10. Louisa May Alcott embellished her own family life in Little Women
Louisa May Alcott was an American poet, novelist, and activist. Her novel, Little Women, documented the trials of the March family during the Civil War. She found much success with this novel, and she wrote two sequels. It has been adapted in movies and miniseries since the 1930s, with the latest version to be released this year. Born in 1832, Alcott wrote stories as a childhood hobby, later establishing herself as an author in adulthood.
During the Civil War, Alcott volunteered as a nurse at a Union hospital, criticizing cold-hearted physicians and poorly managed hospitals in her publications. After the war was over, she started writing Little Women. The March sisters are Alcott’s literary interpretations of her and her sisters, although her fictional characters are much younger than their real-life counterparts. As the March sisters learn to do without during the war, their experiences echo Alcott’s childhood, when her parents struggled with finances.
Although Alcott used her family’s experiences in the novel, she did embellish the truth in parts of the story. While Jo, the fictional version of herself, married her friend and mentor Professor Bhaer, Alcott was an ardent feminist who never married. Louisa and her father constantly argued: Bronson Alcott disapproved of his daughter’s outspoken nature and he openly criticized her writing. In Little Women, Mr. March is a Civil War hero who embraces Jo’s independent spirit. In characterizing the fictional patriarch, Alcott created the father she wished she had.