Louisa May Alcott was born in 1832 to Abigail and Bronson Alcott. She was the second of four girls. Growing up, there were many struggles and hard times as the Alcott's went from being a family of high status to a family living in poverty. In his despair, Bronson Alcott responded by immersing himself in the transcendental philosophy of the nineteenth century. He forced his family into the natural ways of living. Louisa was always a challenge to her father's theological worldview.

Within her father's theological world view, the passionate little girl's behavior--like that of Bronson's sometimes short tempered wife--could be explained away as a comple

Beth is the third child and she is the only one of the girls who seems to have no ambitions. Her only desire seems to be to live at home with her parents and practice her music. Her greatest challenge is and her primary fault is her extreme shyness. It is for this reason she was home schooled because she could not attend a public school. She is however, a model of selflessness and gentleness, almost too good to be real. Beth rarely complained about anything and it always seemed that she had just the right words to say. She becomes very ill with scarlet fever and nearly dies. She does recover from the decease, but her strength has weakened and she is never the same. Over the next year of her life, her health continues to decline and eventually her battle with life ends and she dies, leaving her family to grieve deeply over the loss.

The terms in which Alcott depicts this voyage of female ethical development suggest the impossibility of either freely choosing or fully rendering in fiction a new understanding must be achieved within a culture that defines women as powerless and marginal, and confined all new understandings to the old, safe, and imprisoning domestic sphere...Alcott found it to met this pilgrimage fully beyond the confines of her own culture, the radically assertive image of female self-worth, struggle and heroism she portrays in Little Women sure accounts for some of the books insidious hold over its readers (Murphy )

Each of the March sisters endured many hardships throughout their lives. Each of the girls long for something that has been lost, learn to live without it, eventually realize that there are different kinds of wealth, and finally understand that true wealth has very little to do with money or high society. They learn that no amount of wealth can bring more happiness than that of a close and loving family.

When the novel begins Jo, the character that Alcott bases upon herself, is already a teenager. She is working as a companion to her aunt. She struggles to deal with poverty, but not to the extreme that Meg does. Jo is very outspoken and opinionated and her own personal conflict comes in controlling her temper. However, she learns the importance of controlling it and being willing to forgive as the novel progresses. Mr. Laurence, the March's neighbor introduces Jo to his grandson Laurie. The two quickly become best friends, and their bond is seen throughout the years to come. Jo has a natural gift for writing, but she develops it slowly in only in short spurts of time. She begins publishing her works, first in local newspapers and magazines.

te lapse from angel into devil...Louisa's bad te

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Approximate Word count = 1795
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)