Little Women By Louisa Alcott

Jo March said, “I’ll try and be what he loves to call me, “a little woman,” and not be rough and wild; but do my duty here instead of wanting to be somewhere else.” Josephine ‘Jo’ March is the central character in Louisa May Alcott’s novel Little Women. Alcott wrote Little Women in 1868, just after the finish of the Civil War. As Jo comes of age, she learns she can still be adventurous and independent yet grow up into a little woman.

“But, I 'm already resigned to this fate / Looking over my life, I recall / If it hadn 't been / for the loneliness / I 'd have no companion at all. ” This stanza from “Loneliness”, by Lora Colon evokes the negative impact a lonely fate has on a person. Words like “resigned” and “loneliness” establish a sense of depression and resignation. During the times of the Great Depression, many people felt similar feelings of melancholy and stoicism. Jobs were hard to come by, and realistic dreams of success were scarce. John Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men, allows readers to see the life of the Great Depression. The two main characters, George and Lennie, search for jobs, like many other migrant workers. They dream of owning their own land, however, Lennie’s habit of getting in trouble prevents their dream from being reality. After he accidentally causes more trouble at their new job, George is forced to kill him out of mercy. Throughout the novel, Steinbeck shows that even if one meticulously plans out the road to their American Dream, fate will inevitably intervene and lead one to desolation and loneliness.

Harriet Jacobs’s Incidents in the life of a Slave Girl allows Harriet Jacobs, speaking through the narrator, Linda Brent, to reveal her reasons for making public her personal story of enslavement, degradation, and sexual exploitation. Although originally ignored by critics, who often dismissed Jacobs ' story as a fictional account of slavery, today it is reported as the first novel narrative by an ex-slave that reveals the unique brutalities inflicted on enslaved women. Gabby Reyes

The novel Incidents in the Life of a Slave girl by Harriet Jacobs, is the story of Harriet Jacobs under the pseudonym Linda Brent. It tells the life story of Linda and her life as a slave, her battle of freeing her children, and her journey to freedom. The majority of the book is set in a North Carolina small, close knit community in the early 1800s on Dr. Flint’s plantation, Linda’s master and owner. It begins when Linda is a child. Her parents are free and the slave owner who possesses Linda and her brother will not sell their freedom. After her parents pass she is left in the hands of her grandmother known as Aunt Martha, whom is a free black woman as well. When Linda becomes a young teenager, Dr. Flint begins to pursue her, sexual harassing her restlessly. When Linda rejects his initial offer, he spends most of his time devising plans to win her over, having her in his presence always. Although Dr. Flint is her owner and can tell her what to do, according to law, he demands her acceptance and is persistent to win Linda’s affection. Linda never gives in and finds a way to evade her master every time he is around. Trying to escape the harassment and abusiveness, Linda bares two children to a white lawyer. Seeing no change after her second child, Linda decides to run away trying to free her children from living their lives in slavery. She hides in her grandmother’s storage shed crawlspace for seven years until fleeing to the north with the help of generous white

The Civil War affected both England and France, economically by taking out a trading partner of both countries, by challenging their morals because neither wanted to support slavery, and politically because England and France wanted a weaker United States.

In the novel Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Harriet Jacobs presents what life was like living as a female slave during the 19th century. Born into slavery, she exhibits, most likely to people living in the North who thought slaves were treated fairly and well, how living as a slave, and especially as a female slave during that time was a heinous and horrible experience. Perhaps a lot harder than it was if one had been a male slave, as female slaves had to deal with issues, such as unwanted sexual attention, sexual victimization and the suffering of slave mothers separated from their children. Harriet Jacobs shows that despite all of the hardship that she struggles with, having a cause to fight for such as trying to get your children a better life and fighting to be able to achieve freedom on your own, can give one a stronger will to live.

