An Analogy of the Journey Abroad in Little Women and Treasure Island
Crucial to Little Women and Treasure Island is Amy March’s and Jim Hawkins’ journey abroad which also shows the characters’ trajectory from innocence to maturity. Certainly, both novels belong to the sub-genre of bildungsroman which is by definition, a story that depicts a journey from childhood to maturity (Maybin, Haslam & Watson, 2009). In spite of their different goals and outcomes, it is possible to trace some sort of parallelism between both journeys as they were indirectly intended to shape their characters in line with the social norms of that time.
First and foremost, in Little Women, Amy’s castle in the air is “to be an artist, and go to Rome, and do fine pictures,
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While the journey’s main aim is quiet obvious, it is possible to argue that there are implicit and explicit goals behind this journey. Explicitly, the idea of pursuing a journey to an exotic island to find a pirate’s treasure is undoubtedly appealing. Indeed, as a child, it offered Jim a chance to escape the inn’s confinements and his mother’s authority. Nevertheless, there are many implicit goals behind this journey. Firstly, it was intended to help him acquire knowledge and experience through nature. Secondly, it aimed to make him realize his own capacities and capabilities. Thirdly, Christopher Parks (2009) argues that the journey’s fundamental aim was to make Hawkins’ fit for his future role in the service of the Empire. Fourthly, it provided him a chance to aid his mother’s as well as his own financial condition. And finally, according to Diana Loxley (2009), imperialism and colonial exploration are what lurks behind the quest for the treasure. Certainly, the characters in the novel are all engaged in an intoxicated pursuit after the treasure in order to transfer it to the Empire, gain their own share, improve their lives and rise up in ranks. Furthermore, Treasure Island has also been regarded as a psychological journey from childhood to adulthood, motivated by the search for a father (Maybin, Haslam & Watson, 2009). However, Hawkins’ voyage concluded with a number of outcomes that changed his life
Little Girls in Pretty Boxes and The Scarlet Letter. Both authors persuade the reader to feel pain of the stories subject. In Little Girls in Pretty Boxes the author used pathos and interviewing to share the stories of these overly dedicated youth. Joan Ryan wrote to show how these young, talented, sophisticated women can hide the harsh reality of the sport. In her biography she listed the physical problems that these young girls go through. They have eating disorders, stunted growth, weakened bones, depression, low self esteem, debilitating and fatal injuries, and many sacrifice dropping out of school. Whereas the Scarlet Letter is a fictional drama that uses persuasion and storytelling to involve the reader. Nathaniel Hawthorne discusses
Jeannette Wales, author of The Glass Castle, recalls in her memoir the most important parts of her life growing up as a child that got her where she is now. Her story begins in Arizona in a small house with her parents and three siblings. Her parents worked and didn’t do much as parents so she had to become very independent. Her parents and siblings were the highlights to most of her memory growing up. She is able to recall memories that most small children wouldn’t be able to recall with as much detail.
In Barbara Kingsolver’s novel The Bean Trees, Taylor Greer tries to escape turning out like everyone else in Pittman County; she has dreams of becoming something besides a teenage bride or a high school drop out. The Bean Trees, a perfect representation of an authentic Bildungsroman portrays someone who undergoes a life altering change, which will in turn send them on their way to becoming a full fledged adult. Karl Morgenstern coined the word bildungsroman, which means novel of formation in German. Loss can be used as one way to open protagonist’s eyes to the world beyond their hometown. In a Bildungsroman, the general goal can be maturity, and the protagonist achieves adulthood slowly and painfully. The protagonist eventually accepts the
In the book The Descent of Alette by Alice Notley, the book is a twist to what readers would expect. In the story, a girl name Alette is chosen for a certain mission and she goes in not knowing what to expect. Alette goes on these journey and face with challenges that she must overcome, but it is more about the destination then than the journey itself. One of the important theme throughout the book is transformation.
The war time childhood events Penny and Primrose encounter result in psychological traumas such as parental abandonment. These two girls in particular endure psychological trauma of isolation, neglect, and displacement that begins when the two girls begin walking with the other children to climb aboard the train. The two young friends set off at the ...
Alice and Alyss are innocent girls before they begin their journeys. They are ready to have fun and they want to explore the world. During their journeys, they both adapt to different lifestyles which help them to better understand themselves. As they come closer to the end of their journeys they get the same result which is an increase in maturity.
Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott, was published in 1868 and follows the lives, loves, and troubles of the four March sisters growing up during the American Civil War.1 The novel is loosely based on childhood experiences Alcott shared with her own sisters, Anna, May, and Elizabeth, who provided the hearts of the novel’s main characters.2 The March sisters illustrate the difficulties of girls growing up in a world that holds certain expectations of the female sex; the story details the journeys the girls make as they grow to be women in that world. Figures 1 and 2 in the Appendix are of Orchard House, the basis for the March family home, where the Alcotts lived.
