Louisa May Alcott
Alcott’s Quotes
• At age 15, troubled by the poverty
that plagued her family, she vowed: “I
will do something by and by. Don’t
care what, teach, sew, act, write,
anything to help my family: and I’ll be
rich and famous and happy before I
die, see if I won’t!”
• Alcott never married because she
said: “I am more than half-persuaded
that I am a man’s soul, put by some
freak of nature into a woman’s body.”
Quotes Continued…..
• In adulthood she wrote: “When feeling
most alone, I find refuge in the
Almighty Friend. If this is experiencing
religion, I have done it; but I think it is
only the lesson one must learn as it
comes, and I am glad to know it.”
Alcott’s Life
• Birth-Germantown, Pennsylvania
• Date- November 29, 1832
• Parents- Amos Bronson & Abigail May
Alcott
• Alcott’s father, Bronson, was a
philosopher and educational reformer
whose idealistic projects kept the
family in poverty; financial security did
not come until “Little Women.”
• Siblings- Anna, Elizabeth, & May
• Marriage- Louisa never found the
right man.
Alcott’s Education
• Louisa and her sisters were mostly
educated at home.
• “I never went to school,” Louisa
wrote, “except to my father or such
governesses as from time to time came
into the family… so we had lessons
each morning in the study.”
• Louisa’s hours of education were very
happy moments.
Continued……..
• Louisa said that her father taught in
the wise way which unfolds what lies
in the child’s nature as a flower
blooms, rather than crammed it, like a
Strasburg goose, with more than it
could digest. She never liked
arithmetic nor grammar…but reading,
writing, composition, history, and
geography were ones she thoroughly
enjoyed, as well as the stories read to
her with a skill peculiarly her father’s
own.
Inspirations of Her Writing
Career
• Emerson- Louisa said that
Emerson was her “Master”,
while he lived, doing more for
her than he knew, by the
simplest beauty of his life, the
truth and wisdom of his
books, the example of a great,
good man.
• Religion- In adulthood she
wrote: “When feeling most
alone, I find refuge in the
Almighty Friend. If this is
experiencing religion, I have
done it: but I think it is only
the lesson one must learn as it
comes, and I am glad to know
it.”
• Abolition
“ I became an Abolitionist at an early
age,” she wrote, “but have never been
able to decide whether I was made so
by seeing the portrait of George
Thompson (the British Abolitionist)
hidden under a bed in my house during
the Garrison riot…or because I was
saved from drowning in the Frog Pond
some years later by a colored boy.
• However that may be, the
conversion was genuine; and my
greatest pride is in the fact that I
lived to know the brave men and
women who did so much for the
cause, and that I had a very small
share in the war which put an end
to a great wrong.”
Alcott’s Famous Writing
• Little Women, (1868) a novel which is
partially autobiographical and has
shaped the way many women since the
Victorian era have defined
womanhood, family, and girlhood. It
was written at the Orchard House
from May to July 1868.This piece of
classic work brought financial security
to the Alcotts. This book stands as
one of the most popular children’s
books of all time.
Number of Works
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Poems- 56
Plays- 11
Juvenile Short Stories- 157
Adult Short Stories- 66
Miscellaneous Short Stories- 29
Novels- 18
Collective Works- 24
Miscellaneous Works- 25
Alcott’s Home=Orchard House
Past
Present
Orchard House
• The Orchard House was the Tourism Cares
for Tomorrow Winner of the Fifth Annual
Sustainable Tourism Award.
• It opened in 1911 to the general public, the
315-year-old Orchard House brings to life
the Alcott legacy in literature, art,
education, philosophy, and social justice
through tours, living history events,
educational programs, and original family
furnishings and archives.
Successes Before Death
• Before her death in 1888, her book
sales had reached the one million mark
and she had realized the considerable
sum of $200,000 from her fiction.
• In all, Louisa published over 30 books
and collections of stories.
Alcott’s Death
• On March 1, 1888, Louisa visited her
father for the last time. “ I am going
up,” he said. “Come with me.” “Oh, I
wish I could,” she replied. Bronson
Alcott died on March 4, and Louisa
May Alcott on March 6.
• Louisa May Alcott died from
intestinal cancer. She was buried in
Sleepy Hollow cemetery by her father.
Credits
• http://www25.uua.org/uuhs/duub/articles/louisam
ayalcott.html.
• http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/lmalcott.htm.
• http://www.louisamayalcott.org/louisamaytext.ht
ml.
• http://www.pbs.org/wnet/ihas/poet/alcotts.html.
• http://www.womenwriters.net/domesticgoddess/l
ma.htm.
• http://www.classicauthors.net/Alcott/.
• http://www.philandsusantolbert.com/alcott/lma_w
rks.html.