—from an unsigned article in the Nation
(October 14, 1875)
THOMAS WENTWORTH HIGGINSON
The career of Miss Alcott has not only given pleasure to many readers, and real benefit to not a few, but it has afforded an example of what may be accomplished by talent and industry in the way of worldly success, and this of rather a high kind. She fulfilled that which is to-day the dearest dream of so many young women. Earning her living first by domestic service, she soon passed beyond that; by her own unaided pen she lifted an exceedingly impecunious household into lifelong independence and comfort; and she nursed, in what was for him luxury, the extreme old age of a father whose ideal and unworldly nature had made it very hard for him to afford ordinary comforts and advantages to her youth. This she did without tricks or meanness or self-puffing; without feeling jealousy, or inspiring antagonism. She had the delight of sending sunshine into a myriad of scattered homes, and of teaching many young girls, doubtless, the way to a more generous and noble life.
—from Short Studies of American
Authors (1888)
LUCY C. LILLIE
The story of Louisa Alcott’s life has been, to a certain extent, told by herself in “Little Women.” At least, the character of Jo was drawn from her own experiences and full of her own individuality, but hers throughout was a more notable history than the world knew. A girl, whose earliest teacher was Margaret Fuller; who, at ten years of age, learned to know the seasons in their varied dress and nature in its deepest meanings under Thoreau’s guidance; to whom, men like Emerson, Channing, Ripley, and Hawthorne were every-day company, yet who was brought up almost in poverty, and with the necessity of work at home if not abroad; who had a fund of downright common sense and keen humor underlying all transcendental influence, —is one who, as a woman, might be expected to have made her mark, and she did it by the simplest, kindliest, cheeriest of writing, and the sweetest of companionship and kindness toward others.
—Cosmopolitan (May 1888)
Questions
1. Is it possible to formulate just what it is that has made Little Women so popular for so long—or does the answer lie in intangibles?
2. Do you feel Alcott pressuring the reader, no matter how obliquely, to take Jo as a role model?
3. Which of the sisters do you find most congenial? Why? Which of the sisters do you find most admirable? Why? Is this difference significant?
4. What might a man find to interest or move him in Little Women?
FOR FURTHER READING
Biographies and Primary Sources
Alcott, Louisa May. The Journals of Louisa May Alcott. Edited by Joel Myerson, Daniel Shealy, and Madeleine B. Stern. Boston: Little, Brown, 1989.
—. The Selected Letters of Louisa May Alcott. Edited by Joel Myerson, Daniel Shealy, and Madeleine B. Stern. Boston: Little, Brown, 1987.
Bedell, Madelon. The Alcotts: Biography of a Family. New York: Clarkson Potter, 1980.
Cheney, Ednah Dow, ed. Louisa May Alcott: Her Life, Letters and Journals. Boston: Little, Brown, 1928.
Elbert, Sarah. A Hunger for Home: Louisa May Alcott and Little Women. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 1984.
Saxton, Martha. Louisa May: A Modern Biography of Louisa May Alcott. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1977.
Stern, Madeleine B. Louisa May Alcott: A Biography. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1999. A new edition of the standard Alcott biography.
—. Louisa May Alcott: From Blood & Thunder to Hearth & Home. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1998.
Reference Texts
Eiselein, Gregory, and Anne K. Phillips, eds. The Louisa May Alcott Encyclopedia. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2001.
Payne, Alma J. Louisa May Alcott: A Reference Guide. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1980.
Lesser-known Works by Alcott
Alternative Alcott. Edited and with an introduction by Elaine Showalter. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1988. Includes selections from Hospital Sketches, An Old-Fashioned Girl, Work, and many others.
The Feminist Alcott: Stories of a Woman’s Power. Edited and with an introduction by Madeleine B. Stem. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1996. Includes “Pauline’s Passion and Punishment,” “V.V.: or, Plots and Counterplots,” “Behind a Mask: or, A Woman’s Power,” and “Taming a Tartar.”
The Inheritance. Edited by Joel Myerson and Daniel Shealy. New York: Penguin, 1998. Alcott’s first novel, written when she was seventeen years old.
