The Awakening of Woman Consciousness in Little Women Abstract Little Women is a novel published in 1868 and the most famous and most successful work written by American author Louisa May Alcott. It is loosely based on Louisa May Alcott’s own experiences in her childhood. The story follows the lives and loves of four sisters growing up during the American Civil War, using emotional entanglement among family members as the clue to describe the happiness of March’s family union. The novel describes their progress about how they become good and mature women with additional strains of romance. This thesis analyzes the relationship between males and females in the 19th century’s patriarchal society as well as the March’s family education, which is pided into the significance and effectiveness of the family education. By holding a comparison between general or traditional women’s status and the female images in the novel, I attempt to illustrate the fact that the awakening of woman identity is embodied in Little Women.48341
Keywords: Louisa May Alcott; Little Women; patriarchal society; Jo; feminism
《小妇人》中女性意识的觉醒
摘 要《小妇人》这部小说出版于1868年，是美国女性作家路易莎•梅•奥科特最有名最成功的一部作品。小说以路易莎•梅•奥科特本人的童年经历为基础，马奇家家庭成员相互间的感情网络为线索，主要讲述了在美国内战时期，四个姐妹的成长、生活和爱情发展,以及和谐团结的家庭，还详细描述了她们在浪漫的推动下逐渐成长为善良成熟的女人。本论文主要分析了，在19世纪美国父权社会中男女的社会关系，以及马奇家的家庭教育。马奇的家庭教育这一主题被分为两个篇章分析，分别是家庭教育的意义和家庭教育对孩子们的影响。从当时普遍的女性地位，或者说传统的社会中的女性地位，与小说中的女性地位相比较，我们可以看出女性自我身份的觉醒，或是女性主义的觉醒在《小妇人》这部小说中得以体现。
毕业论文关键词：路易莎• 梅•奥科特；《小妇人》；父权社会；乔；女性主义
Contents
Introduction 1
1. The Relationship Between Males and Females 2
1.1 Examples of the Embodiment of the Patriarchal Society 2
1.2 Analyzing the Original Relationship Between Males and Females 3
1.3 Female Status in the Novel 4
2. Significance of the Family Education 6
2.1 A Brief Introduction of the March’s Family 6
2.2 The Ways of the March’s Family Education 7
2.3 The Meaning of the March’s Family Education 8
3. The Effectiveness of the Family Education for Children 10
3.1 Changes in the Personalities of Children 10
3.2 Pursuit of True Love, Freedom, Independence, Equality and Feminism 10
Conclusion 12
Works Cited 13
Introduction
In a transhistorical, transcultural and ubiquitous social structure, females do not share equal status with males in politics, culture, ideology, cognition, ethics, and other aspects of society. This phenomenon is even evident in intimate areas like families. In modern society, an increasing number of women require social justice, equal opportunity and freedom of choice. Moreover, in the 19th century, most American women were in a patriarchal society and did not have the same right as men and some were even subordinates of men. A few of them dreamed of equality and freedom.
Throughout the history of literature, male novels were commonplace, which stands in sharp contrast to the neglect of females since a patriarchal society does not understand and respect females. However, Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women is known as a work of female liberation. It depicts feministic images to readers and urges people to pay attention to the growth of females, in order to arouse female independent thinking and develop female literature. 《小妇人》中女性意识的觉醒:http://www.youerw.com/yingyu/lunwen_50910.html