Louisa May Alcott research paper for Troy University ENG II 1102

1. Louisa May Alcott
How Her Life is Shown in Words
By Molly Ball
ENG II 1102

2. Summary
 Introduction
 Influences
 “Moods”
 “Little Women”
 “Hospital Sketches”
 Conclusion

3. Meet Louisa
May Alcott
Louisa May Alcott was
born in Germantown, PA
on November 29, 1832.
She is the second of four
daughters born to Amos
Bronson and Abba May
Alcott.
Louisa moved many
times while growing up
and her family never
had much money.
Understanding Louisa’s
life is important because
it is the foundation of
her books.

4. Louisa’s Influences
 Louisa grew up surrounded by famous writers like
Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau
 Louisa came to be in love with both men, despite
the age difference, and both are portrayed as
characters in many of her books
 Even though Emerson, Thoreau, and Louisa’s
father were all apart of the Transcendentalist
movement, Louisa considered herself a realist
 Most of Louisa’s books portray real life and a
desire to understand it, rather than the ideas that
Transcendentalists write about

5. “Moods”
 One of Louisa’s first books, “Moods”, does not
represent the writing of a realist. This book is
considered more of a transcendentalist book. It
received poor reviews due to the ideas that Louisa
portrays about her own ideas of love, marriage,
and divorce. As Louisa continued writing, she
stayed focused on reality, and many of her books
became hugely popular. Regardless of the poor
reviews, Louisa very much liked “Moods” and re-
published it, revised, eighteen years after its first
publication.

6. “Little Women”
 “Little Women” is Louisa’s most popular novel and
made Louisa very popular and very wealthy.
Louisa did not even want to write this story, but
after its success she continued on with three
sequels. This story most accurately portrays what
life was like for Louisa. Each of the fours
daughters, the March sisters, introduced in “Little
Women” very closely resemble Louisa and her
sisters in appearance and personality. Even
Louisa’s mother and father, and her two loves,
Emerson and Thoreau, are represented in this
book.

7. “Hospital Sketches”
 “Hospital Sketches” is Louisa’s most
autobiographical novel. Very little is fictitious in
this book. All of it is based on the time Louisa
spent as a Union nurse during the Civil War.
Louisa was scared about how this story would be
received, due to how realistic it was and the gory
pictures that accompanied it, and so she published
it under an alias, Tribulation Periwinkle.
However, this story was very highly praised and
really helped start Louisa’s career as a writer.

8. Louisa’s Life in Pictures
The house where
Louisa wrote “Little
Women”

9. Conclusion
 Louisa May died on March 6, 1888 after years of
being unhealthy due to mercury poisoning she
contracted during her time as a war nurse. She
continued writing, through her sickness, until the
day she died. She has written a plethora of books,
as well as numerous articles in newspapers and
magazines.
 Louisa will forever be remembered in history as a
sensational writer who “…was equipped with a
riotous imagination, a dramatic instinct, and an
indefatigable right hand.”

10. References
 MacDonald, Ruth K. “Louisa May Alcott”. Boston:
Twayne Publishers, 1983
 Saxton, Martha. “Louisa May Alcott: A Modern
Biography”. New York: The Noonday Press, 1995
 Alcott, Louisa May with introduction by Stern,
Madeleine. “Behind A Mask: The Unknown
Thrillers of Louisa May Alcott”. New York: William
Morrow and Company, Inc., 1975
 Cheever, Susan. “American Bloomsbury”. New York:
Simon & Schuster, 2006
 Matteson, John. “Eden’s Outcasts”. New York: W.W.
Norton and Company, 2007