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Social movements and their effects in society
Social movements and their effects in society
Social movements and their effects in society
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Louisa May Alcott. Alone, these words mean nothing, but together they spark to life a real, highly spirited, and independent person. Louisa May Alcott is a famous children’s American author with a rebellious spirit, having ideas that challenge the society of that time. She lived from November 29, 1832 to March 6, 1888, passing from this world at age 56. Her surroundings certainly influence her works, for she lived during the Transcendentalism and Romantic periods, not to mention the ghastly, but necessary Civil War. Transcendentalism and romanticism brought new ideas, literature, and ways of life and beliefs, and Alcott knew two great philosophers of that time, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. She lived with her parents and her three sisters in several places throughout Massachusetts. Alcott worked very hard for her family, and started writing about her childhood in stories. Her best-known novel is “Little Women” or “Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy”. Louisa May Alcott is a very spirited author that melts the ice in even the coldest of hearts with her inspirational, heart-warming stories.
Alcott seems to be a great author, but her works came from her own life. Louisa May Alcott was born on November 29, 1832, in Germantown, Pennsylvania to (Amos) Bronson Alcott and Abigail “Abba” May. Bronson was a “thinker” and a teacher, introducing the revolutionary idea of “enjoyable thinking”, in a world full of strict teachers and repetitive lessons. Abigail May was a strong-willed daughter from a noble Boston family, and even though country life was hard, she willingly took the responsibilities. It was from each of them, did Louisa receive something important. From her mother, she received her “long, chestnut-colored hair, her brown eyes,...
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... her best-known children’s novel. That and her other many writings are packed full of messages; Louisa herself is a message and inspiration. She wanted something better, and saw girls as equal as boys, hence participation in the women’s suffrage movement. Her works would mainly be recommended for young women up to twenty, but anyone could read them and be satisfied. They would then continue the works because, even though the language is difficult like other classics, the stories compel one to read on and stay in the “cocoon” created in the book. As a personal critique, Louisa May Alcott is a very realistic author; she draws one in right with her. As a person, she proves that women can be who they want to be, despite popular beliefs. Louisa May Alcott, born over 100 years ago, is still one of the most influential people of all time, especially for aspiring women.
Elbert, Sarah. A Hunger for Home: Louisa May Alcott and Little Women. Philadelphia: Temple UP, 1984.
...is book expresses her ever-changing life and tough it was on the women of this time period.
Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888) was a prominent American author who wrote over 30 books in her lifetime. She is greatly remembered for her book Hospital Sketches, which she wrote to home while serving as an army nurse during the Civil War. Growing up, her home was a stop on the Underground Railroad and this helped her realize the effects of slavery on these slaves. She wanted to help in any way she could. In December 1862, Alcott left for the Union hospital in Georgetown, outside of Washington, DC, to become a nurse. She had no formal training as a nurse and no formal training was required. The only requirements were to be sober minded, mature, and plain-looking.
Best remembered for her books about the March family, especially her children’s masterpiece, Little Women, Alcott also wrote sensational novels and thrillers for adults. She was a very creative, difficult, and willful girl who was both moody and loyal.
African American women were identified as the 'Mule of the world because they have been handed burden everyone else refused to carry and never had any intention of giving up. Men saw black women as a weak soul,a housewife who are there to bear children. Black women had no moment to sit down to feed her creative spirit because she was busy been a mother, a provider and a slave in the face of the society. It was the time in America where black people were forbidden to write; many untold stories and talents was never revealed due to the fear engraves in the heart of the African American women. Alice was born in this time and she saw the emptiness and enduring faces of the women who had a lot to share in the society but they were overshadowed by the slavery of
Little Women was originally published in two volumes in 1868 and 1869; the books were written rapidly over several months at the request of Alcott’s publisher.3 Although skeptical about her ability to write a book for young girls, Alcott agreed to try. The first volume of the novel was published by Roberts Brothers, and the first printing of 2,000 copies sold out quickly; the company had trouble keeping up with public demand for subsequent printings.4 Alcott delivered the manuscript for the second volume on January 1, 1869, only three months after the publication of part one.5
Wadsworth, S. (2009) ‘Louisa May Alcott and the Rise of the Gender-Specific Series Books’ in Montgomery H and Watson N (eds), Children’s Literature Classic Texts and Contemporary Trends, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan in association with Open University, pp.39-48
Author Louisa May Alcott was born in Germantown, Pennsylvania in 1832, which is the same time setting she set the book in. She was raised in a small town north of Boston, called Concord, which was also home to many famous writers of the time who greatly influenced her and her writing. Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau and Nathaniel Hawthorne were neighbors to the Alcott family. All of these writers were part of the transcendentalist movement during the New England Renaissance.