Jill McCorkle's novel, Ferris Beach, fits perfectly into the popular genre of the bildungsroman. Ferris Beach tells the story of Kate Burns and her struggle to find her identity in a rapidly changing world. Kate looks for permanency in the swiftly changing environment of the New South. Kate's search for permanency forces her to deal with many of the other vital questions in her life. The struggle to deal with change, a central theme in most bildungsromans, certainly plays a major role in Ferris Beach. McCorkle's Ferris beach participates in the bildungsroman tradition. Like Bronte's Jane Eyre and Dickens's Great Expectation , McCorkle's narrative focuses on the "coming of age" of its hero-in this case, Kate Burns. Ferris Beach traces Kate's physical and spiritual journey on the path to maturity as she deals with sexuality, insecurity about appearance, and most importantly the question of life's impermanence. McCorkle sets her story in the changing South, creating a parallel between Kate's transition and the South's transition from adolescence.
‘Some idea of a child or childhood motivates writers and determines both the form and content of what they write.’ -- Hunt The above statement is incomplete, as Hunt not only states that the writer has an idea of a child but in the concluding part, he states that the reader also has their own assumptions and perceptions of a child and childhood. Therefore, in order to consider Hunt’s statement, this essay will look at the different ideologies surrounding the concept of a child and childhood, the form and content in which writers inform the reader about their ideas of childhood concluding with what the selected set books state about childhood in particular gender. The set books used are Voices In The Park by Browne, Mortal Engines by Reeve and Little Women by Alcott to illustrate different formats, authorial craft and concepts about childhood. For clarity, the page numbers used in Voices In The Park are ordinal (1-30) starting at Voice 1.
All children and teenagers will discover character traits and qualities that they want to possess from the adults they come into contact with. Jim Hawkins is no different. He uses the attributes he learns from Ben Gunn, Dr. Livesey, and John Silver to help mold him into the man he is becoming. Works Cited Stevenson, Robert. A. A. Treasure Island. City: Publisher, Year of Pub.
Children’s literature has a subversive linear pattern within the dominant circular journey in traditional children`s literature. The basic pattern in children`s literature is the circular journey. That is, the plot follows the trajectory home-departure from home-adventure-return home. The purpose of the journey is the maturing of the child including the reader, but the return home is a matter of maturity and the change of thinking. In the article, Mid-Summer Night’s Dream it talks about how most fairy tales the protagonists escape from the real world and go on a journey into the fantasy world, which in the end the protagonists return to the real world becoming more self-confident, knowledgeable, and adjusted individual. For example, in the novel, and Water Babies written by Charles Kingsley, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, written by Lewis Carroll, and Peter Pan, written by J.M. Barrie’s, we can see many examples of this kind of circular journey to life. The linear pattern is much more attractive but it demands quite an amount of courage for a child to accept the absence of their home and live a “perfect” life. This means that children`s literature has real, argumentative readers, and practical consequential issues.
The roles of women and how they were treated during the 1800’s are portrayed throughout Little Women, while also demonstrating how the main characters deal with these conformity norms. Through the 4 sisters, Alcott depicts different ways they dealt with being a woman during nineteenth-century expectations. While two conform, the other two attempt to rebel against the standards. Alcott doesn’t imply that one way is necessarily better than the other, but she shows that one is more realistic than the other.
Jim Hawkins motivations were primarily to go look for the treasure and find it. Jim Hawkins doesn’t let his young age stop him from going out and adventuring the world. At a young age Jim Hawkins shows a great amount of courage, determination, motivation, and leadership skills. Jim Hawkins showed a lot of maturity when he was faced with physical and mental challenges on his journey to search for the treasure. In the first couple of chapters Jim is described to be an easily frightened boy who is really close to his home and family. After his father dies and he goes on this adventure, Jim starts to think for himself and shows initiative. Jim makes a lot of mistakes, but he learns from them, which shows that he is maturing. He grows up quickly during this trip, starting as the cabin boy but eventually naming himself the new captain after he takes the ship back from the pirates. His tendency to act on smarts and his growing self-awareness also shows that he is caught between two worlds between childhood and adulthood.
By the late 1900s, approximately five billion human beings occupied planet Earth. Whether they crawled on top of comfortable carpets or scurried across dark alleys, five billion people carried the ability to not only walk on the earth, but also to shape it, to mold it with their footsteps. Among this era's sculptors that molded the ground below them with their various talents was Walt Disney, a man who grew up to become a film producer, a screenwriter, a director, an animator, an entrepreneur, an international icon and a philanthropist. With his imagination, ambition, and a little help from a special mouse, Disney transformed both the entertainment industry and international culture itself. He pioneered full-color animated cartoons, created "the happiest place on Earth", and introduced the world to inspiring family movies that to this day encourage both children and adults alike to pursue their dreams and chase happiness. However, while Disney's movies all end with a "happily ever after", the actual tales the movies are based on are far from happy; they are rather morbid, realistic and poignant. The Little Mermaid, Disney's movie about a young princess lusting after a prince, serves as an example of a story in which Disney strayed far from the actual tale. The basis of Disney's feel-good, family movie is Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid, which shocks readers with the death of the mermaid's beloved prince, the mermaid's awareness of her physical pain, and the loss of her innocence. Analyzed through a psychoanalytical lens, both Walt Disney's and Hans Christian Andersen's A Little Mermaid displays female subjectivity in favor of a dominant patriarchal world.
The bildungsroman, Little Women, written by Louisa May Alcott portrays a group of sisters growing up together in Concord, Massachusetts in the mid nineteenth century. Throughout the novel the reader watches as each of the March sisters grow in their own ways. Meg and Amy both transform from people who care so strongly about how others view them into people more concerned with themselves and their personalities, than what others think of them.