Little Women Essay

Initially, Louisa is seemingly portrayed as a representation of all the qualities that become stereotypes of feminine females—Louisa sews, pays close attention to her “little feminine appurtenances,” drinks tea, and does what society expects of docile females, (62-63). Thus, Freeman leads the readers to believe that Louisa is the replica of a submissive female character. On the contrary, when Joe Dagget is introduced, it is evident that Louisa willingly partakes in the stereotypical roles, merely because they are her passion. For instance, she desires everything to be in its order, as shown when she irresistibly, puts back the book that Joe Dagget misplaces,

A higher level of awakening occurred in the 18th century that forced people to empathize. What changed during this time period that caused this transformation? Hunt’s conclusion is that the popular novels of this era had wide audiences that could identify as characters. The relationships

Two-hundred years is a sizeable gap of time that allows plenty of room for change. American society had been rapidly changing from the early seventeenth century to the late nineteenth century, but despite this, the roles and rights of women have remained locked in place. There were many factors to consider as to why women were not allowed to flourish in their time and exceed these boundaries, and while some accepted it, there were many that opposed and faced these difficulties head on. Two female authors, one from colonial times, and one from nineteenth century America, have written about the obstacles and misogyny they’ve overcome in a male dominated literary career. Despite the two-hundred-year gap between the lives of Margaret Fuller and Anne Bradstreet, they both face issues regarding the static stereotype that women are literarily inferior and subservient handmaids to men.

How Louisa May Alcott emphasizes on certain aspect of each March girl that sets them apart from the other three is quite intriguing. For the most part, this book seemed more directed at a feminine audience. You’d have thought I could figure that out from the title, but I chose the book because of its reputation. Although it was slow and gradual (after all, the story followed the life of these little women), getting through the book was like growing up with the March girls. I like that Jo was a fiery tomboy, that Beth was shy and reserved, that Meg was all-knowing and wise, and that Amy was naive and proud. It was even more enjoyable to see them grow into adults that contradicted some of their former ways. Jo for instance, exhibited great change, especially when she burned her old sensationalist stories in Mr. Bhaer’s fire. This symbolic event included a step away from Jo’s old behavior and towards the life of the woman she was meant to be.

The difference between men and women is a very controversial issue, while there are obviously physical differences; the problem is how the genders are treated. It is stereotypically thought that the men do the labor work and make all the money, while the women stay in the house, cooking, cleaning and taking care of the children. While this stereotype does not exist as much in the 21st century, it was very prevalent in the 1900s. By using many different literary tools such as character development, symbolism, and setting, Alice Munro’s Boys and Girls and John Steinbeck’s The Chrysanthemums challenge this controversial topic of the treatment of women versus men in the 1900s.

The role that women play in society has changed and evolved numerous times throughout our nation’s history. Women have been viewed as both pious and ungodly, chaste and immoral, and both precious and worthless. However, what has continued to remain constant in the lives of women is the unchanging feeling of inequality and insufficiency compared to their male counterparts. Those feelings endured by women are decidedly timeless, no matter what other circumstances exist within their lives. There are indeed similarities between the lives of the women in Lepore’s biography Book of Ages and Wilson’s autobiographical novel Our Nig. Both Frado and Jane Franklin Mecom were born at a disadvantage because of the sole fact that they were female. They each

“Women wrote 12 of the 27 best selling novels published between 1850 and 1860. Their stories about heroines who overcame hardships no doubt helped their female readers imagine all kinds of new possibilities.” Their life’s battles they wrote about helped new generation women realize they can overcome anything and new possibilities in life. “Other women found work as launderers, domestic servants, or cooks.”They are doing everything they was told not to do and more. They are taking advantage of their time being. “Others reluctantly found change thrust upon them. Either way, women’s traditional roles and responsibilities were forever changed as many of them adjusted to life during war.” Some just bettered themselves, some

In history as well as literature, women have been portrayed as weak creatures that share no place of importance in society. Both Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, and Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God, begin with female protagonists who are objects of scorn and derision from others in their respective towns. However, by characterizing these women through the remarks of others and through their physical appearance, the authors show that despite the negativity and their unorthodox appearances, these women have tremendous inner strength and an inordinate power over those who would judge them.

