Preview

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
583 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Little Women by Louisa Alcott would definitely appeal to women of all types and ages. Little Women appeals to a broad audience, its full of the values and beliefs, and it paints a very real picture of most American's lives at the time.
The reason for this book appealing to such a broad audience lies in all the characters' personalities. Mrs. March is a strong, independent woman who never falters, therefore she relates to all independent women; but she is also a mother who plants strong values in her girls and is the rock foundation of the family, with that she relates to all mothers. Margaret's desire for luxury is a desire that we all can relate to and her properness is a trait most girls can relate to. Jo's mischievous demeanor and talent for writing is something that if one cannot relate, admire to have. Beth is the insecure, sweet, homebody in all of us. Amy represents the beauty and talent, and sometimes moral code, which all women have. Laurie represents all the men that wish to be loved any uncommon-but-beautiful woman.
This book is full of the values and beliefs of its time. The March family, that were once-upon-a-time a rich family, were still connected to the "higher" society. As a result, they were sometimes willingly and sometimes forced to commune with people who looked down on them for being poor.
The book taking place during and after the period of the civil war there was a lot of tension concerning Blacks. Some of the values Mrs. March teaches her girls is the importance of never trying to be something there not; the unimportance of material possessions versus mental possessions; and that regardless of what the world told them, they are equal to men and therefore deserve equal rights.
The book does a good job of directly and indirectly showing realness of all Americans lives. The whole book feels very real, probably because it's an autobiography. One very real aspect of the book was the death of Beth. Many loved ones were lost to scarlet

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    The majority of the book focuses on Moody’s early years, her experiences at school and also at college. Anne Moody sees herself as an activist rather than a writer. She worked as a volunteer in the Congress on Racial Equality (CORE) and participated in many key events of the Civil Rights Movement.…

    • 756 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Louisa May Alcott is an American Novelist best known as the author of the novel “Little Women”. Louisa was born in November 1982, grew up in Germantown- Washington D.C and was known to be an abolitionist, feminist and also a naturalist. Being a naturalist meant that she believed that nothing existed beyond the natural earth i.e. no such thing as spirituality or the supernatural. Her family suffered from financial difficulties and so Alcott had to work to support her family in an early age. She penned the story “My Contraband” (1869) which was formerly known as “The Brothers” (1863). Contraband was a black slave who escaped to or was brought within union lines (Alcott 759). In “My Contraband”, Louisa May Alcott utilizes the concept of naturalism to condemn racism in the African American community.…

    • 1724 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The book was written in the 1900’s which was an area where women and black people were marginalized by society due to their sex or skin colour.…

    • 929 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    the way both blacks and women were seen in her time as well as when the book was set. The…

    • 874 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Anne’s own growth and maturation are symbolic of the growth and maturation of the civil rights movement. In this book, Anne Moody talks extensively about the civil rights movement that she participated in. It dealt with numerous issues that had to do with racism and that many people did not agree with. Moody also include many contemporaries that would either make or break her equal right fight. “Coming of Age in Mississippi” gives the reader a first-hand look at the efforts that many people did to gain equal rights.…

    • 951 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Louisa May Alcott grew up during a time when many Northerners were beginning to stand up for the abolition of slavery and the rights of African Americans to be free from fear of a cruel master. She worked as a nurse during the Civil War, braving the “unsanitary and poorly run Union Hotel Hospital” in her efforts to aid wounded and dying men (“Louisa May Alcott” 1734). Even before her saintly deeds in the Civil War effort, it was clear that Alcott was a sympathetic, well-educated woman who supported the abolitionist cause and was willing to do everything within her power to strengthen the movement. She shows this abolitionist attitude in several of her stories, “My Contraband” being just one of them.…

    • 753 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The purpose of this paper is to introduce, discuss, and analyze the book "The Return of Martin Guerre" by Natalie Zamon Davis. Specifically, it will discuss the life of the peasant during the Middle Ages. This book is a fascinating account of a true case that happened during the 16th century in France. The book is also an excellent example of how the peasants lived in the Middle Ages, from what they ate, to how they traveled and what their family lives were like.…

    • 1087 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In this autobiography of Anne Moody a.k.a. Essie Mae as she is often called in the book, is the struggles for rights that poor black Americans had in Mississippi. Things in her life lead her to be such an activist in the fight for black equality during this time. She had to go through a lot of adversity growing up like being beat, house being burned down, moving to different school, and being abuse by her mom's boyfriend. One incident that would make Anne Moody curious about racism in the south was the incident in the Movie Theater with the first white friends she had made. The other was the death of Emmett Tillman and other racial incidents that would involve harsh and deadly circumstances. These this would make Miss Moody realize that this should not be tolerated in a free world.…

