Brophy because she believes that Alcott was unwilling to analyze her characters in-depth, thus losing out on a literary triumph that might been (Brophy as ctd.
in Shealy 9). Madeleine B. Stern makes a counter argument against those who think Little Women to be superficial and childish. She argues that Little Women was simple because Alcott intended it to be so, not because she did not have the ability to make it more complex (29). This is another example of Alcott's knowledge of who her true readers are. It was not written for professors of English, but for young people who are still learning.
This might be the reason why so many modern critics consider Little Women to be a disaster because they do not take into account who Alcott was writing for. Little Women was written for girls and women, but it has been by both girls and boys. In Thomas Beers criticism, he condemns Alcott for trying to domesticate men. For he thought that men should always be inherently different than women (Beer as ctd. in Elbert Preface X).
He accused Alcott of being a titans for using her feminist ideals to try to suppress the male sex (Beer as q. in Elbert Preface X). In actuality feminist critics feel that Little Women supported male dominant relationships, thus reinforcing in those [the] very roses we seek to reject (Wells). Even the title Little Women caused feminists to conclude that Alcott was belittling the female sexes (Wells 1). Unfortunately, such differences in opinion cause one to look at the irony of Alcott's situation. Though she must have tried, Alcott could not write to please everybody all of the time.
Alcott based much of the plot and the character portraits on her own life, thus limiting some circumstances. Louisa May Alcott was born on November 19, 1832 in Germantown, Pennsylvania to parents Bronson and Abigail May Alcott. Bronson Alcott was a transcendentalist philosopher as well as an education theorist. Being from a humble background, it seems surprising that his wife Abba May was originally from one of the most prominent families in Boston (Shealy 4).
Alcott's parents and her three sisters: Anna, May, and Elizabeth, are generally considered to be templates for the characters in Little Women. Bronson Alcott was an avid believer in the unconventional philosophy of transcendentalism. He was an educator at heart, but repeated failed attempts at being a teacher, due to unconventional teaching habits such as admitting black students, caused him to delve deeper into his transcendentalist mentalities (MacDonald 2). Louisa May Alcott's father not only influenced his daughters writing decades later, but he also instilled the essence of transcendentalist spirituality into her. The idea of a Supreme Being as a protector and guide came through in Little Women with the emphasis on Gods power in John Bunyan's Pilgrims Progress, where the protagonist is led through his journey by the power of God.
And also in the chapters such as Jo Meets Apollyon the March sisters find out that God can be the ultimate emotional support if one trusts in his word (Shealy 6). Though Bronson Alcott was full of idealistic dreams, he was unfortunately inept at keeping a paying job. After the failed Fruitlands project, where he tried to set up a perfect transcendentalist community, and his nervous breakdown, the women of the Alcott household finally realized that the man of the house could no longer support a family. Thus, this experience led Louisa to take upon herself the burden of helping her family, and this self-sacrificing-for-the-family became a theme in her masterpiece Little Women (MacDonald 3). After Bronson Alcott suffered a nervous breakdown, Abba Alcott became the head of the household. Performing both her and her spouses job would not have been easy, thus Louisa May Alcott gave the emotional support to her mother that should have come from Bronson Alcott (MacDonald 3).
This special bond between mother and daughter explains a question that comes up often in critical reviews. Many people ask how did Alcott write so knowledgeably on the issue of motherhood, when she herself was never married and never had any children? Sharla Bell provides an answer in her essay The Makings of a Mom: The Maternal Voice of Louisa May Alcott when she states that by just being a daughter, Alcott learned by example of how to be a good mother. Therefore, much of her later writings for adolescents and children rely on the experiences she had with Abba Alcott and the ideals of the Victorian mother (Shealy 7). Louisa May Alcott wrote Little Women to pander to the fans of the Victorian Era who still liked sentimentality and the romantiscization of certain aspects of life in literature. An example of this is the obligatory death of Beth that fed the Victorian audiences fascination about death (Louisa May Alcott 8).
Another example of the Victorian periods influence on Alcott's Little Women was a reason why she would not marry Jo and Laurie when they should have been the most obvious couple. According to Victorian era marriage conventions, the daring natures of both characters would not have been compatible (Magill and Mazzeno eds. 3664). These examples show that the plot and characters in Little Women are very much influenced by 19 th century standards. Character sketching is a major area where LMA drew much inspiration from her family and acquaintances. The most obvious ones would be Abba Alcott as Marmee and Bronson Alcott as the not very present, Mr. March.
Louisa May Alcott's younger sister Elizabeth and Elizabeth's death was what Beths character and situation was based on. Alcott's elder sister Anna married one John Pratt, and thus becoming the inspiration for Meg. Her marriage also constituted a section in the book dealing with Jos anger at Meg marrying John Brooke, for both Jo and Louisa May Alcott felt that by this marriage, the family was breaking apart (MacDonald 4). Last of the sisters, May Alcott, was the basis for the fictional Amy March. The March family's neighbors Laurie and kind old Mr.
Laurence are inspired by Alcott family acquaintances. Bronson Alcott, being the sound transcendentalist he was, befriended Ralph Waldo Emerson who later became a close family friend and helped the family financially when the times were tough. Alcott and her sisters were allowed to roam in his library, and especially her, was influenced by the classics and English/German philosophical literature (Shealy 4 - 5). Thus, she memorializes Emerson as the kindly benefactor next door, Mr. Laurence. Laurie is a combination of the Alcott's romanticized image of her botany teacher, Henry David Thoreau (MacDonald 2), and a young polish revolutionary she met during a trip through Europe.
This young mans name was Ladislas Wisniewski, and he was the inspiration for all the sly pranks performed by Teddy in Little Women (MacDonald 6). Though Alcott grew up in a heavily transcendental atmosphere, she actually grew into an avid realist. Even if one aspect of her writing was spiritual and idealistic, she was more interested in analyzing and understanding reality, instead of using abstract ideas and literary trends to express her imagination (MacDonald 1). Thus, one can conclude that Louisa May Alcott pulled different aspects of her life together to make one masterpiece of literature which is Little Women. Alcott, Louisa May. Little Women.
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