Louisa May Alcott was born in Germantown, Pennsylvania on November 29, 1832. She and her three sisters, Anna, Elizabeth, and May, were educated by their father who was a poet, Bronson Alcott, and their mother, Abigail May. Louisa spent her childhood in Boston and in Concord, Massachusetts. Like her character, "Jo March" in Little Women, young Louisa was a tomboy. For her, writing was an early passion. She had a rich imagination and often her stories became melodramas that she and her sisters would act out for friends. At age 15, troubled by the poverty that plagued her family, for many years she did any work she could find, though at the time the society offered little opportunity to women seeking employment.
Louisa’s career as an author began with poetry and short stories that appeared in popular magazines. In 1854, when she was 22, her first book Flower Fables was published. A milestone along her literary path was Hospital Sketches, based on the letters she had written home from her post as a nurse in Washington, DC during the Civil War. When Louisa was 35 years old, her publisher in Boston, Thomas Niles, asked her to write "a book for girls." Then Little Women was written at Orchard House from May to July 1868. In all, Louisa published over 30 books and collections of stories. She died on March 6, 1888, only two days after her father, and is buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord.
The novel, Little Women, is one of the most agreeable juvenile novels in America history and has been popular for over 100 years. It was translated into several languages. And it has been adapted several times as a radio show, play, opera, and film and so on. The book is highly praised as a counterpart of the famous English novel Pride and Prejudice, and the author herself was regarded as the counterpart of Jane Austen, the author of Pride and Prejudice. And the novel was published in two parts. Roberts Brothers published the first part on September 30, 1868. After its success, with the first 2000 copies sold in just one month, the editor confirmed that Alcott should write a second part, which was published on April 14, 1869, and sold thirteen thousand copies in two weeks. The full book was edited and republished in 1880. It has never gone out of print. In all, it is considered one of the great American novels.
The novel is loosely based on the author's childhood experiences with her three sisters and is set on the American Civil War. Louisa herself was represented by the spirited Jo March. She wrote this book by calling upon her own memories of her childhood and putting them down on paper. This is the story of four young girls, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy March, and how they endured all the trouble and hardships that come along during their lives. Meg; the oldest, a quiet beauty; Jo, the tomboy who looks after her sisters and is trying to be an author; Beth, the “mouse” of the family who adores playing the piano, and Amy, the youngest and everyone’s pet who would like to be an artist. They lived with their mother while their father was away fighting in the Civil War. Many interesting characters pop up along the way, such as Laurie, their good-natured next-door neighbor; Laurie later fell in love with Jo but ended up marrying Amy. In the beginning of the story they were all fairly young, the youngest being twelve years old, and their mother was left to guide them while their father was away fighting in the war. As they grew and matured, they learn many hard lessons about life. For instance, there was the time when Amy, the youngest, suffered her first punishment in school. She carried that anger, humility, and embarrassment with her for the rest of her life. During this period, their gentle mother helped them a lot in educating them and letting them gradually find their shortcomings, then correct them. For example, Jo, the second daughter, has a fierce temper. The night Laurie took the two older girls to the theater, Amy, though not invited, insisted on going too. Jo crossly declared she wouldn't go if Amy did, and, furiously scolding her little sister, she slammed the door and went off, as Amy called out: "You'll be sorry for this, Jo March! See if you aren’t!" The child made good her threat by burning up the manuscript of a precious book which Jo had written and on which she had spent three years of hard work. There was a terrible fracas, and, though at her mother's bidding Amy made contrite apology, Jo refused to be pacified. It was only when poor little Amy was nearly drowned by falling through the ice that conscience stricken Jo forgave her sister and learned a much-needed lesson of self-control. Dealing with this matter, their mother taught them a lot. There were also more serious lessons to be learned, like when one of the sisters, Beth, died, which was really a pity. By the end of the book, they really have turned from little women into real women.
In the 19th century, women faced a big choice between dreams and families. Alcott represented restrictions on women's lives of the 19th century through four sisters’ different lifestyles. On one hand, Little Women is a morality fiction. It tells us that men are required to learn to always be full of hope for the future and try to chase the dream of optimism, these values centre on god, family and love, so girls’ dreams of being writer, painter or pianist rank after family, family must come first. On the other hand, it is an instruction manual of educating children. For instance, Mrs. March confesses to Jo that her temper is as volatile as Jo's own, but that she has learned to control it for forty years. And what I remember deeply is the words Mrs. March said to comfort Jo, “My dear, don’t let the sun go down upon your anger, forgive each other, help each other, and begin again tomorrow”. Mrs. March just set a good example to parents. Surely every one has his or her temper, and it often takes us all our lives to conquer them, but we should try our best to control ourselves so that we can fully enjoy our lives.
This book is really a good one for both children and adults. We can benefit a lot from it, so I strongly recommend you to read the story and enjoy it.下载本文
