University of Strathclyde

Department of
English Studies
Glasgow G1 1XH
0141-552 4400

Back to Teaching Schedule

CHILDREN'S LITERATURE

NB: As of Monday 23.11.09 lectures for Children's Literature will take place in COL405 (Colville Building) for the rest of the semester.

Louisa May Alcott, Little Women (1868), ed. Anne K. Phillips and Gregory Eiselein (Norton, 2004).

1. Contexts: Anne Scott MacLeod, 'Children's Literature in America: From the Puritan Beginnings to 1870', in Children's Literature: An Illustrated History (OUP, 1995), pp.102-29; also 'Backgrounds and Contexts' in Little Women (Norton Critical Edition). pp.411-543.
1.1 'The story of children's reading in America begins with the Puritans. ... As Dissenters and founders of a new society, they looked to their children to embrace their convictions and carry them forward into another generation. It was imperative, then, that their children read and learn, from books as well as from parents, the intense theology that defined Puritanism. ... Puritan doctrine took an anxious view of childhood, seeing the taint of Adam's sin in every infant. Puritan practice, however, was optimistic that even inborn depravity could be restrained, and natural ignorance cured by ceaseless education' (MacLeod, p.102).
1.2 'The New England Primer, most famous of all seventeenth-century books for American children, opened with the observation that "in Adam's fall, we sinned all"' (p.103).
1.3 In C17 and C18, children's books mostly imported from England or republished in America: Watts; Foxe's Book of Martyrs; 'Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress was wholeheartedly embraced by American children for its strong narrative and memorable allegorical characters, and by 1830 fifty different editions had been published in America' (pp.103-4).
1.4 'The eighteenth century had seen a gradual shift away from the spiritual intensity of Puritan writings for children, towards a more generalized moralism. ... as the children's book market expanded, publishers looked for material acceptable to all varieties of American Protestantism ... What both public and publishers wanted, in other words, was the kind of children's fiction Maria Edgeworth wrote: stories interesting enough to attract children and morally instructive enough to allay adult distrust of fiction' (p.106) - see Edgeworth, 'The Purple Jar' (1801), in Little Women, pp.466-70.
1.5 'after the war of 1812 [to1814 between America and Britain, publishers] of children's books began to encourage American writers to write for American children' (p.106); 'Early in the 1820s, stories of wilful children learning to obey, of careless children learning to take care, of selfish children learning to "live for others", started to flow from American presses' (pp.106-7).
1.6 In most American children's books of the period, 'the approach is the same: calm, rational, and heavily freighted with the conviction that all action – indeed, all thought, no matter how spontaneous – has moral meaning. The rationality, the grave but kindly lectures, and the transformation of experience into moral instruction echo the theories of Rousseau, Thomas Day, and the Edgeworths. The reliance upon self-contemplation as the means to inner change can be found everywhere in Puritan writing' (p.107).
1.7 Nathanial Hawthorne's Wonder Book (1851) and Tanglewood Tales (1853).
1.8 Martha Finley, Elise Dinsmore (1867): 'Hugely sentimental and overdrawn, full of dramatic scenes of emotional martyrdom and forgiveness, [this girls' novel] was well tuned to adolescent fantasies. ... [but] not a book the adult of genteel sensibilities could embrace: it was too evangelical, too emotional, and far too sensational. In 1868, however, the novel that would be welcomed by girls and their parents alike, the story that became a model for all children's family stories, was published to general acclaim' (pp.126-7).
1.9 Little Women 'a girls' book that brought tradition and change together in a "simple and true" story with both sound moral messages and enormous appeal for girls. Its values were familiar, its narrative intimate and entertaining. On the one hand, Maria Edgeworth's voice could be heard throughout in Marmee's firm, rational (and constant) moralizing, reassuring the adult that a child would be improved by reading the book. The characterization, on the other hand, moved children's literature a giant step away from the purely instrumental role of instructor and into the realm of "real" literature. If the adult figures are fairly stock, the fictional children are more consistently individual, interesting, and convincing than any in American children's fiction up to that time' (pp.127-8).

