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
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