An unusual turn for Louisa May Alcott, Little Women is a conversation on ethics and morals in a highly artificial depiction of the lives of four girls who venture through adolescence in their own unique ways. I am especially interested in why Alcott chose to wrote this book - rather any other book - that our class almost unanimously critiqued as stale or boring. As we mentioned in class, Alcott wrote Little Women to make a profit – which meant diverging from the aggressive fiction that she wrote as A. M. Barnard; but why did she choose to so aggressively incorporate so many moralistic themes into Little Women?
Of course, children’s books then and now are moralistic books: parents want to teach their children a lesson in every facet of life, including what they read; but every chapter of Little Women reads as a sterile microcosm of womanhood or life in general. Half of the chapters end with a moral statement, such as that from chapter 14, “Secrets”, which closes with a statement after Jo reads her story from the paper, “for to be independent, and earn the praise of those she loved, were the dearest wishes of her heart, and this seemed to be the first step toward that happy end.” (156)
That said, the reason Alcott wrote Little Women, aside from making money, is twofold: (1) Alcott’s transcendentalist background, and (2) Little Women as an autobiographical work.
After doing some brief research on Alcott’s background and writing, I found she was a transcendentalist, like Thoreau and Emerson. In short, transcendentalism believes that all people are inherently good, and that independence reveals that goodness in people. Specifically, I believe that Little Women’s focus on Jo’s character and “tomboy-ish” nature fully reveals this craving for independence in the effort to be good based on her ventures in writing and romance which demonstrate an unusual uniqueness independence – that our class found admirable for the first half of this book.
While transcendentalism provides a solid base for the characters in this book, Alcott’s focus on Jo is also driven by her own upbringing during adolescence. While it isn’t the best place to do legitimate research, Wikipedia characterizes her as an abolitionist and feminist, which is true. In regards to her childhood, Alcott grew up in poverty, which made her “feel more and more responsible for her family's financial needs and started taking on as many jobs as a young girl could find” (The University of Virginia, http://xroads.virginia.edu/~Hyper/ALCOTT/ABOUTLA.html). I believe this explains Jo’s ability to speak up, take action, and be independent, because while Jo is no brainiac, she certainly makes the effort to utilize her capabilities throughout the entire book as she produces her manuscripts, turning down Laurie’s proposal, and demonstrates general rebelliousness for the sake of her own growth.
Autobiographical works – including fictitious stories - are easy to write, they may be emotionally tasking; but because they so closely represent the writer’s experiences, they pose as less of a challenge compared to more exciting forms of fiction. That said, if Alcott wanted to produce a mainstream moralistic novel for children, then an autobiographical work is certainly the way to go.
Overall, I believe Alcott wrote this book for a profit but to also teach her transcendentalist views to children, all while taking the reader on a dive into her life. A simple formula for us now, Little Women was a creative book at the time that parents and children alike took the time to enjoy.
I think that you brought up some interesting points about why Alcott chose to write Little Women, including Alcott’s transcendentalist background. However, I also think it is important to look at Alcott’s other works as well when analyzing her motive for the themes in Little Women. As seen on npr.org, Alcott’s previous writing had many dark elements, for example writing on the adventures of a drug taker (https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=121831612). I believe that Alcott chose to write this particular novel in a more moralistic light to experiment and expand herself as an author. Although Little Women is more dry, it examines a variety of moral ideas that continue to be brought up as the characters develop. As mentioned earlier, Alcott was a transcendentalist, meaning there is good in all people. As a result, this novel was most likely a breath of fresh air, allowing Alcott to take a break from her using dark writings and explore the side of good that she believed was in all people. Further, as mentioned in class, Alcott was a feminist, and I believe Alcott wrote this as a feminist novel. Although the paths of the women in this novel might not be groundbreaking today, they were revolutionary for the time. Each woman, with the exception of Beth who went to be with God, followed their own path in life. There are a variety of possible motives that Alcott had when writing this novel, and I believe that the moral issues are only a small segment of this.
ReplyDeleteI think it is interesting how you dove into Alcott's transcendentalist background as another foreground for her writing of Little Women. While she may have pronounced that she made the book solely for profit, she obviously had some other intent behind it. While she expressed distaste in writing about childish morals, it seems that she felt a need to create a piece that highlighted the necessity of independence and the ability to be oneself. As this was autobiographical, she may have even wanted to prove to the world that her own path and way of life was beneficial to becoming a "good person" and an admirable individual. She may have realized that an easy way to spread such would be to condense it into a children's novel full of simplistic yet heartwarmingly relatable morals. Parents would want the book for their children, and children would find the book easy to understand and learn from, a perfect formula to not only make money, but to let her views become widespread knowledge.
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