2. American Civil War (1861-65): 'war between the U.S. and 11 Southern states ... result of long-standing social and economic differences between North and South ... Upon receiving the news of Abraham Lincoln's election in 1860, South Carolina seceded, followed by 10 other Southern states, which then organized the Confederate government ... with the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter, the actual fighting began. To the North, the principal objective was the preservation of the Union, though emancipation of the slaves became a secondary aim after 1862' (Benét, Reader's Encyclopedia).

3. Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress (1678/1684): extract in Little Women (Norton), pp.447-65.
3.1 Spiritual allegory in prose: Christian, ignoring pleas of family and neighbours, leaves City of Destruction to journey towards Celestial City, carrying Bible and burden on his back; en route, with Evangelist as helper, faces series of spiritual challenges: Slough of Despond; Mr Worldly Wiseman.
3.2 When he comes to the Cross, his burden falls from his back; climbs the Hill Difficulty; braving two guard-lions, takes refuge in the Palace Beautiful, where he is directed by four virgins (Discretion, Prudence, Piety, and Charity) towards Delectable Mountains.
3.3 Descends into Valley of Humiliation, where he vanquishes Apollyon (Greek: destroyer; 'angel of the bottomless pit' (Revelation, 9.11); = Sin in Jeremy Taylor, Holy Dying (1651)); passes through valley of Shadow of Death (Hobgoblins, Satyrs, Dragons of the Pit).
3.4 Meets fellow pilgrim, Faithful; they come to Vanity Fair, which sells vain, worldly things; they refuse to buy and are arrested; Faithful burned at stake (his soul is carried off by heavenly chariot).
3.5 Christian escapes and continues journey with Hopeful; they avoid temptation of a free silver mine, but get lost and are imprisoned by the Giant Despair in Doubting Castle; escape with a key called Promise; resuming narrow path they come to Delectable Mountains, cross River of Death and are led to Celestial City by angels.

4. Louisa May Alcott (1832-88): semi-autobiographical content; daughter of Abigail May and Bronson Alcott, Transcendentalist philosopher preoccupied with educational theories and projects; Louisa and her sisters raised in poverty and insecurity; worked as army nurse in Civil War; 'She always used her fiction as a vehicle for the propagation of educational, social and feminist theory' (Children's Books in English, p.16).
4.1 New England Transcendentalism: C19 American idealist philosophical and literary movement (influenced by Plato and German Romanticism/Idealism), headed by Ralph Waldo Emerson; included Henry David Thoreau, Bronson Alcott and Margaret Fuller; Emerson 'stressed the essential unity of all things, which are ordered by a Supreme Mind or Over-Soul. Man's soul is identical with the Over-Soul; it is this belief in the divinity of man that allowed Transcendentalists to disregard external authority and tradition, and to rely on direct experience. "Trust thyself," Emerson's motto, became the code of … the Transcendental Club' (Benet, Reader's Encyclopedia). Values included optimism about progress of human spirit, self-reliance and simple, communal living (Simon Blackburn, Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy).

