Little Women and Treasure Island: Fatherhood
Compare and contrast the depiction of fatherhoods in Little Women and Treasure Island.
When discussing fatherhood in relation to both novels, we see that in both, the father is either primarily absent or irrelevant to the plot. The element of fatherhood comes from the characters designed to replace or substitute the absent or lost fathers. Treasure Island finds two figures available for Jim to form a paternal relationship, and the moral juxtaposition they present has as much to do with Jim growing into a moral man, as it does him choosing a path to survival. In Little Women fatherhood is represented by many different views of masculinity including Jo’s attempt to fill her absent father’s shoes. The differences and similarities between the two books determine what the role of the father figure was at the time of publication and whether the concept of fatherhood was relatively important to the novels in question.
Alcott wrote her novel at the request of her publisher and for a particular market, this to a great extent; is responsible for her interpretation of the male and female characters and the nineteenth century attitudes towards femininity and masculinity. In producing a book aimed specifically at children and more specifically girls, Alcott was under pressure to produce a familial image that would sell. In part two of Little Women any of the feministic qualities which Jo exhibited have been abandoned to conform to popularity, “she altered her values in deference to the opinions of others” (Fetterley, 2009. p.30) again in keeping with the attitudes of the public Alcott’s girls grew ‘agreeable’ to the men around them and learned “to put a man in the centre of her picture.” (Fetterley, 2009. p.21) For Jo this is instead of, being the man in the picture. She binds them to men who represent a father towards them both in experience and age. Each March girl except Beth marries a man who is above her own level of intellect and older, as Fetterly puts it; “they must
When discussing fatherhood in relation to both novels, we see that in both, the father is either primarily absent or irrelevant to the plot. The element of fatherhood comes from the characters designed to replace or substitute the absent or lost fathers. Treasure Island finds two figures available for Jim to form a paternal relationship, and the moral juxtaposition they present has as much to do with Jim growing into a moral man, as it does him choosing a path to survival. In Little Women fatherhood is represented by many different views of masculinity including Jo’s attempt to fill her absent father’s shoes. The differences and similarities between the two books determine what the role of the father figure was at the time of publication and whether the concept of fatherhood was relatively important to the novels in question.
Alcott wrote her novel at the request of her publisher and for a particular market, this to a great extent; is responsible for her interpretation of the male and female characters and the nineteenth century attitudes towards femininity and masculinity. In producing a book aimed specifically at children and more specifically girls, Alcott was under pressure to produce a familial image that would sell. In part two of Little Women any of the feministic qualities which Jo exhibited have been abandoned to conform to popularity, “she altered her values in deference to the opinions of others” (Fetterley, 2009. p.30) again in keeping with the attitudes of the public Alcott’s girls grew ‘agreeable’ to the men around them and learned “to put a man in the centre of her picture.” (Fetterley, 2009. p.21) For Jo this is instead of, being the man in the picture. She binds them to men who represent a father towards them both in experience and age. Each March girl except Beth marries a man who is above her own level of intellect and older, as Fetterly puts it; “they must
Bibliography: Alcott, L.M. (1998) Little women, Oxford:, Oxford Paperbacks. Fetterley, J. (2009) ‘Little Women: Alcott’s Civil War’ Children 's Literature: classic texts and contemporary trends, Milton Keynes:, In association with the Open University. Hunt, P. (in) Stevenson, R.L. (2011) ‘Introduction’ Treasure Island, Oxford:, Oxford University Press. Loxley, D. (2009) ‘Slaves to Adventure: The Pure Story of Treasure Island’ Children 's Literature: classic texts and contemporary trends, Milton Keynes:, In association with the Open University. Parkes, C. (2009) ‘Treasure Island and the Romance of the British Civil Service’ Children 's literature: classic texts and contemporary trends, Milton Keynes:, In association with the Open University. Stevenson, R.L. (2009) ‘My First Book: Treasure Island’ Children 's Literature: classic texts and contemporary trends, Milton Keynes:, In association with the Open University. Stevenson, R.L. (2011) Treasure Island, Oxford:, Oxford University Press. Watson, N.J. (2009) ‘Introduction’ Children 's Literature: classic texts and contemporary trends [Online], Milton Keynes:, In association with the Open University