Louisa May Alcott Is One Of America

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Kristen LaBelle

English 11; per. 2

Mrs. Martin

February 20, 2013

Louisa May Alcott

Louisa May Alcott is one of America’s greatest writers. She has written over twenty books as well as six plays, eighteen short stories, and five poems. Her most famous piece of work is her book "Little Women", the girls book that is loosely base off of the life of Louisa and her sisters. She was a best selling author in her time and her works are still popular.

Louisa May Alcott was born on November 29, 1832 in Germantown, Pennsylvania (http://www.biography.com/people/louisa-may-alcott-9179520). Her father was Amos Bronson Alcott and her mother was Abigail May Alcott (http://www.online-literature.com/alcott/). Bronson was a philosopher and a teacher (McDonough, 1). Her mother was the daughter of a local farmer.(McDonough, 1). Abigail was also a woman’s right activist (http://www.online-literature.com/alcott/). She and Bronson met while Abigail was visiting her brother in Connecticut. Abigail’s family was worried that Bronson wouldn’t be able to take care of her or raise a family. They fell in love and were married in Boston on May 23, 1830. A few months later, they moved to Philadelphia and had their first child, Anna Bronson Alcott, on March 16, 1831 (http://www.louisamayalcott.org/annatext.html). Anna was the first of four children (http://www.louisamayalcott.org/annatext.html). Louisa was their second child (http://www.online-literature.com/alcott/). She was followed by two younger sisters, Elizabeth Peabody Alcott (Abigail changed Lizzie’s name to Elizabeth Sewall Alcott when she was three.) and Abigail May Alcott. (Johnston, 33). Elizabeth was born June 24, 1835 in Boston, Massachusetts (http://www.whoislog.info/profile/elizabeth-sewall-alcott.html) and May was born on July 26, 1840 in Concord, Massachusetts (http://historyofalcotts.weebly.com/may-alcott-nieriker.html) .

Bronson’s beliefs were very strange and unusual for his time period. He believed that boys and girls should both be educated. (McDonough, 3). He believed that both male and female opinions were important (McDonough, 3). As a result of his beliefs, children were pulled from his school and the school ended up closing (McDonough, 3). Bronson soon found a new job in Boston, Massachusetts and the Alcotts relocated to the busy city (McDonough, 4). In 1834, when Louisa was two years old, they opened the school Bronson was working on. It was called the Temple School. At first the school was a huge success. It started out with eighteen students and by the second year it was up to forty. The school lasted for almost five years. However, Bronson’s ideas and beliefs got him in trouble once again. The students would go home and tell their parents what he taught them that day. Parents did not agree with these teaching and the school ended up closing due to the parents to take their kids out of his school (Johnston, 36-43). When the school closed, Mr. Alcott relocated his family to Concord, Massachusetts where he took jobs chopping wood and gardening to earn money (McDonough, 6).

Though the family was poor, Louisa never ceased to have fun. She loved their home in Concord and she was always exploring (McDonough, 6). Every Saturday night, Bronson would start a pillow fight with the girls and they always won (McDonough, 8). Louisa and her sisters wrote plays for each other to act out. Louisa took scraps from her mother’s "ragbag" and made costumes for them to wear as they acted out the plays (McDonough, 9). The girls were taught by their father. (McDonough, 3). They had a lesson every morning. Louisa never paid much attention in grammar or math. Instead, she loved reading, writing, history, and geography (http://www25.uua.org/uuhs/duub/articles/louisamayalcott.html). She also loved nature. In a journal entry, she wrote about watching the sunrise in the fall. The entry read, "It seemed as if I felt God as I never did before. I prayed in my heart that I might keep that happy sense of nearness in my life." (McDonough, 10). Throughout her childhood, Louisa was also taught by many well known authors such as, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Margaret Fuller, and Nathaniel Hawthorne.

When Louisa was ten, and with the help of a family friend, Ralph Waldo Emerson, her father went to England to share his ideas about education (McDonough, 14). When he came back, he relocated his family to a farm called Fruitlands in Harvard, Massachusetts (http://www25.uua.org/uuhs/duub/articles/louisamayalcott.html). He had an idea to create a model world. Things seemed to be going great, but winter came soon enough. People started to leave the farm due to the harshness of the weather. A few stayed, but they were not able to go on living there. The weather was getting really bad and they were short on food supply (McDonough, 15). The family was forced to relocate again. They moved back to Concord. There, they lived close to Emerson and his family in a home that they referred to as Hillside (http://www25.uua.org/uuhs/duub/articles/louisamayalcott.html).

At age thirteen, Louisa decided that she was going to be a writer. She started to write plays, poems, and short stories. When Louisa turned fourteen years old, her mother gave her a pen. As she grew, she became more like her mother. She admired her mother. Abigail was the one who gave Louisa the confidence to pursue her dreams (Johnston, 80-81). Louisa loved both of her parents, but her relationship with her father wasn’t that great. He always seemed to favor Anna and Elizabeth (Johnston, 81). Louisa had always been a tomboy. As she grew older, she became the dominant sister. She was always the leader and always preferred to play the role of a man in the plays her and her sisters would perform (Johnston, 82). Ellen Emerson looked up to Louisa. Louisa taught the Emerson kids in her own little school that she opened up in the barn of their Hillside home (Johnston, 83). When Louisa turned fifteen, her family was in debt since Bronson was never able to find work. Local store owners threatened to cut them off. Louisa did what she could to help and she took jobs as a teacher, seamstress, and servant. Suddenly, opportunities opened for both Bronson and Abigail. Abigail was asked to be a manager at a "water-cure house" and Bronson was asked to be a preacher there (Johnston, 83). Abigail wanted the job, but Bronson refused. He saw no reason to go work without a "clear call" in himself. After months of arguing, Abigail decided to take the job without Bronson (Johnston, 84). She took her youngest daughter, May, with her to Maine where the job was. Anna was staying with a cousin in New Hampshire. Louisa and Elizabeth were left in Concord with their father. During her time in Maine, Abigail learned that she was able to earn a living herself. However, she missed her family and decided to go back home with them. She resigned from her job after three months. Although she was glad to be home, Abigail felt there was no job opportunities in Concord (Johnston, 84). On November 17, 1848, the Alcotts moved to Boston (Johnston, 85).

