Second in my Strong Historical Woman of the Day Series:
Louisa May Alcott
Author of Little Women
November 29, 1832 - March 8, 1888
The authoress of the classic novel about the four March sisters during the War Between the States is second to grace my series. Louisa May Alcott is one that has written some of the most beloved stories in children's literature, and- having had the opportunity to portray her- she holds as complex a story as Lewis Carroll or C.S. Lewis.
Born on November 29, 1832, Louisa May was the second child of Bronson Alcott and his wife May. Unlike her older sister Anna- who was blue-eyed and blonde- Louisa was dark-haired and dark-eyed, born on her father's birthday.
Raised in Boston and Concord under the teachings of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, Louisa grew to love nature, and the creativity it inspired. She spent many an hour writing plays and stories, acting them out with her sisters Anna, Beth, and May in the woods. When the war broke out, the Alcotts were forced into poverty, and it was then that Louisa's artistic talent as a writer became truly important.
At sixteen, Louisa left Orchard House in Concord and moved to Boston, striking out on her own in order to write and sell her work. She survived on meager writing salaries, writing under pen names for magazines, always sending something of her pay back to her family.
Louisa's Chamber where she wrote Little Women
Orchard House
Another view of the Iconic Orchard House
Much like Jo, Louisa was every ounce the tomboy, prefering to climb trees and run barefoot over darning socks and cooking. She could not be friends with boys until 'I had beaten him in a race, and no girl if she refused to climb trees and leap fences...'
She declared that she would be rich, famous and happy before she died, and that she would do anything to help her family survive. She looked on Anna for wanting nice things, when they couldn't even afford food at times. She regarded May as the spoilt child of the family, and Lizzie as the sweet angel among them.
In May of 1860, Anna married John Pratt, who she had fallen in love with playing opposite in a play. The wedding of Meg marrying John in Little Women is a direct replica of Anna's wedding- including Lizzie resting during the reception.
Anna Alcott Pratt,
the inspiration for Meg March
At this point, like in the novel, Lizzie was weakened by scarlet fever. Having caught it from a family her mother was helping, Lizzie languished for days as her system weakened in 1856. She recovered, but, like Beth in the novel, eventually- and literally- wasted away in 1858.
Regarded as "Little Tranquility" by Bronson, Lizzie was content to play the piano and darn socks. She found simple comforts in life at home, and was Louisa's "better self." Lizzie died on March 14, 1858, finally leaving the pain she had suffered for two years.
Elizabeth Sewall Alcott,
the inspiration for Beth March
We seem to get a sense from Louisa's diary entry that she was both releaved and heartbroken over Lizzie's passing, and that the death of her younger sister brought a cloud of grief over everyone within Orchard House.
"My dear Beth died at three in the morning after two years of patient pain. Last week she put her work away, saying the needle was too heavy ... Saturday she slept, and at midnight became unconscious, quietly breathing her life away till three; then, with one last look of her beautiful eyes, she was gone."
- Louisa's Diary, March 14, 1858
Louisa also shared artistic talent with her youngest sister May, who went to Paris in 1868- due to Little Women's success- and there, married a Swiss businessman she met. She settled there in late 1868, and in 1869, had a daughter.
May Alcott Nieriker,
the inspiration for Amy March
Sadly, May, like Lizzie, would die young- six weeks after her daughter was born. She requested that Louisa care for the baby, and Louisa gratefully obliged. The authoress nicknamed the child Lulu, and raised her until her death in 1888.
Louisa returned to Orchard House in early '68, now a paid writer. She was approached by her publisher, who asked her to "write a book for girls." At first, Louisa refused, saying that she did not want to write a children's book, that she wanted to be remembered for novels and inspirational characters. Little did she know that she would be remembered for perhaps the most beloved girl's book- and most inspirational character- of her career.
In truth, the only reason she wrote
Little Women at all, was because Bronson approached her and handed her an ultimatum: write the book, and survive, or don't write the book, and perish.
She had no choice.
She concieved and turned out the book in incriments; harder to write than most of her other works, Louisa most likely drug her feet througout the whole process. When she finally finished and sent if off to her publisher, she had no expectations of getting it published.
The 1926 cover of Little Women
The novel about the March sisters' coming of age during the Civil War was an instant success. It secured the Alcott's finances for the next few years, along with the sequels, Little Men and Jo's Boys.
Louisa despised the book, and the fact that she would forever be known as the authoress of a "children's book." However, she gave Jo the one thing she never got in life- a happy ending.
At the end of Little Women (now combined with the sequel Good Wives), Jo marries Professor Friedrich Bhaer, and they open Plumfield Estate School for Boys. They also have two sons of their own.
There is also one summer that is not accounted for in Louisa's life- the summer of 1855. No information has been found, leaving a whole host of possibilites to be interpreted. As such, with no information, books themselves have been written about Louisa, and all fill in their own possiblity concerning that "lost summer."
The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott
by Kelly O'Connor McNees
The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott chronicles a possible love affair between the famed
Little Women authoress and Joseph Singer, a young man living in a small town in New Hampshire. It shows the struggle Louisa faces between choosing love or a career as an author. Though we all know what she chose, it's still nice to imagine the possibility of a love affair for a woman who wrote happy endings for her beloved characters, but forgot the happy ending for herself.
Louisa May died on March 8, 1888, two days after her father died. Seeing as she and her father were always at constant ends- he wished her to be more like Anna, she was too tomboyish and outspoken- it is somewhat ironic that she followed her father in death. Bronson died on the 6th of March; what is even more ironic- and even borders on creepy- is that both Bronson and Louisa shared the same birthday: November 29.
Having worked as a nurse during the War Between the States, it was assumed then that she had contracted poisoning from the use of mercury during a bout of typhoid. Others have suggested she died from complications ranging from stroke to lupus. However, her last words were,
"Is it not meningitis?"
The Grave of Louisa May Alcott
She is a resident of Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord, particularly Author's Ridge- along with Nathaniel Hawthorne and her childhood mentors, Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Orchard House- the place where
Little Women was created- has since been turned into a museum, left perfectly intact, since its days as the home of the Alcotts. She has contributed the most children's literature of any other author- over 30 novels and short stories in all.
"My book came out; and people began to think that topsy-turvy Louisa would amount to something after all ..."
- Louisa May Alcott
