This novel, along with the seven others featuring the March family, is cherished for its cheerful depiction of domestic life, its wholesomeness, and its ability to teach life lessons without the preachy quality found in other children's novels.Īlcott began Little Women in 1868, after the Civil War, in which she had served as a nurse during the winter of 1862–1863. Little Women contains many autobiographical elements, and critics are quick to note that the stormy character Jo is modeled after Alcott herself. Still, Alcott's writing demonstrates her acceptance of the transcendentalist emphasis on self-reliance and independence. Although surrounded by transcendentalists, she eventually rejected the philosophy as too abstract, using fiction As a child, Alcott doted on Emerson and accompanied Thoreau on nature walks in the area of Walden Pond. She was a creative, difficult, and willful girl who was both moody and loyal. Recognizing their daughter's talent, Bronson and Abba placed heavy expectations on her. For thirty years, she did the housework and supported the family as a social worker. Responsibility fell on Alcott's mother, Abba, who came from a respected Boston family. Within a year, it failed, and while Alcott seemed flippant about the failure, this experience showed that Bronson could not be relied upon to support the family. In 1843, he initiated a largescale experiment known as Fruitlands, an effort to create a utopian society. A radical pioneer in education, his experiments yielded an erratic but thorough education for his daughters. (Transcendentalism is a philosophy that holds that there is an ideal spiritual reality beyond material reality.) Unemployed, he committed to educating his four daughters, Anna (Meg in Little Women), Louisa (Jo), Elizabeth (Beth), and May (Amy). Bronson Alcott, Louisa's father, was a transcendentalist thinker and writer who refused to take work that was not related to education or philosophy. Alcott's youth was shaped by both the philosophical climate and the poverty in which she lived. The Alcotts lived in Concord, Massachusetts, with friends and neighbors such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Ironically, Alcott preferred her adult novels to the children's novels that account for her lasting fame. Barnard and Flora Fairchild) also wrote sensational novels and thrillers for adults, most of which are no longer in print. From the 1840s into the late 1860s, Alcott (under the pseudonyms A. Author Biographyīorn on November 29, 1832, in Germantown, Pennsylvania, Louisa May Alcott is best remembered for her books about the March family, especially her children's masterpiece, Little Women. The intricacies of education, housework, speech patterns, and manners are depicted with remarkable clarity, which better enables modern readers to envision and understand the world of the Marches. Into the story by the colorful minor characters, the development of the March girls, and the attention to detail. Almost any reader can identify with at least one of the four girls. Critics often note that the book's particular appeal lies in its illustration of a uniquely American household and its individual members. She never imagined, however, that Little Women would enchant generations of readers and become a classic of children's fiction. Although the author wrote the books reluctantly, she earned the money she sought and found that her subsequent titles of all kinds were widely read. Alcott wrote Good Wives which is now published with part one as a complete work. After part one was published as a complete work, readers demanded to know more about the fates of the Marches. The author dared to give her characters faults such as selfishness, vanity, temper, and bash-fulness-qualities never seen before in such young characters.Īlcott wrote the book for girls with the sole aim of making money with its publication. While some present-day readers find Jo and her sisters too good to be realistic, according to the standards of Alcott's society, the March girls are flawed and vulnerable. In fact, many boys find that they can relate to her almost as easily as girls can. Jo March is regarded as one of the most complete, self-possessed, and best-loved characters in children's literature. Its charm and innocence continue to engage readers, despite the fact that the social and familial reality depicted is very different from contemporary domestic life. Without a doubt, Little Women remains Louisa May Alcott's best-known work.
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