5. Little Women (1868); followed by Good Wives (1869), Little Men (1871), Jo's Boys (1886).
5.1 Chapter titles often allude to Pilgrim's Progress: 'Meg, the eldest, falls victim to the temptations of Vanity Fair, Jo, Alcott's alter ego, battles with a vile temper (Apollyon), Beth ... is Little Faithful while the youngest, Amy, suffers for her pride and conceit in the Valley of Humiliation' (Children's Books in English, p.436).
5.2 In chapter 1, 'Playing Pilgrims' helps the girls to face difficulties (personal faults, relative poverty, father's absence) - they are the March family.
5.3 Adult presence reduced: father chaplain in Civil War (on Northern side); mother works for Soldiers' Aid Societies; Laurie's parents both dead and Mr Laurence eventually decides to 'Let him do what he likes' (p.52); March sisters are left to make own living (Meg, Jo) or teach themselves (Beth).
5.4 Not set in countryside, but the two houses 'stood in a suburb of the city, which was still country-like' (p.44); historical setting (early 1860s) contemporary with its writing (pub. 1868).
5.5 Social realism: money and class; Marches once 'one of our first families' (p.77); 'Mr March lost his property in trying to help an unfortunate friend' (p.36); now poor, educated middle class (bohemian?); Moffats are 'above' them and Meg aspires to their life-style and 'aristocratic' manners; yet able to make sacrifices to help impoverished German immigrant family; also have family servant Hannah (is she black?).
5.6 Gender: four girls trying to be 'little women'; text appears to critique conventional gender roles; Josephine abbreviates name to gender-neutral/boyish 'Jo'; plays male roles in Christmas play; claims she's 'the man of the family now papa is away' (p.14); does things 'in a gentlemanly manner' (p.11) or because they are 'boyish', and hates 'affected, niminy-piminy chits' (p.12) (chit = contemptuous word for girl or young woman); see pp.12-13.
5.7 Letter from father sets up conflict for Jo: see p.17.
5.8 Mrs March suggests they take up childhood game of playing out Pilgrim's Progress (see pp.17, 18):
5.9 Despite this device, and moralising interventions of Marmee, these little women remain entirely convincing characters with great capacity for fun, compassion, arguing, and bemoaning their lot.

6. Puritanism and play in chapters one and two.
6.1 Objections to theatrical scene in chapter two (see Norton ed, p.419).

7. Little Women today.
7.1 'Little Women' brings up 500+ items on Amazon (editions, adaptations, critical books, etc); most reviewers give it five stars, including the following:

My mother grew up reading this book. I grew up reading this book. My children will grow up reading this book. Somewhere within this book is a character that every little girl can relate to, or wants to be at some stage in their life.

A must-read for any young girl growing into womanhood. Even now, more than a hundred years from its first publication in 1868, it continues to provide useful advice and recommendations for a young female reader in a clever, interesting way. (Cecilia, aged 13)

Some negative reviews:

Sorry this is a negative but nonetheless honest review. 'Little Women' has ONE exciting character (Laurie), BUT the whole thing is incredibly mundane & boring. The Mother and 'Jo' fear the slightest bit of excitement or drama and so naturally it VERY RARELY occurs. Then there is the constant 'nagging' and lessons on 'goodness', and preaching literally almost every sentance [sic], which left me bored, frustrated, and wishing i'd never started it.

I hate to say it but this is a book designed primarily for women. I am a male and I would have to refrain from calling it a classic as it failed to cross the sexual divide. The characters are well developed and undoubtedly you care for the four children and their mother especially. The girl's lovers are unfortunately less developed as characters and they come across as prissy men. The plot is overlong and unexciting. Is there even a plot? ... I thought about giving this book a solid three stars but that would have been too generous. It is regarded as a classic but to me it was a sentimental piece of rubbish. 2 generous stars.

6.2 Two reviews on cool-reads website: Jennifer Blank (aged 11 from US) gives it five stars (= 'cool read'); Hilary Martin (aged 12 from Australia) gives it four stars (= 'really good stuff'):

During the American Civil War, the March girls live at home with their mother while their father is away fighting. Despite having to face poverty, they live very interesting and exciting lives and have plenty of fun with Laurie from next door. Through the book, they learn many lessons that are all part of growing up.

The language isn't very hard but there are some parts about love and I would recommend this book more to girls than boys.

7. For a difficult but pioneering analysis of the performative nature of gender roles, see Judith Butler, Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity (Routledge, 1990).

Seminar on Little Women (1868)

Focus on Chapter 9. 'Meg Goes to Vanity Fair' (Norton Critical Edition, pp.71-84).

In the seminar we will try to develop an analysis of this chapter that focusses on any aspect of it that we find interesting. Be prepared to present your analysis to the whole group, supporting it with quotations (with page numbers) from the text.

Top of document