A Long Fatal Love Chase. Edited by Kent Bicknell. New York: Dell, 1995. Unpublished as too sensational during Alcott’s lifetime.
A Marble Woman: Unknown Thrillers of Louisa May Alcott. Edited by Madeleine B. Stern. New York: Avon, 1976. Includes letters between Alcott and her publisher, “V.V.: or, Plots and Counterplots,” “A Marble Woman: or, The Mysterious Model,” “The Skeleton in the Closet,” “A Whisper in the Dark,” and “Perilous Play.”
Critical Studies
Alberghene, Janice M. and Beverly Lyon Clark, eds. Little Women and the Feminist Imagination: Criticism, Controversy, Personal Essays. New York: Garland Publishing, 1999. Collected essays and commentary by scholars.
Delamar, Gloria T. Louisa May Alcott and “Little Women”: Biography, Critique, Publications, Poems, Songs and Contemporary Relevance. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1990. Includes excerpts from reviews, polls, and commentary.
Keyser, Elizabeth Lennox. Little Women: A Family Romance. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1999. Part of the Twayne’s Masterwork Studies series. A psychological reading.
—. Whispers in the Dark: The Fiction of Louisa May Alcott. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1993. Examines Alcott’s sensational stories, children’s literature, and adult novels to reveal her subversion of conventional women’s values.
MacDonald, Ruth K. Louisa May Alcott. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1983. Part of Twayne’s United States Authors series. Establishes Alcott’s pragmatism in contrast to her father’s idealism; discusses the March family stories at length.
Stern, Madeleine B., ed. Critical Essays on Louisa May Alcott. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1984.
Strickland, Charles. Victorian Domesticity: Families in the Life and Art of Louisa May Alcott. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1985.
Books with Critical Studies of Alcott
Auerbach, Nina. Communities of Women: An Idea in Fiction. Cam-bridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1978. Includes studies of Little Women, as well as of Charlotte Brontë’s Villette, Henry James’s The Bostonians, Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, and Muriel Spark’s The Prime of Miss lean Brodie.
Baym, Nina. Woman’s Fiction: A Guide to Novels by and about Women in America, 1820-1870. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1979. Comprehensive study; includes information on two of Jo’s favorite novelists, E.D.E.N. Southworth and Susan Warner.
Foster, Shirley. What Katy Read: Feminist Rereadings of “Classic” Stories for Girls. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1995. Chapter on Little Women, as well as on Susan Warner’s The Wide, Wide World (mentioned in Little Women), Charlotte Yonge’s The Daisy Chain, L. M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables, and Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden, among others.
Showalter, Elaine. Sister’s Choice: Tradition and Change in American Women’s Writing. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991. Section on Little Women, as well as on Kate Chopin’s The Awakening and Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth.
a Two romances about a water sprite and a knight, respectively, by German novelist and poet Friedrich de la Motte-Fouqué (1777-1843); very popular among children.
b The stage.
c Through which the ghost of the murdered Banquo may reappear in Shakespeare’s play (act 3, scene 6); Jo goes on to quote from Macbeth’s famous “dagger speech” (act 2, scene 1), in which he prepares to kill Duncan, the king.
d That is, vivandière, a civilian woman accompanying an army to sell provisions such as food and liquor (French).
e Bags contain
ing fabric remnants.
f Seemingly a reference to the Bible and Jesus Christ, although some critics argue that the book is The Pilgrim’s Progress (see endnote 1).
g Exemplary person.
h Oh, my God! (German).
i That is good! The angel-children! (German).
j Sancho Panza, the Don’s squire, is a comic relief character in Spanish novelist Miguel de Cervantes’s satirical romance Don Quixote (1605, 1615).
k Coarse, feltlike fabric.
l Frame on which clothes are hung.
m Magical potion.
n Long locks of hair, fashionable for seventeenth-and eighteenth-century men.
o Popular 1853 novel, by English writer Charlotte M. Yonge, about intrigue, self-sacrifice, and repentance in a scheme to disinherit the title character.
p Reflection of the formal nineteenth-century manner of address: The eldest daughter is called by her surname, and the younger ones by their first names.
q Dull brown or grayish cloth.
r Very good; smart.
s That is, the burnt width of fabric.
