Preview

A Feminist Study of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
5838 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
A Feminist Study of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women
A FEMINIST STUDY OF
LOUSIA MAY ALCOTT’S LITTLE WOMEN

CONTENTS

Introduction 1
Chapter 1 Little Women and the Feminist Imagination 3
Chapter 2 Jo March: A Woman Ahead of her Times 10
Conclusion 17
Bibliography 19

Introduction
"If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, together women ought to be able to turn it right side up again."
- Sojourner Truth Feminism as a movement, is about women living on equal terms with men and not pushed down by law or by culture into a subservient role. Women have been suffering under the oppression of men since time immemorial. Feminist movements which came into limelight in the 19th century inspired the concept of freedom of women. Realizing that the lack of education pushed women to the lower strata of society, education of the women was given primary emphasis. Since then, the educated women have come to the forefront of the movement to liberate women from the suppression of the patriarchal society.
Louisa May Alcott was a Victorian age American novelist and short story writer. She is best known for her novel Little Women (1868) and its sequels, Good Wives (1869), Little Men (1871) and Jo’s Boys (1886). The novels follows the lives of four sisters- Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy March and is loosely based on the author’s childhood experiences with her three sisters. In her introduction to the novel Little women Ann Thwaite says, “what could have been ‘a Victorian moral tract, sentimental and preachy’ was written by a secret rebel against the order of the world and women’s place in it.”
The independence of women is a major theme in the novel. The novel is viewed as a book that values the experiences of women and



Bibliography: Alberghene, Janice.M., Beverly Lyon Clark. Introduction. Little Women and the Feminist Imagination: Criticism, Controversy, Personal Essays. Ed. Janice M. Alberghene and Beverly Lyon Clark. New York: Routledge, 1999. Print. Baym, Nina. Woman‘s Fiction. A Guide to Novels by and about Women in America. London:Cornell University Press, 1978. Print. Fetterley, Judith. “Little Women: Alcott 's Civil War”. Children 's Literature: Classic Texts and Contemporary Trends. Ed. Heather Montgomery and Nicola J. Watson. Houndmills :Palgrave Macmillan, 2009. 18. Print. Little Women. Dir. Gillian Armstrong. Perf. Winona Ryder, Susan Sarandon, Trini Alvarado, Claire Danes, Kirsten Dunst. Columbia Pictures, 1994. Film. Reisen, Harriet. Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women. New York: Henry Holt and Co., 2009. 4-5. Print. Showalter, Elaine. Introduction. Little Women. By Louisa M. Alcott. London: Penguin Books, 1989. VII-XXVIII. Print. Sicherman, Barbara. “Reading Little Women: The Many Lives of a Text”. U.S. history as women 's history: new feminist essays. Ed.  Linda K. Kerber, Alice Kessler-Harris and Kathryn Kish Sklar. Chapel Hill: North Carolina UP, 1995. 257. Print Thwaite, Ann

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Little Women was written by Louisa May Alcott and published in 1868. It chronicled the lives of the four March sisters growing up during the civil war. It was loosely based off Louisa and her sisters’ own life.…

    • 926 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Louisa May Alcott grew up during a time when many Northerners were beginning to stand up for the abolition of slavery and the rights of African Americans to be free from fear of a cruel master. She worked as a nurse during the Civil War, braving the “unsanitary and poorly run Union Hotel Hospital” in her efforts to aid wounded and dying men (“Louisa May Alcott” 1734). Even before her saintly deeds in the Civil War effort, it was clear that Alcott was a sympathetic, well-educated woman who supported the abolitionist cause and was willing to do everything within her power to strengthen the movement. She shows this abolitionist attitude in several of her stories, “My Contraband” being just one of them.…

    • 753 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Louisa May Alcott is an American Novelist best known as the author of the novel “Little Women”. Louisa was born in November 1982, grew up in Germantown- Washington D.C and was known to be an abolitionist, feminist and also a naturalist. Being a naturalist meant that she believed that nothing existed beyond the natural earth i.e. no such thing as spirituality or the supernatural. Her family suffered from financial difficulties and so Alcott had to work to support her family in an early age. She penned the story “My Contraband” (1869) which was formerly known as “The Brothers” (1863). Contraband was a black slave who escaped to or was brought within union lines (Alcott 759). In “My Contraband”, Louisa May Alcott utilizes the concept of naturalism to condemn racism in the African American community.…

    • 1724 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Berkin, Carol. "Such A Sordid Set of Creatures in Human Figure." Revolutionary Mothers: Women in the Struggle for America 's Independence. 1st ed. Vol. 4. New York: Knopf :, 2005. 50-66. Print.…

