Louisa May Alcott Biography
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.
Born in Germantown, Pennsylvania on November 29, 1832, Louisa was the second daughter of Abby May and Amos Bronson Alcott. Being one of four sisters, who were Anna Bronson, Elizabeth Sewall, and Abba May, the Alcott sisters had a very happy childhood. The Alcotts went through a series of moves, weither they were from one house to another in the same town, while others were from town to town, this was only a beginning of what was to continue throughout Louisa’s life. Her father, Bronson, was a transcendentalist thinker and writer who refused to take work that was not related to education or philosophy, which had the family commuting due to where he would be employed, which he rarely had been. Rather than being a step up for the family, these changes were just a step down, for the family had to depend on the generosity of others. Living in Concord, Massachusetts with friends and neighbors, Louisa’s father committed his time to educating his four daughters being that he was unemployed. Bronson could not be relied upon to support the family, which led her to live a pretty fugal life for his inability to keep a steady job. The plainness of their clothes, food, and home never seemed to bother them, but the issue of money was a constant source of worry for Louisa. She saw it as her mission in life to support her family. In her early teens she began to work with her sister Anna as governesses to increase the small earnings of their father. Then by her early twenties, she was writing and getting paid for it. The death of her younger sister and marriage of her older were very traumatic experiences, and to fill the void left by their absence, and to seek some purpose in life and participate in the Civil War, Alcott became an army nurse in Washington, D.C. After six weeks she got typhoid fever, from which she never fully recovered and left her permanently weakened, a condition that got worse with age. After the war Alcott began Little Women in 1868, along with all the gothic thrillers, which brought in money for the family.
When I mention the names Sarah Grimke and Frederick Douglass what comes to mind? Abolitionists? Equal rights activists? Of course, these two individuals are making great strives to fight for what they believe in. The sad thing about it is that we don’t have enough people with the likes of these two. England abolished slavery in 1834 so how long will we go on with this inhumane cruelty toward people. Our country is in a state of denial and if we don’t wake up soon, we will all pay the price. I’m going to discuss a little bit about these two abolitionist speakers, than compare and contrast their roles of rhetoric, morality, ideas, and backgrounds.
Angelina Grimke wrote a number of letters, addressed to Catherine Beecher, in response to Beecher’s An Essay on Slavery and Abolitionism with Reference to the Duty of American Females. Letter XII is titled “Human Rights Not Founded on Sex” and explicitly expresses Grimke’s views regarding female rights. Grimke’s choice of the letter format as a vehicle for her argument establishes a personal connection with the reader—though the letter is addressed to Beecher, the “you” is rather ambiguous and can certainly be read as a larger audience. A letter evokes images of continued correspondence, creating a more conversational and open-ended feeling to the piece than a traditional essay. Despite the impression that Grimke is directly writing to the reader, she maintains a formal tone over the course of her letter. Her tone ...
The thought of her brothers still being in her former home environment in Maine hurt her. She tried to think of a way to get at least one of her brothers, the sickly one, to come and be with her. She knew that her extended family was financially able to take in another child, and if she showed responsibility, there would be no problem (Wilson, 40). She found a vacant store, furnished it, and turned it into a school for children (Thinkquest, 5). At the age of seventeen, her grandmother sent her a correspondence, and requested her to come back to Boston with her brother (Thinkquest, 6).
Born into a fiercely political family, Florence’s life was influenced by her near-constant coquetry with abolition and other various civil rights efforts. Her father, William “Pig Iron” Kelley, was an ardent proponent of women’s rights, and was also known as the protector of Pennsylvania’s iron and steel industries, earning him his moniker. Kelley was educated at home for much of her childhood, as she was often ill, and her family’s home was rather isolated from nearby Philadelphia (Bienen, 1-“William”). Nonetheless, her education was satisfactory, and primarily influenced by her father. Through her atypical form of education, Kelley was allowed to develop an opinion on diverse topics that most children her age were oblivious to. Kelley traveled across the country with her father, exploring steel and iron manufacturing sites, prefacing her future career path. In addition to vocational learning, Florence Kelley absorbed knowledge through the massive library at h...
After five years of being raised and living with their grandmother whom they truly loved, the girls had a rude awakening. Their grandmother, Sylvia had passed away. “When after almost five years, my grandmother one winter morning eschewed awakening, Lily and Nona were fetched from Spokane and took up housekeeping in Fingerbone, just as my grandmother had wished” (Robinson 29). This was the final attempt that their grandmother had made in order for the girls to have a normal and traditional life. This is a solid example of how the sister’s lives are shaped by their family and their surroundings. Lucille’s ultimate concern in life is to conform to society and live a traditional life. She wishes to have a normal family and is sorrowful for all of the losses that she has experienced such as her mother’s and grandmother’s deaths. On the other hand, Ruthie, after spending more time with her future guardian, Aunt Sylvie, becomes quite the transient like her.