t Primp, or careful grooming.
u Formal men’s shoes with a low instep.
v That is, Vevey; a beautiful district of Switzerland on Lake Geneva and a popular tourist resort.
w Studying hard or frolicking.
x City in southwestern Germany; site of the University of Heidelberg, one of the oldest European universities.
y Rubber overshoes, such as galoshes.
z Fast eastern European folk dance.
aa Medicinal herb.
ab Old man from the tale “Sinbad the Sailor” in The Thousand and One Nights, who climbs onto Sinbad’s shoulders and refuses to get down; Sinbad frees himself by getting the old man drunk.
ac Work hard.
ad That is, just officially presented to society, or “debuted.”
ae Reference to British political writer William Belsham’s Essays, Philosophical, Historical, and Literary (1789-1790).
af Coal scuttle, a metal pail for carrying coal.
ag Reference to master Italian Renaissance painter Raphael Sanzio (1483-1520).
ah Extremely popular 1766 novel by English writer Oliver Goldsmith, about the trials of a reverend and his family after they lose their fortune.
ai That is, “Think of your mercies, children!” Chloe is the plantation cook and wife of the slave Uncle Tom in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s 1852 antislavery novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
aj Woman’s loose-fitting dress or coat; also spelled “sacque” later in the novel.
ak Scottish author Sir Walter Scott’s popular 1819 novel of medieval romance; characters include Locksley (Robin Hood) and King Richard I.
al Milky, gelatinous dessert.
am Deeply upholstered armchairs.
an Two references to The Pilgrim’s Progress (see endnote 1): Wicket Gate, which leads to the Celestial City, bears the words “Knock and it shall be opened unto you”; lions guard the Palace Beautiful, a place of rest for Christian.
ao That is, lapsus linguae, Latin for “slip of the tongue.”
ap Punish by striking on the hand with a flat piece of wood.
aq Disciplinarian schoolmaster from Charles Dickens’s novel Dombey and Son (1846-1848).
ar Puffed up proudly, with head high in an insolent manner.
as Contemptuous term for paper money.
at Not a recognized title; perhaps imagined for its fanciful sound.
au Fredrika Bremer (1801-1865): Swedish domestic novelist; Sir Walter Scott ( 1771-1832): prolific, popular Scottish poet, novelist, historian, and inventor of the historical novel; Maria Edgeworth (1767-1849): Irish novelist who wrote chiefly of Irish life.
av Hockey stick.
aw Sheer cotton fabric.
ax Dress up beyond their station.
ay Little bit (French).
az Ruffle.
ba Charming, very pretty (French).
bb Reference to an Aesop’s fable in which a plain jackdaw dresses in peacock feathers and puts on airs, but is rejected by both jackdaws and peacocks.
bc Crisply curled.
bd Intricate couples’ dance composed of various styles.
be Silence to the death (French).
bf Based on Dickens’s first novel, Pickwick Papers (1836-1837).
bg Pickwick’s Cockney-accented servant in Pickwick Papers.
bh Pan filled with hot coals and used to warm a bed.
bi Birdhouse with several small entry holes for purple martins (a type of swallow).
bj Francis Bacon (1561-1626): English practical philosopher, court lawyer, chancellor, and author; John Milton (1608-1674): English religious and pastoral poet, political pamphleteer, and author of the epic poem Paradise Lost.
bk Neckties, or neckbands.
bl In Dickens’s novel Martin Chuzzlewit (1843-1844), Sairey Gamp is a fat, selfish nurse who does more to ensure her own comfort than that of her patients.
bm Toiling.
bn Best-selling first novel (1850) by American writer Susan Warner (pseudonym Elizabeth Wetherell), about the tribulations of a young girl whose mother has died.
bo In the poem “Nothing to Wear,” by American lawyer and author William Allen Butler (1825-1902), Miss Flora McFlimsey of Madison Square is a young woman with many clothes but “nothing to wear.”
bp Boaz is the biblical husband of Ruth; Amy actually means “the patience of a Job,” another biblical figure who suffers yet remains faithful to God; Miss Malaprop, in Irish playwright Richard Sheridan’s 1775 comedy The Rivals, habitually misuses words.