This shows that authors of the twentieth century were attempting to dismantle these preconceptions that readers had of their characters before they had even read the text. The preconceiving of characters is a way in which readers blur the line which distinguishes between fiction and reality as they attach human

In Laura Esquivel’s Like Water for Chocolate and John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, the female characters are presented in nontraditional ways for the times in which the novels are set. Each novel shows a clear distinction between the male and female characters, and it would make sense to feel a feminist vibe from the authors at certain points in the novels. In these novels, the female characters use the traditional distinction between gender roles to change the dynamics of their families and function within the novel.

Anna Alcott was the model for Meg March. Both these characters shared common life events. They both married a man called “John” and both gave birth to twins. They were both the eldest in the family. Louisa’s little sister, May, was the model for Amy. They were both graceful and poised at a young age and very materialistic. The youngest of the Alcott girls, Elizabeth was the model for Beth in the novel. Not only did they share the same namesake as the youngest March character Beth; they both shared a childhood death due to scarlet fever. They both died at a very young age. Evidently, Alcott was the model for Jo. They were both tempestuous and of wild nature. They were both females living in the Victorian Era who defied the norms of their times. At the age of fifteen, she wrote in her diary, “I will do something by and by. Don’t care what, teach, sew, act, write anything to help the family and I’ll be rich and famous and happy before I die, see if I won’t” (Laire 10). Women of that time did not normally focus on getting jobs; they left it to their male counterparts to bring home the income. Alcott and her sister both took on teaching jobs, though her dream was to become an actress. By the age of twenty, she knew her real talent was to write. To please the readers, she quickly understood the reading market and started experimenting with different writing styles. This gave her

American Literature has always been about men and for men. In this essay, we are going to analyze the women’s role in the book, as inferior and weaker gender.

There are different forms and examples of exemplary and classic literature which have been deemed as significant works that are highly esteemed worldwide. These examples of literature would awe the world with how much literary skill they entailed when they were composed and written: attention to details as to formation of characters, the most crafty of plots, the most eloquent speeches and lines, the most astounding of twists of scenes, and most of all, the most universal and meaningful of themes. The theme of any literary work is what makes it great as it should be able to encompass the immense diversity of the world and as it would be able to transcend the boundaries of religion, age, race, gender, etc. Two examples of this great and

The first volume Little Women was an immediate commercial and critical success prompting the composition of the book’s second volume Good Wives which was successful as well. The publication of the book as a single volume first occurred in 1880 and was titled Little Women. The novel chronicles the lives of the March family; Father, Marmee, Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy and it details the struggles of the March women to find sustenance for their family and identities of their own in a masculine society. The novel is a manifestation of four sisters embodying four models of femininity, possibly even four models of

March 's role as a minister, but also to their wishes for true happiness. Alcott describes how difficult it is for her characters to make moral options, but when they do, they are happier than when they make immoral ones. When the girls share their Christmas breakfast with the Hummel’s, they are happy with their decision and honoured by a feast from Mr. Laurence. Laurie is thankful to Meg for making him promise to avoid drinking, and grateful that his promises to his grandfather and Marmee keep him out of mischief. The King family provides a counterexample of the unhappiness that comes to the family because of the son’s immoral behavior. Amy is deeply thankful that she married Laurie for love, rather than marrying Fred Vaughn for money. Jo tries to meander morality through her sensation stories by making her sinners repent, but when morals didn’t sell, she leaves the morals out. Mr. Bhaer teaches her, though, that meeting society’s demand is not always worthy, and she feels very guilty about her immoral stories. After Beth dies, when Jo writes from the heart, she is rewarded by the return of Mr. Bhaer and her ultimate marriage.