Comparing Persuasion by Jane Austen and Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

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Both Persuasion by jane Austen and Little Women by Louisa May Alcott tell stories of families of sisters in the nineteenth-century in England and in America. The former is the story of Anne Elliot who had given up Fredrick Wentworth eight years prior to the novel's setting after she was "persuaded" to do so by her old family friend, Lady Russell. Realizing that she has made a terribe mistake once Fredrick returns, wealthier and more professionally sucessful, Anne struggles within herself regarding how much to reveal her feelings for him. In the lather, four sisters: Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy grow up during the American Civil War with her father, Reverand March faraway as a champlain to the union army and her mother Marmee struggling to make ends meet. Very different in personalities, the sisters confront hardship growing pains and the possibility of developing their own individual talents.

In both novels their characters compare and differentiate tremendously. The thing that makes reading these two novels interesting is how one can compare the charaters from one novel to the next. To begin with one of the main characters in Little Women Jo March, can compare to Persuasions main character Anne Elliot. They both are the second oldest out of their sisters, ironically they both only have sisters, and they both rejected the proposal of poor men. Although Anne accepted the proposal and the changed her mind still show extreme similarities. Even with those similarities they have an important difference. Jo March is a tomboy and Anne Elliot is beautiful. Furthermore, the oldest sister in Little Women, Meg March can compare to the older sister in Persuasion Elizabeth Elliot in which a way that both of them are the better looking of all the...

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...s love for her."Captain Wentworth, with twenty-five thousand pounds, and as high in his profession as merit and activity could place him, was no longer a nobody."(1) It is funny how money worked back in the nineteenth-century. In the end they become engaged and Anne's family is more acceptive of the engagement since Fredrick is weathly.

As one can see, these novels are brilliant together. The novels are similar in some aspects and in other aspects they are complete opposites. That is what makes them so interesting to read. The characters in these novels are absolutly stunning. It is always nice to see how close these families are deep down. The love stories in the novels make them even more entreging to read since almost every reader loves a good love story with drama. Jane Austen and Louisa M. Alcott have the same ideas in some aspects and different in others.

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