Louisa May Alcott: Influences in Her Life and Writings

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the main influence in Louisa May Alcott's life-- her parents. During the 1800s, her father was one of the major leaders of the transcendentalist movement and her mother worked for equal rights and other worthy causes of the time. Her parents' beliefs were passed on to their daughters. This paper shows how Alcott's parents influenced her writings and her life.

From the Paper:

"She had a decided mouth, a comical nose, and sharp, gray eyes, which appeared to see everything, and were by turns fierce, funny, or thoughtful" (Alcott, Little 14). The author of this passage, Louisa May Alcott, describes Jo, one of the characters in her novel Little Women. The character she describes in this passage is modeled after herself. The other characters in the novel depict her mother, father and sisters as they were in her own home. The novel deals with the four sisters' struggles, modeled after her own sisters and herself, of becoming women in the mid-1800s. After repeated suggestions from her father, Amos Bronson Alcott, Alcott published this autobiographical story of her family and childhood in 1868. The publication of this novel was an immediate success and made her an important American writer. Since her time, the novel has never been out of print and ranks in the top ten bestsellers of all time (Powers). Alcott's success can be traced back to the influences she had in her childhood. It is clear that Alcott's father and mother had the most influence on her success and her writings."

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