At age seventeen, Louisa started to work. She taught school and cared for children, as well as, sewed, cleaned, and did laundry (McDonough, 18). She was earning about two dollars a week for these jobs. She was hired to read to a sick woman. She was told that she would only have to do light housework. When she got to the home, she found out that she had been lied to. They wanted her to do harsh labor such as, carry coal, shovel snow, and cut firewood. She was not asked to read the whole time she was there. She was furious and left the job after only a month. They paid her four dollars for the work she did in that month, however, she sent the money back (McDonough, 19). She wrote an essay called "How I Went Out To Service" about her experience with that job. James T. Fields, a publisher, rejected her essay and told her that she should just keep teaching instead of writing because she had no talent in it (http://www25.uua.org/uuhs/duub/articles/louisamayalcott.html). However, that did not stop her. She continued writing while she worked. She still took jobs sewing and worked as a governess from time to time (http://www25.uua.org/uuhs/duub/articles/louisamayalcott.html). She was paid five dollars for one of her stories and it was published in a magazine (McDonough, 20). In 1954, Louisa published her first book entitled, "Flower Fables". These were fables she had written for Ellen Emerson. She gave a copy to her mother for Christmas that year. As a result, her mother bought her a desk fit for a professional writer (McDonough, 20).

In 1856, her sister, Elizabeth became very sick. She had come down with scarlet fever. Louisa went home to be with her sister (Johnston, 118). Elizabeth was about to turn twenty-one and the disease was more serious for adults (Johnston, 118). Louisa, along with her mother and other two sisters, worked together to care for Elizabeth and nurse her back to health (Johnston, 119). After a while, Elizabeth’s fever broke and all the swelling went down. Even though the rash went away, her face was pale and she wasn’t the same. She lost her appetite and she was not her cheerful self (Johnston, 119). She remained frail and never fully recovered from the disease. Elizabeth was slowly dying. Louisa and Anna gave up their work to be with their little sister (Johnston, 119). In 1858, on New Year’s Day, she became much worse. On March 14, 1858, at the age of twenty-three, Elizabeth passed away in her sleep. (Johnston, 120).

Louisa went back to Boston after her sister’s funeral to continue writing. Shortly after, her mother got sick and Louisa returned to care for her (McDonough, 20). At the same time, Anna was getting married to John Pratt and Louisa went to attend the wedding. A few years later, the Civil War broke out and Louisa decided to go to Washington D.C. as a nurse. (McDonough, 20). She served as a nurse in the winter of 1862-1863, but she came down with pneumonia and was forced to go back to Boston (http://www25.uua.org/uuhs/duub/articles/louisamayalcott.html). When she recovered, she wrote "Hospital Sketches". The book was published in August of 1863. Four months later, she published two more books and the following year, she published "Moods" (http://www25.uua.org/uuhs/duub/articles/louisamayalcott.html).

After the war, Louisa went to Europe to be a friend to a sickly woman (http://www25.uua.org/uuhs/duub/articles/louisamayalcott.html). When she came back, her publisher asked her to write a girls book. She agreed that she would try. Louisa had grown up a tomboy and didn’t know many girls besides her sisters (McDonough, 25). However, she did not start on the book until the next year (http://www25.uua.org/uuhs/duub/articles/louisamayalcott.html). She started writing in May of 1868 and finished in July of that year (http://www.louisamayalcott.org/louisamaytext.html). She wrote a story loosely based on her and her sisters growing up in New England. She wrote about the fun times growing up in Concord and the adventures they all had, and she wrote about the hard times, including a sister’s death. This project was called "Little Women". Part one was published in the fall of 1868. It became an instant best seller. Everyone was eager for part two. She finished it in the spring of 1869 (http://www.louisamayalcott.org/louisamaytext.html).

Louisa’s health was slowly declining. However, she had no idea. When she was sick with pneumonia a few years before, the medicine she took had caused her to health to be damaged permanently. The mercury that the medicine contained was still in her body and it was poisoning her (McDonough, 30). In 1877, her mother passed away. The same year, her sister, May, married Ernest Nieriker. They had a little girl. They named her Louisa May, after Louisa, of course, but they called her Lulu. (McDonough, 32). May died shortly after the birth of Lulu and Louisa took her in and raised her as her own. She was never married or had any kids of her own.

When she was in her fifties, she settled in a nursing home. At this time, she adopted Anna’s son, John. Her copyrights for all her works were willed to him. She also requested that the income would be split among Anna, Lulu, John, and Fred Pratt, Anna’s other son. Three days before he died, when Louisa visited her father for the last time, he told her that he was going up and asked her to go with him. She told him that she wished she could. He died on March 4, 1888. Louisa died two days later on March 6, 1888 (http://www25.uua.org/uuhs/duub/articles/louisamayalcott.html). Her last book she wrote was "Jo’s Boys", the sequel to "Little Women" (McDonough, 34).

Today, Louisa May Alcott is still known as one of the greatest authors of her time. Many people do not know that she wrote many novels about drugs and murder as well as children books. Her childhood home is now a museum. She is buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord Massachusetts.