bq Sodium bicarbonate, used to make dough rise.
br Sooty.
bs Arranged with the nicest ones on top; reference to the hypocrisy of some church-men.
bt Important Greek philosopher (c.428-c.347 B.C.) who studied under Socrates, taught Aristotle, and founded the Athenian Academy for the study of philosophy.
bu Ridiculous figure.
bv Light boat.
bw Turned the oars to reduce air resistance.
bx Durable, slightly ribbed fabric of cotton or silk.
by Meaning he had used his final resource; a trump card is held in reserve to win a round.
bz Popular Victorian card game in which players collect cards representing the works of various authors.
ca Lively British folk dance, often performed by sailors.
cb Navy warship.
cc Moved.
cd Directly.
ce The English nation personified; a typical Englishman.
cf Principal play (1800) of premier German Romantic dramatist Friedrich von Schiller, about Mary, Queen of Scots.
cg Rotten Row in Hyde Park, a bridle path that was the place to see and be seen in Victorian London.
ch In The Pilgrim’s Progress (see endnote 1), the mountain range on which Christian and Hopeful stop to rest; shepherds there give them a fleeting view of the Celestial City.
ci Fern frond.
cj To steep.
ck Shepherd king of ancient Israel, renowned for his musical skill; reputed author of many biblical psalms.
cl Dutch oven, a type of covered pot.
cm He kills Hamlet with a poisoned sword in Shakespeare’s play.
cn Light, cylindrical boxes for storing small items of clothing.
co Desirable.
cp In Greek myth, a speedy hunter who promises to marry the suitor who can defeat her in a race.
cq Debut novel (1778) of English writer Fanny Burney, first published anonymously, which won her early fame.
cr Also the title of Alcott’s first published story (1852).
cs That is, slapped the clay.
ct Long towel with the ends sewn together that hangs on a rolling cylinder; also called a roller towel.
cu In The Pilgrim’s Progress (see endnote I), one of the guides leading Christian’s wife, Christiana, and children to the Celestial City.
cv Drag, or trail.
; cw Old Scottish ballad, adapted by poet Robert Burns (1759-1796); “Land of the Leal” refers to heaven (leal means “faithful”).
cx My dear Mama (French).
cy Pranks.
cz Virginia river flowing into Chesapeake Bay; during the Civil War, much fighting took place in the vicinity of the Rappahannock, including the battles of Fredericks burg and Chancellorsville.
da Medicine containing arsenic.
db Camphor is an aromatic liniment and pain reliever.
dc Poisonous plant, also called deadly nightshade; extracts derived from the plant were used to treat a multitude of ailments, including sore throats.
dd Jewel.
de Abbreviation of videlicet, meaning “namely” (from the Latin).
df Vest.
dg Used for ironing clothes.
dh Beautiful young woman in Maria Edgeworth’s novel Patronage (1814), known for her discretion and wise judgment; she listens to her suitor’s declaration of love with great composure, then rejects his proposal because she feels too young to marry.
di That is, high-spirited people; a pepper pot is a peppershaker.
dj In Dickins’s novel Little Dorrit (1857), the governess Mrs. General advises Amy Dorrit to practice pronouncing words such as these to maintain an aristocratic, slightly puckered set to her lips.
dk Reference to Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), a biography of the iconic English author and lexicographer (1709-1784), by Scottish lawyer and author James Boswell.
dl Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia (1759), a romance by Samuel Johnson.
dm Periodical (1750-1752) largely written by Samuel Johnson.
dn The devil.
do Maiden Maiden (German).
dp Highest mountain of the French Alps.
dq Boiling.
dr In The Pilgrim’s Progress (see endnote 1), Christian’s companion for much of his journey.
ds That is, the pilgrims of The Pilgrim’s Progress.
dt Parian ware was a popular style of unglazed ceramic statuary—in this case, of the mythological figure of Psyche, a princess loved by Cupid, the Roman god of love.
du Character from Richard John Raymond’s play The Toodles (1831), who buys profusely at auctions.
dv Messenger of the Roman gods.
dw Set of shelves for knickknacks.
dx Sleeveless, apronlike dress that fastens at the back.
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