Harriet Jacobs in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl uses clear detail, except when talking about her sexual history, to fully describe what it is like to be a slave. Jacobs says that Northerners only think of slavery as perpetual bondage; they don 't know the depth of degradation there is to that word. She believes that no one could truly understand how slavery really is unless they have gone through it. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl do not only tell about the physical pains and hard labor that she went through. It mostly concentrates on the emotional viewpoints on it and what it did to shape who she is. When writing her story, Jacobs had a clear motive. Her motive was one of a political taking. She writes through her experiences and sufferings to make it clear to people, mainly the Northerners, and more specifically white women in the North, how slavery really is. She does not want sympathy, however, she does want "to arouse the women in the North to a realizing sense of the condition of two millions of women of the South, still in bondage" (2). Jacobs wants people to take action in antislavery efforts. Jacobs in telling her story uses many techniques to make it effective. Some of the techniques that she uses are dealing with the use of her language, her selections of incidents and details, and her method of addressing an audience.

Little Women is a novel by American author Louisa May Alcott (1832–1888), which was originally published in two volumes in 1868 and 1869. The novel follows the lives of four sisters—Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy March—detailing their journey from childhood to

In modern day American culture we can see many citizens striving to achieve the American dream of a brighter future, but imagine having your dream destroyed based on your physical appearance and ethnical background. In the novel Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Ann Jacobs, the author writes in her first point of views and recounts her experiences as a slave during this time in American history which helps brings the attention of social issues amongst African American slave. The main character, Linda, learns from late of her childhood the savagery of being a slave and the consequences she sees first hand of the hostilities her race has against her from her owners and the society around. Though many American citizens at this time of history felt it necessary to imply to all colored people that the white city folks were the dominate race of the nation and will show enmity to any who wish to be free. Society has been revealed through history to be a positive or negative to a certain class of people for the purpose of having the achievement of power through fear. The negativity from the general population to physical differences proved during this time period fear was the only consistent thought that ran the lifestyle to control the African American slaves. Within the context of the novel the first-hand view of experiencing segregation and rights taken away from Linda will help the reader understand fully the impact of many social issues at this time.

The Victorian Era hailed many prolific authors, which were mostly male. A woman who wanted to be a writer at this time was not respected and would have been accused of being whimsical and flighty. However, women such as Louisa May Alcott redefined the norms and followed her heart with her pen by writing Little Women. The novel follows the lives of the four March sisters – Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy March – detailing their passage from childhood to womanhood trying to find their place in society. Even though so much has changed in the last fifty years, gender roles still take a huge toll in society. Unfortunately, breaking down gender roles is not easy; as women are still

Little Women is a novel by American author Louisa May Alcott (1832–1888), the title of the book was meant to highlight the inferiority of women as compared to men, or, alternatively, describe the lives of simple people, "unimportant" in the social sense. This novel was written in New England during and after the American

"Four women, taught by weal and woe To love and labor in their prime. Four sisters, parted for an hour, None lost, one only gone..." (365-366). Jo wrote these lines in a poem, after Beth died. This is the most significant struggle for Jo. Jo and Beth are the two middle sisters in the classic novel, Little Women (1869) written by Louisa May Alcott. This is a classic novel about an American family of four daughters, a father who is off at war and a mother who works for the food. Jo and Beth are best friends and Jo sets the example for Beth.

¨Human behavior flows from three main sources: desire, emotion, and knowledge” (Plato). Some people believe people do things only for personal rewards. Although, the reason people help others is they want to. The most important factor in why people choose to do something is the desire to help others. People choose to do something nice when they yearn to do it and people choose to be selfish when they have the wish to only care about themselves and not others.

Louisa Alcott’s novel Little Women is posed during the Civil War. There are four girls: Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy. They live with their mother while their father is away fighting in the war. Little Women displays many themes. However, feminism is one of the important themes displayed. During the Civil War, women were expected to get married, and while Jo portrays feminism, she gets married in the end of the novel. This aspect demonstrates that even though someone wants to change the way something is, it cannot be completely changed because of society’s ideals. In Alcott’s novel Little Women, the author uses Jo to demonstrate femininity through the use of dialogue, imagery, and behavior.

Louisa May Alcott, best known as the author of Little Women, was an advocate of women’s rights and temperance. Published in 1868, Little Women follows the lives, loves and tribulations of three sisters growing up during American civil war. The independence of women is a major theme in Little Women. Since its publication the novel has constantly been read and remembered for its feminist spirit. Little Women examines the place of women in society by presenting the portraits of several very different but equally praiseworthy women. We experience their multifarious interpretations of femininity and we see a range of diverse possibilities for integrating women into the society.