BASIC SHAPES PRESENTATION

LOUISA MAY ALCOTT

and her novel Little Women

Lousa May Alcott

Louisa May Alcott was an American writer, best known as the author of the children's book tetralogy Little Women. Louisa was born in Germantown on November 29, 1832 and died in 1888 due to a stroke, her death attributed to mercury poisoning contracted during the American Civil War, when she had been treated with a compound based on this substance. Louisa was the second of four sisters and the other three also achieved their own fame. Due to the economic conditions in which the family was burdened, she was forced to work from a young age as an occasional teacher, seamstress, housekeeper and, only later, a writer. Little Women is Louisa May Alcott's most famous novel, initially published in the United States in two volumes, the first in 1868 and the second in 1869.

Little Women

The novel tells the story of the four March sisters Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy. The girls, despite being poor and having the typical problems of adolescence, learn to grow up and become responsible girls, ready to defend themselves from any vicissitude. The book covers the narrative arc of a year: it begins at Christmas and ends at Christmas of the following year, and in this period of time the individual characters, dreams and maturation of each of the four sisters are analysed, who live this period almost like a game, like a bet made with the mother to be able to improve their character and fight their "inner enemies".

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The novel follows the growth and maturation of the four March sisters, all with very different personalities. Meg is the eldest and is a very beautiful girl, who sometimes wants things that she cannot have given the precarious economic situation of her family, however she becomes a good wife for John Brooke, a not rich man. Jo, the real protagonist of Little Women, is a tomboy, loves literature and writing; she is endowed with a strong spirit of independence, has an impulsive and rebellious character which often causes her to end up in trouble. Undoubtedly Louisa May Alcott based the character of Jo on herself. Beth is a very shy girl, with a gentle and quiet character, she is very close to Jo and loves playing the piano. Beth falls ill with scarlet fever and even if she recovers, she will never recover her health, in fact, she dies in the second novel. Amy, the youngest of the March sisters, loves art and painting, has a sometimes selfish character and always tries to excel in what she does. An important character in the novel is Theodore Laurence (Laurie), the neighbor who lives with his grandfather because his parents are dead; Laurie is a charming boy who sometimes clashes with his grandfather. Initially in love with Jo, he ends up marrying Amy, the youngest of the March sisters.

Main themes

The importance of the family, the teachings of parents to their children and the growth process of an individual are certainly the main themes addressed in Little Women, a novel that faithfully portrays American life in the second half of the nineteenth century. In fact, the habits, customs, traditions and mentality of Concord, the city in which the story is set, are typical of the United States in the years of the American Civil War.

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