FEMINIST CRITIQUE LW

8/7/2019 FEMINIST CRITIQUE LW

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Meghan Walsh

Mr. Kemp

Period 1 English 10

April 13, 2010

Little Women By Louisa May Alcott: A FEMINIST APPROACH

Christmas wont be Christmas without any presents, grumbled Jo, lying on the rug.

Its so dreadful to be poor! Sighed Meg, looking down at her old dress (Alcott 1). Within

these first two lines, the beginning of a timeless novel that grandmothers and mothers alike

cherished long ago and daughters talk about today, commences. Within these first two lines, a

period in time for women is captured and defined. Within these first two lines, the author

illustrates women as sometimes materialistic, outspoken, beings that are heard rather than

repressed by their male counterparts. While Little Women by Louisa May Alcott provides a story

that bridges generation gaps for women today, it also provides insight into women of the

nineteenth century. Alcott breaks barriers in womens literature, which is found through studying

differences between her male and female characters, how power is dispersed throughout the

characters, and her unique female experience.

The first aspect to be analyzed is the differences between the male and female characters

of the text. Since Louisa is not only a female, but she basically is the heroine of the story,

gynocriticism is the specific angle in which her novel will be interpreted.

The females in Little Women are much more than the standard, run-of the-mill

housewives and proper ladies found in other novels depicting ladies of the nineteenth century.

They are vivacious, rebellious, independent women that work hard to earn a living for

themselves. However, along with these attributes, they fill common roles such as the nurturing


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caretaker (Marmee), the stay-at-home mom (Meg), the carefree spinster (Jo), and the reserved

gentle one (Beth), and the worldly socialite (Amy). While each woman conforms to a traditional

lifestyle that people often assume women will follow, each woman is also strong-minded and

independent.

The men also fill typical roles. The Marches neighbors Mr. Lawrence and his grandson

Laurie are perfect examples. These are the two main male characters in the novel, and both are

wealthy men that live in a large house with nice things such as a librarylined with

books,pictures and statues, tables, bronzes, and a great, open fireplace (Alcott 51).

The March women, however, live in a small, cramped house. As described earlier, they are poor,

and they do not have many nice things. The two Lawrence men are also well-educated. Laurie,

having dutifully gone off to collegewas nowa universal favorite, thanks to money, manners,

much talent, and the kindest heart Here, the grandson is depicted as a better person overall for

simply having gone to college. None of the March girls went off to college or even had a formal

education; instead, they stayed at home learning how to complete household chores from their

mother.

The second main point which provides a new angle in which to view the novel is that of

power dispersion amongst the characters. The man of the house, Mr. March is gone for half of

the novel, away fighting in the Civil War. This leaves the four sisters and their mother at home to

do the chores, make the decisions, and handle the finances.

Typically in the nineteenth century, women would be working behind the scenes by

rearing and raising their children. On the other hand, in Little Women, each girl is a fiery,

passionate being with a great deal of self-determination. One example is of how each girl at one

point or another held a job. Jos job was even more of an accomplishment because she really had


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to work for it. Jo was a writer, and she submitted her work to many different publishing houses

and newspapers.

The owners and managers of these places were always middle-aged men, and more

often than not, each rejected Jo as an authoress. This is because in the past, women were

not taken seriously in any job other than a teacher or governess. Alcott wrote the novel

during what Showalter calls feminine phase between 1840 and 1880, when women writers

were known to sometimes take on male nom de plumes to hide their being female. When

Jo met with Mr. Dashwood, the editor of a major newspaper, and after he finally decided

to publish it, he asked, What name would your friend like to put on it? in a careless

tone (Alcott 335). Without a nom de plume to go by, Jo decided to go as anonymous

rather than having her real name published in the newspaper. This exemplifies the

authoress struggle to be heard in a patriarchal society, along with their struggle to earn a

living when males control what is and is not published and therefore what is and is not

read.

The third main point to study is the unique female experience depicted in Little

Women. Alcott being a woman, and as a result influencing what she writes, is just a

component of this point. One example can be found in those first two lines of the novel

shown before. The sisters dont just say whatever they are talking about; they grumble, sigh,

and exclaim, which are characteristic female elements of writing.

The female experience in this novel is unique because of the reversals of the expected

norms for females. Jo is a sometimes rebellious woman, who does not conform to standards

set by the society she exists in. She traveled the country alone, earned an income for her

family, and did not ever rely on a man in her life to support her.


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While the other sisters do not display the same obvious reversed expected

characteristics that Jo does, they do waiver from the customary archetypes of women in

literature. Each is independent and strong-willed in their own way. Even as they represent the

reversed roles of women in literature, they also each have typical female character traits, such

as being nurturing (Marmee), well-mannered (Meg), gentle (Beth), and dramatically

emotional (Amy).

Louisa May Alcotts unique feminine perspective allows the reader to view and

analyze her major work, Little Women, with a new respect for females across generations.

Her characters represent true women, in that they have the typical character traits of all

females, so that people can identify with them today. However, Alcotts forward thinking

results in a work that goes against the patriarchal society created by chauvinists seeking to

belittle women in everyday culture. These characters break androcentric molds, showing

women today that they do not have to conform in society, but they can flourish and thrive in

the world equally alongside men.

It was no mistake that their father was away at war: This way, the women of the household could

let their feelings be heard without a WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE FEMLAE


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