It was not until after abolitionist groups formed and began fighting slavery that women began to realize they had no rights themselves and began their own fight; therefore, the women’s rights movements of the nineteenth century emerged out of abolition activism. Without the sense of gendered ethical power that abolition provided women, any sort of activism either would never have occurred, or would have simply died out. The women’s rights movement was a way for women to seek remedy of industrialization; frustration over lack of power that lead to the call for women’s rights. Without the radical activists for abolition, like the Grimké sisters advocating for equality, a standard would never have been set and no real progress would have ever been made.
Watson, N. (2009) ‘Louisa May Alcott, Little Women (1868-9) Introduction’, in Montgomery H and Watson N (eds), Children’s Literature Classic Texts and Contemporary Trends, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan in association with Open University, pp.13-17
Still, her deviation from the confederate mindset did not cause her to necessarily promote total equality between men and women. As an abolitionist, Grimke suggested that women use their submissive positions in the household in order to influence heir husbands. Furthermore, Grimke’s tone and proposals differed as she targeted women from the North and the South. Grimke recognized that in the common Southern household, the woman would take the place of a homemaker and nurturer, qualities still primarily associated with women, and she used these stereotypes to the abolitionist advantage. In her four pronged “An Appeal to the Christian Women of the South”, Grimke states that the Southern Christian Woman has four duties in regards to abolition: to read, pray, speak and act. These four steps to abolition use the place of white women in the common household to circumvent around the little power that they had at this time. Grimke’s tone changes in her “Appeal to the Women of the Nominally Free States”, as she now refers to black women as not just slaves but “sisters” to whom white women owe humanization. In a
Some high school students usually wear kind of clothes that are not really inappropriate at schools. Some girls dress really sexy with short skirts or crop tops that they can show their bodies. Also, boys sometimes wear shirts with bad words, slogans or pictures that relate to violence or bad things that may affect to other students. Therefore, if all students wear the same uniforms, teachers do not need to waste time on criticizing these students who dress inappropriately any more. Also, uniforms have school logo, so they remind students that they are studying at school and students more likely proud of their schools when they wear them. Furthermore, wearing uniforms makes the classes more formal and more
While some people think that school uniforms are a bad thing some people will disagree. When kids were their clothes into school this is when they start to judge each other. Some kids will be more mature than some, some will have a better dress sense, and some will have more money to deal with. What some people don’t want some children coming to school wearing fashionable new clothes and making fun of the ones that were hand me downs and will be embarrassed as a out coming result. With school uniforms every body is equal to each other (Lamouse, Mack).
She once found a hidden slave in her oven, and instead of turning him into the authorities, she taught him to read and write (Nancy Porter Productions). The Underground Railroad helped show Louisa that everyone should be equal, which is why she was also a suffragette. She wrote and talked about women’s suffrage and why women are just as important as men (Raga). She believed in this so much that she was the first woman to be registered to vote in Concord, Massachusetts (Hannah). In her book An Old-Fashioned Girl, Alcott wrote “Women have been called queens a long time, but the kingdom given them [is not] worth ruling” (Alcott). Louisa May Alcott thought that even though women have been told they are beautiful and deserve everything, what they are given is not worth their time. These ideas made Alcott a good role model for people everywhere, helping them believe that they are worth it and everyone is equal. She wrote about these themes in her books, making a lasting impact on the
Conformity is one of the main reasons that people are concerned with the wearing of school uniforms. The fear that a child's individuality could be suppressed
Firstly, I believe that wearing a school uniform does not give children a sense of individuality and suppresses their own true identity. The way they dress and present themselves is essential to their upbringing as it helps them to learn about themselves and is a way in which one can express themselves. Plus, our teachers are always saying how important it is to just be ourselves and not to worry about what others might think. Having a uniform takes that away from us, and this may lead students to try to find other ways
I don’t think children or teens should have to wear school uniforms. It deprives them of their freedom of speech. They should have the right to wear what they want when they want. The uniforms are degrading and appalling. Everything would be dull and boring if everyone looked the same and wore the same stuff! Whatever happened to our U.S. Constitution? Some kids become stressed out and could get depressed because they cannot choose what they can wear, In Our own country? The land of the free and the home of the brave and we can’t even choose what we wear? The effect would be: students becoming angry and violent, and worst case scenario, suicide.
Louisa May Alcott died on March 6, 1888 in Boston, Massachusetts which was also the day of her father’s funeral. She had been suffering from the slow effects of mercury poisoning which she got during her Civil War service by the medicine she was given for typhoid pneumonia. Alcott was buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord. The whole 56 years Louisa Alcott lived she never led the life of the common woman. She was her own person, did what she wanted to do, and wrote so well that she is greatly remembered today. Her biggest achievement was the publishing of “Little Women” and the book has never gone out of print. Her vast majority of short stories, poems, novels, and many more were and still are very popular. Louisa led a free life and succeeded greatly.