The life led by Emily Dickinson was one secluded from the outside world, but full of color and light within. During her time she was not well known, but as time progressed after her death more and more people took her works into consideration and many of them were published. Dickinson’s life was interesting in its self, but the life her poems held, changed American Literature. Emily Dickinson led a unique life that emotionally attached her to her writing and the people who would read them long after she died.
Literary influences such as Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Charlotte Bronte and Benjamin Franklin Newton, were another big part of her inspiration. Emily Dickinson admired the poetry of John Keat...
...ketches. All of these books represent events in her life that were crucial for her writing career. Her life became a success from the popularity of Little Women, which helped her provide for her impoverished family.
Emma Lazarus was born in New York City on July 22, 1849, and is the fourth child of Moses Lazarus, and Esther Lazarus. Moses Lazarus was a wealthy sugar merchant and his wife, Esther Lazarus was well known for her side of the family, which was a family whose members were very influential in New York legal circles. Emma and her siblings were raised in New York and were spoiled by their parents. Emma was very weak as a child and could not leave the house often so all of the Lazarus children were educated at home by private tutors. Lazarus’ first literary achievement happened because of her un-paralleled knack for languages. (7)
Emily Dickinson was America's best-known female poet and one of the foremost authors in American literature. She was born in1830 in Amherst Massachusetts and died in her hometown in1886, at the age of 56, due to illness. Emily was the middle child of three children. Her father, Edward Dickinson, was a prominent lawyer and one-term United States congressional representative. Her mother, Emily Norcross Dickinson, was a housewife. From 1840 to 1847 Emily attended the Amherst Academy, and from 1847 to 1848 she studied at the Mount Holyoke Female Seminary in South Hadley, a few miles from Amherst. During her lifetime, she published only about 10 of her nearly 2000 poems, in newspapers, Civil War journals, and a poetry anthology. Most people believed that Dickinson was an extreme recluse, but this is not entirely true. Although it is true that Emily never married and became very selective about the company she kept. Emily was far more sociable than most descriptions would have readers believe. She frequently entertained guests at her home and the home of her brother and sister-in-law during her 20's and 30's. Also, Dickinson kept up a huge correspondence with friends and family. Only recently are biographers beginning to recognize the role of Emily's sister-in-law, Susan Dickinson, in Emily's writing. They lived next door to each other for over 35 years, sharing mutual passions for literature, music, cooking, and gardening. It is rumored that Emily and Susan where secretly lovers. Emily sent Susan more than 400 poems and letters, twice as many as she sent to any other correspondent. Susan also is the only person at whose request Emily would actually change one of her poems. Evidence has also surfaced that Susan par...
Feminism today remains prominent because even while women’s rights are very strong, women are still fighting for equality every day. In the time of Anne Bradstreet, women had few rights and they were seen as inferior to men. Anne lived among the puritans whom ruled her everyday life. Although it was against the puritan code for women to receive an education, Bradstreet’s father, Thomas Dudley, loved his daughter dearly and made sure that she was well educated which shows in her works. Anne Bradstreet’s literature became well known only because her family published her works under a male name. This was done because writing poetry was a serious offense to the puritans since poetry was considered creative and the only creating that was done was by God. In the works of Anne Bradstreet, she conveys a feminist attitude, and could very well be one of the first American Feminists.
Throughout American Literature, women have been depicted in many different ways. The portrayal of women in American Literature is often influenced by an author's personal experience or a frequent societal stereotype of women and their position. Often times, male authors interpret society’s views of women in a completely different nature than a female author would. While F. Scott Fitzgerald may represent his main female character as a victim in the 1920’s, Zora Neale Hurston portrays hers as a strong, free-spirited, and independent woman only a decade later in the 1930’s.