    • 2125 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Rosenthal, Caroline. Narrative Deconstructions of Gender in Works by Audrey Tomas, Daphne Marlatt, and Louise Erdrich. Rochester NY: Camden House, 2003. Print.…

    • 2474 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    "Let my name stand among those who are willing to bear ridicule and reproach for the truth's sake, and so earn some right to rejoice when victory is won." Louisa May Alcott wrote many inspirational novels that explain her personality and her hardships in life. Her writing supported her family, no matter where she was. When Alcott died, her older sister was left and still received the money from her sister's still selling books. Alcott's books are still being sold today, though they may be hard to find. Her most known novel, Little Women, taught the world to appreciate what you have in life, though you may wish for more, what you have is as important as the "fancy" things. Throughout her career, Louisa May Alcott wrote about the many things…

    • 1691 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The female perspective is a critical element that has been persistently neglected throughout cultures due to the prevalence of the patriarchy. This has meant that literature itself manifests as a male institution, shaped by men 's minds and voices who view the female experience as trivial and unworthy of consideration. Therefore, being unable to express their own perspectives and discriminated against in their writings, women are a marginalized group. But, in their portrayal, are they truly victims of a patriarchal society? Certainly Sylvia Plath 's Daddy (1962) paints a despairing picture of suppression and inner anguish, a woman driven mad by the men in her life - though is this really the case? For Ania Walwicz challenges this concept of a helpless damsel in distress by subverting the traditional fairytale in Little Red Riding Hood (1982), thus undermining masculine values about women and their sexuality. Through the examination of these two texts, the extent of women 's victimization by a patriarchal society can be determined.…

    • 1812 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Lesson Before Dying

    • 515 Words
    • 3 Pages

    1. Tante Lou, Miss Emma, and Vivian are used to taking care of themselves and others. Explain the role of women in the novel. What was their function in this society? Was their contribution and sacrifice recognized?…

    • 515 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Coquette Novel

    • 1144 Words
    • 5 Pages

    When reading The Coquette by Hannah Webster Foster a reader might have lingering questions about the purpose that the book serves. One might wonder the reasons that Foster had to write this book. Is this a proto-feminist novel? Is Foster condemning the patriarchal society that she is lives in? Or is this novel written as a cautionary tale so that women can learn from Eliza’s s mistakes and see the outcome of what happens when a woman does not stick to the norms of society? In answering all these questions, it can be concluded that The Coquette can be considered a proto-feminist novel. The reasons that this novel can be considered proto-feminist are because of Eliza’ characteristics, her view on patriarchal marriage, the need for the main character…

    • 1144 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Women During the Civil War

    • 1257 Words
    • 6 Pages

    " ‘I want something to do…' ‘Write a book,' Qouth the author of my being. ‘Don't know enough, sir. First live, then write.' ‘Try teaching again,' suggested my mother. ‘No thank you, ma'am, ten years of that is enough.' ‘Take a husband like my Darby, and fulfill your mission,' said sister Joan. ‘Can't afford expensive luxuries, Mrs. Coobiddy.' ‘Go nurse the soldiers,' said my young brother, Tom. ‘I will!' (Harper 14)." This is a dialog of Louisa May Alcott with her relatives. Miss Alcott, like many other African American women, helped serve in the Civil War. During the Civil War, Miss Alcott held a variety of jobs. Mainly working as a writer, she held positions as a nurse, teacher, and volunteered in Soldiers' Aid Societies (Harper 14). These were just a sample of jobs that African American women occupied during the Civil War.…

    • 1257 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Defending Slavery

    • 2485 Words
    • 10 Pages

    Maner, Martin. "Women and Eighteenth-Century Literature." 14 Apr. 1999. Wright State University. 9 Aug. 1999 .…

    • 2485 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Evans, S. M. (1989). Born for liberty: a history of women in America. New York: Free Press…

    • 1463 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Lydia Maria Child makes a strong point when she speaks of how men objectify women in literature and base women’s value on how much the women’s beauty appeals to men. The objectification of women that Child speaks out against is quite apparent within the selected paragraph from James Fenimore Cooper’s work The Pioneers. Within just the description of Elizabeth that Cooper narrates from the viewpoint of Remarkable Pettibone, a reader will note the issues that Child mentions.…

    • 541 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Wollstonecraft, Mary Edited by Todd, Janet. A Vindication of the Rights of Women. Toronto: Penguin, 1993.…

    • 553 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The text holds valid forms of characteristics of feminist literature such as an attempt in change of gender norms, a protagonist female lead character, and a…

    • 737 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays