The Right Tone for the Hardest Moments: Louisa May Alcott’s New York Stories of Child Labor and Urban Benevolence in the Mid-1870s
This article examines Louisa May Alcott’s tales based on her mid-1870s tour of philanthropic institutions for New York’s homeless boys. In an effort to make her lessons more palatable to her young readership and reflecting her own beliefs in the themes of self-improvement, Alcott often euphemizes th...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Association Française d'Etudes Américaines
2020-10-01
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| Series: | Transatlantica |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/transatlantica/14642 |
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| Summary: | This article examines Louisa May Alcott’s tales based on her mid-1870s tour of philanthropic institutions for New York’s homeless boys. In an effort to make her lessons more palatable to her young readership and reflecting her own beliefs in the themes of self-improvement, Alcott often euphemizes the shelters’ evidently oppressive and exploitative dimensions. Devoid of moralism, Alcott’s tales also carry strong biographical accents, from her own experience of poverty to her own temperance journey and, most importantly, the humanistic spirit which she inherited from her parents’ own charity efforts. |
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| ISSN: | 1765-2766 |