Analysis # 6: Feminism, Little Women, Angels in the House

[Quote from Little Women]
Holding a hand of each and watching the two young faces wistfully, Mrs. March said, in her serious yet cheery way - 'I want my daughters to be beautiful, accomplished, and good; to be admired, loved, and respected; to have a happy youth, to be well and wisely married, and to lead useful, pleasant lives, with as little care and sorrow to try them as God sees fit to send. To be loved and chosen by a good man is the best and sweetest thing which can happen to a woman, and I sincerely hope my girls may know this beautiful experience.

To millions of girls living in the mid 1800's (as well as today) the names Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy became recognized names in virtually every American home.When Louise May Alcott's book Little women was published in 1868, the world was presented with an ideal model of female virtue, modesty, sacrifice, purity,and womanhood through the story of the March sisters. For over the a century the March sister have remained in literature the unrivaled "angles in the house".

Mother's encouraged their daughters to strive as best as they could to emulate the pious virtue of Meg and quite humility of Beth. Until the the mid 50's women in literature were traditionally portrayed as saint-like goddesses within the home.
In Gilbert and Gubar's essay "The Mad Woman in the Attic" they argue that, "the images of the 'angel' and 'monster' have been so ubiquitous throughout literature by men that they have also pervaded woman's writing to such and extent that few definitively 'killed' either figure" (812).

One of the works of fiction that is attacked by Gilbert and Gubar is Alcott's Little Women because it reinforces the "angle" image of women that was originally constructed from men's desire to dominate women "because women are defined as wholly passive, completely void of generation power they become numinous to male artist" 815). Like many female writers during her time, Louisa May Alcott reinforces the male stereotypes about women. The March sisters are encouraged to stay at home and become good housewives. Their mother says the best and sweetest thing is to be loved and CHOSEN by a man.

Like novels and self help books during the Victorian era Alcott, "enjoin[s] young girls [towards] submissiveness, modesty, selflessness; reminding all women that they should be angelic" (816). Images of sacrificial women in books who were devoted to their husbands and homes and nothing else became the norm in society until the late 1950's. Through books and ladies magazines women measured their own worth, fashioned their identities around a mythological ideal woman found in fairy tales.

The challenge that female writers encounter when created a female character is to avoid retelling the cliche "angle" "monster" story about women. Female writers today must create female characters that are three dimensional and does not exaggerate their flaws are inflate their virtues. "The woman writer acknowledges with pain, confusion, and anger that what she sees in the mirror is usually a male construct, the "pure gold baby" of male brains, a glittering and wholly artificial child" (813).


Perhaps the "madwoman in the attic" is every woman who tries to break free from the prison that society has placed her in. Those who questions the norms of their society are often considered "mad" by the critics. Women like Jane Austen had to hide their writings lest other should think them strange. Fortunately, "by the end of the eighteenth century women were not only writing, they were conceiving fictional worlds in which patriarchal images and conventions were severely , radically revised" (824).

Today the madwomen in the attic have escaped are now free to run over the pages of fiction.

Works Cited

Gilbert, Sandra and Gibar, Susan. "The Madwoman in the Attic". Rivkin, Julie. Literary Theory: An Anthology. Blackwell publishing; United Kingdom, 2004.

Alcott, Louisa. Little Women. New York: VIKING, 1996

Youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCyIwNPUK0k