From Poverty to Fame: Biography of Louisa May Alcott

Who was Louisa May Alcott? Alcott was a nineteenth century author who wrote numerous famous books, such as the book series Little Women. However, Alcott did not start out famous. As a child, Alcott’s family lived in poverty. Though her family lived in poverty, Alcott had an extremely vivid imagination, especially for a girl during the time period that she lived in. Even when she was young, Alcott’s biggest dream was to become a famous author. She wrote one of her first poems at the age of eight when she saw a robin. With the money she made from her works, Alcott hoped to someday be able to pull her family out of poverty. Alcott was an extremely determined woman who used her determination to help her family rise out of poverty, and also accomplished many of her other goals in life.

The Alcott family was always struggling to survive, and often was forced to move from place to place in order to find work. Bronson Alcott was an extremely educated man, but because he had a hard time of supporting his family they were “Impoverished and often moved like vagabonds to smaller and smaller quarters” (Butos). Bronson was a schoolteacher who believed in teaching his students more than just simple memorization. For this reason, he was usually out of work, leaving his growing family with no income. However, the children never really understood just how poor they were until later on in their lives. Alcott’s family was so poor that her mother’s family, a prominent Boston family, urged her mother to disclaim her husband. As soon as she was able to realize how poor they were, she vowed that she would gratify her family by pulling them out of poverty. Alcott lived in an extremely poor family growing up, but she still had a good childh...

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Works Cited

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Matteson, John. Eden’s Outcasts. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2007. Print.

Meigs, Cornelia. Invincible Louisa. Boston: Little Brown and Company, 1961. Print.

Ruth, Amy. Louisa May Alcott. Minneapolis: Lerner Publication Company, 1999. Print.

Silverthorne, Elizabeth. Louisa May Alcott. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers, 2002. Print.

Weisgall, Deborah. “The Mother of All Girls’ Books.” The American Prospect. n.p. 11 June 2012. Web. 29 March 2014. .