Realistic Dual Natures in Alcott’s Little Women “Everyone carries a shadow, and the less it is embodied in the individual′s conscious life, the blacker and denser it is” - Carl Jung Each of us has the capacity for virtue or vice, and our daily actions reflect the combination of both. In literature, however, people are sometimes depicted as being completely one or the other, giving us inaccurate views of human nature. We identify better with characters who are more like us--neither completely good nor bad. Meg, Jo and Amy March in Alcott’s Little Women do not flatly portray complete good or complete evil, but their realistic dual natures increase their believability and intensify their moral influence on us. This character duality is first evident in Margaret, the eldest sister, as we receive a description detailing her looks and countenance. Meg is “very pretty” with “large eyes, plenty of soft, brown hair, a sweet mouth, and white hands, of which she was rather vain” (Alcott[1] 5). This description leads the reader through sweetness and innocence, finishing with a flaw. From the beginning, her vanity glares at us as her most obvious fault. Yet, in “spite of her small vanities, Margaret had a sweet and pious nature, which unconsciously influenced her sisters” (LW 16). Contrasting the negativity in Meg’s personality is a kind and remarkable side. Both vanity and kindness represent themselves throughout the novel as we evaluate the effects this duality has upon our judgment. Leading the novel, Meg’s vanity manifests itself in her desires for Christmas. Times are difficult and money is tight, yet Meg has ideals of her own regarding the Christmas money. She explains to ... ... middle of paper ... ... The implications of the novel may not fully impact us until later, after we take the time to examine the flaws and strengths we see in Meg, Jo, and Amy. Like us, these three March girls are completely human--possessing dual natures of both good and evil--and because of their realistic natures, they have a greater moral influence on us. Once we fully examine the characters, we examine ourselves and have the responsibility to act on the characters’ influence. We can learn willingly from these characters and use their experiences to recognize our faults, like the March girls who are always quick to note their own shortcomings. Note: 1 All further references to Alcott’s Little Women are to the edition listed in the Works Cited and will be labeled simply LW followed by page numbers. Work Cited Alcott, Louisa May. Little Women. New York: Signet, 1983.
...d longs for her elder sister and mother. Frances is a good person – at heart – and is always looking out for her younger sister. Moreover, even though she has different views that her father and will always do the opposite of what is expected of her, it is seen that this insecurity is caused by James indeed. Frances feels that in order to gain security in her life, she must perform these actions. She feels compelled to live her life the way she does. Frances’s naughty and mischievous behaviour can be viewed as a weakness she possesses, and she longs to correct these weaknesses by her actions. She is not a role model by any means, but she is by no means the Devil’s advocate. A sincere heart – compelled by circumstances – does its best to make the situation turn out for the better than the worse, and Frances, through her love for her mother, inevitably does just that.
Both Alcott and Hawthorne provide brilliant examples of feminists and both, though different, are perfect for showing the complexities of American women. While many women make their cause global, many others contain their goals locally, and both are worthy of supporting feminism. Zenobia and Hope stand as examples of inredible characters that provide a Victorian era with a view of womanhood not often noticed.
Both Emily and Maggie show resentment towards their sisters. The sisters who God rewarded with good looks and poise. Emily's mother points out the "poisonous feeling" between the sisters, feelings she contributed to by her inability to balance the "hurts and needs" of the two.
In Flannery O’Connor’s stories, “Good Country People”, “Everything that Rises Must Converge”, ”A Good Man is Hard to Find”, and “The Life You Save May Be Your Own”, there are many similar characters and situations. Few, if any of the characters are likeable, and most of them are grotesque. Two of the stories have characters that view themselves as superior in one way or another to those around them, and in some cases these characters experience a downfall, illustrating the old proverb, “Pride goeth before a fall” (King James Bible ,Proverbs 16:18). Two of the stories include a character that has some type of disability, three of the stories showcase a very turbulent relationship between a parent and child, and three of the stories contain a character that could easily be described as evil.
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.
The reader reads in order to feel sorrow for the protagonist in a manner the reader can assimilate. Yet, it seems that the nature of Margaret’s thoughts is inherently dialogic or, to work with Duke’s terms, empathic: neither Margaret nor the reader uses the text in order to solicit pity from the other. What function would a “pity party” serve a reader by herself? To the contra...
Before Rwanda had been colonized, the Tutsis and Hutus lived coexistent lifestyles, they were unconnected indigenous groups that survived together without dislike towards each other. Some Tutsis and Hutus were local chiefs within Rwanda, and during this time there was no judgment or conflicts between the groups. After World War I, Belgium had claimed Rwanda as a colony and acknowledged the Tutsis as the natural born leaders of the country. All of the light skinned Tutsis were given Identity cards in order to distinguish them from the “low class” Hutus. At this time, racial pressures arose as the Hutus were beginning to be mistreated.
In the first few chapters Gaskell offers various examples of what the traditional woman of England is like. Margaret’s early descriptions in Chapter 7, characterize the beautiful, gentle femininity so idolized. Margaret is beautiful in her own way, she is very conscious of her surroundings. She is privileged in her own way by being in a respectable position in the tranquil village of Helstone. Throughout the beginning of the novel it is eluded that Margaret has the onset of a mature middle class mentality. During the planning of her beloved cousin Edith Shaw’s wedding, Margaret comments on Edith seemingly oblivious demeanor, as the house is chaos in preparations. Edith tries hard to please expectation of her social class. She is privileged and beautiful; angelic and innocent, she is the perfect idyllic, ignorant child bride, designed to please. For Margaret, “...the prospect of soon losing her companion seemed to give force to every sweet quality and charm which Edith possessed”(Gaskell, 7). It is in this passage that the readers familiarize themselves with Margaret’s keen ability to see and perceive the differences between her and her cousin’s manor. Edith poses the calm demure and angelic tranquility a woman is decreed to posses. Unsurprisingly at the brink of commotion Margaret observes that, “the whispered tone had latterly become more drowsy; and Margaret, after a pause of
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.
...that take a huge effect on Edna, the reaction being Edna taking her life. These ties in with the main theme that the characters ethical decisions create huge consequences and their actions and decisions are bigger than the plot.
The Second World War completed the process of "centralizing" the American economy. The Great Depression of 1929 and America's involvement in the war completed the change from small, locally run businesses to large, centralized control. Big business, big unions, and big government dominated the American economy by the end of the war.
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
For years, Rwanda has been a hotbed of racial tension. The majority of the Rwandan population is made up of Hutu's, with Tutsi's making up the rest of it. Ever since European colonial powers entered the country and favoured the Tutsi ethnic group over the Hutu by putting Tutsi people in all important positions in society, there has been a decisive political divide between the two groups. This favouring of the Tutsi over the Hutu, and the Hutu subjugation as an ethnic lower class resulted in the civil war and revolution of 1959, where the Hutu overthrew the Tutsi dominated government, and resulted in Rwanda gaining their independence in 1962.
Douglas, Ann. “Louisa May Alcott.” American Writers. Ed. Leonard Unger. Sup. 1, Part 1. New York: Scribner’s, 1979. Print.
The mother’s view is opposite to the father's view, she strongly disapproves of smoking. She prevented the father from smoking inside the house. She knows that the tobacco smoke can cause effects on the ...