    • 1803 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Wasn't that the point of the book? For women to realize, we are just two people. Not that much separates us (p. 530).” Descriptions of historical events of the early activities of the civil rights movement are sprinkled throughout the novel, as are relations between the maids and their white employers. The novel is filled with details from the early-1960s culture in the United States like Martin Luther King, Jr.’s famous march on Washington…

    • 586 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Civil Rights Movement was a long and hard fought battle. The end goal was to end racial segregation and discrimination against African Americans and to secure and protect their rights as United States citizens. Throughout the autobiography, “Coming of Age in Mississippi” by Anne Moody, readers are brought through Moody’s own battles and participation in the Civil Right Movement. Towards the very end, readers are introduced to Gene Young, who is young, bright, and fresh-minded. His views compared with the much older Moody’s are drastic. Although these differences are neither’s fault or intentions, Moody’s much more pessimistic outlook is clearly justified after learning of all the struggles she had experienced in her life simply due to the…

    • 1152 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the book To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee teaches life lessons that show the unfairness of prejudice, the importance of dignity, and the need for respect. To Kill a Mockingbird is a book about the small town of Maycomb and two children named Scout and Jem. Scout and Jem's father is a lawyer assigned to defend a black man named Tom Robinson. Tom was charged with rape. Just because he is black Tom is found guilty.…

    • 526 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The fact that it dealt with real life issues that were not sugar coated was what made this book so great. I would definitely recommend everyone read it at least once in their lifetime. While the book does mention some harsh realities, it is a part of life that should not be hidden. This book only brings more awareness to the conditions that some Native Americans still live in. It is crazy to think that if I had not read this book, I would not have realized that these atrocities were still occurring in parts of the United…

    • 1254 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    History of Mississippi

    • 505 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Anne Moody’s Coming Of Age In Mississippi also deals with the hard times of African Americans in the South. The story retells the life of Anne, an African American women growing up in the 20th century of rural Mississippi. Her loud mouth and independent nature is seen throughout the story and allows readers to understand racism during that time period. The story beings with her childhood where she is growing up in poverty and has to become a maid for white familes at the age of 10 to help support her family. Although during her childhood she does not see the effects of racisms until she enters highschool. There she is confronted with the horrors of racial codes as she finds out about Emmett Till’s…

    • 505 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    This book promotes change because the main idea of Skeeter’s book is to show racism from the point of view from the maids in Jackson. This book caused a change in both positive and negative ways. It caused negative change because while Hilly was reading the book, “she [told] white ladies to fire they [sic] maids,” based solely on guesses (411). Most of the time she wasn’t even guessing the right maids. Hilly told “Miss Sinclair to fire Anabelle,” her maid, which Miss Sinclair did because, in Jackson, everyone listens to Hilly (412). This book also brought positive change by showing white ladies how much they care about their maids. When Skeeter was getting medicine for her mom, she runs into Lou Anne and Miss Leefolt. When Lou Anne saw Skeeter she immediately felt the need to talk to her about her maid, Louvenia. When Louvenia was brought up in conversation Skeeter thought Lou Anne had fired her, but instead, Lou Anne cries and tells Skeeter “I will never fire Louvenia” (418). Lou Anne also admits to Skeeter that Louvenia is the only reason she gets up in the morning and reading what Louvenia wrote in the book about her is the “best [she’d] felt in months” (418). A higher appreciation of maids came from the proactiveness of Skeeter and the maids she interviewed, but not without the risk of being…

    • 1301 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    She calls upon the of a number of maids who works for her friends; Aibileen, Minny and Pascagoula in order to make her book a real like interpretation of the struggles they face on a daily bases. Jackson has a community that seems to be very racist and oblivious and close minded towards change and fait treatment towards citizens that reside there. The community seemingly split in two divided over an adequate racial line that has been passed down from generations to generations. Stern guidelines and regulations are put in place in order to separate the blacks and white. The writer gives us a glimpse of the Mississippian world back in the day and how maids were treated and the amount of racism and hatred that occurred in Jackson Mississippi. White Mississippians had been brought up and through social conditioning they had a mentality that prevented them to change their views and allow blacks to live the same luxury they had. Whites had more freedom blacks had, they allowed their communities to grow and flourish whereas blacks’ community became congested and overcrowded due to the restrictions preventing their community to grow “Jackson is just one white neighbourhood after the next” and “the coloured part of town be one big…

    • 1770 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays