That’s fascinating, especially since the father in “Little Women” seems to be held in such high regard by his family.
But notice how many times in the books he is depicted as a “pastor” who basically does nothing to help support his family, but instead, gives money away to the poor (when his own family is poor!). He enlists in the Civil War as a pastor, in spite of the fact that he has a wife and four young girls dependent on him! He seems to be some kind of esoteric “being” that everyone else has to provide for, instead of him providing for the family. He doesn’t write anything–there are no scholarly books that are spoken of with pride by the family. He just exists outside of mere humanity, and the women and girls do all the actual WORK of providing an income to support themselves!
It’s brilliant writing–at the same time Alcott presents the character as a beloved father, she also makes it clear that he is a bounder.
In real life, Bronson Alcott’s family was actually starving at times while he sat in his “study” and pretended that he had a flock of disciples–all young men–who hung on his every word (and also didn’t work). One summer, the family lived on apples–nothing else!–from a tree in their yard.
There is one place in Little Women where Jo goes to her father because she is overwhelmed with grief (Beth had died), loneliness, hopelessness, and never-ending hard work. She asks him for spiritual help, and he gives it. So he is definitely a spiritual influence.
But even today, a lot of women get in serious trouble because they “fall in love” with a man who doesn’t know how to study, seek and land a job and possibly a second job, and earn an income adequate to support his wife and any children. Meanwhile, the wife is working two or three jobs and sometimes trying to raise the children without any help from her husband.
I think that Louisa May Alcott was warning women back then to be careful and select a man who works hard. Much of Little Women is about her efforts to force Laurie into giving up a life of indolence and dreams of being a great musician, and go to work for his grandfather at a real job. Amy eventually begins putting the same pressure on Laurie, and eventually, Laurie sees the light and takes up the reigns of working for his grandfather’s business–and only then does Amy allow herself to accept his love and marriage proposal.
If you’ve read Little Men, you will read the chapter where John Brooke dies, and is honored by the family as the “BEST”. His profession is teaching and bookkeeping, and he works long, hard hours to be able to support Meg and his three children, and possibly dies of overwork. But he is held up as the “Best”, and several of the boys of Plumfield, including Uncle Fritz’s nephews, announce that they want to be like “Uncle John.”
I could go on and on listing places in the March Family Trilogy where is it obvious that Alcott is trying to get across the need for women to choose husband from men who are willing to WORK hard and support their families. It’s all through the book.
