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Articles: Women | A 'Little Women'
- Prof. venkata ramanamurty mallajosyula
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Lousia May Alcott born in German town, Pennsylvania on November 29, 1832. Lousia May Alcott and her three sisters Anna, Elizabeth and May were educated by their father, philosopher and teacher, Bronson Alcott. Alcott is best known for her novel “Little women”, which is based on her own life. Her character in the book. Jo, was tomboy. ”No boy could be my friend till I had beaten him in a race, ”she claimed” and no girl if she refused to climb trees and leap fences.”
Writing became a passion with Alcott and she spent many evenings with her sisters, playing the parts of the characters she had written about.
When she was just 17 Alcott’s father could no longer guarantee his family a regular income. So she vowed to help out in any way she could. ”I 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!” she said. And So she took on a job that involved reading to an elderly man and his invalid sister. She taught, mended, washed laundry and did sundry other jobs. But whatever she took on, whether it was the role of a teacher, governess or household help, Alcott found that she was confronting a society that offered little opportunity to women seeking employment.
In 1852 Louisa’s first poem, Sunlight as published in Peterson’s magazine under the pseudonym, Flora Fairfield. And the rest as they say is history. Her first book appeared in 1854, when she was 22.It was called Flower Fables. Hospital sketches- which came out in 1863 was based on her experiences as a nurse in Washington D.C during the Civil War.
But it was when Alcott was 35, that her publisher asked he to write “a book for girls”. Little Women was written at Orchard House from May to July 1868. The novel is set in Civil War New England. Jo March was the first young heroin who was not the idealized stereo-type then prevalent in children’s fiction. Alcott’s story of Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy launched her into fame and fortune. She followed up her success with Old Fashioned Girl in 1870. Sequels to Little Women followed Good Wives, Jo’s Boys, and Little Men. In all, Alcott published over 30 books and collections of stories. She died on March 6,1888. only two days after her father, and is buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in concord, Massachusetts. She was a woman with a zest for life and living.
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