What Is Louisa May Alcott's Work?

Writing one genre of literature for a certain audience is a challenge in and of itself, but those writers that push their boundaries, expand their thoughts, and adapt their writing styles are the notable authors that we all know today. In 1832, the renowned author, Louisa May Alcott, was born into a family of girls, although she was surrounded by females she grew into a strong individual who described herself as a tomboy. "No boy could be my friend till I had beaten him in a race, and no girl if she refused to climb trees, leap fences ..." young Louisa exclaimed (2). Her life was not one of a regular girl her age, she was taught by her father, Bronson Alcott, a philosopher, and raised in an experimental Utopian community that he and his colleague Charles Lane invented. The problem with all of this was that the Alcott family was poor beyond belief, they struggled in scrounging enough food for a meal a day. Bronson Alcott a teacher without a care in the world to make enough money in order to provide for his family, Bronson himself even described the Alcott family as “dysfunctional family” in his own journals (3). Through these troubling times Louisa also turned to writing in journals and became even more determined to earn a living for her and her family. Louisa overcame these struggles to become the author known to mankind today, not …show more content…
Millions know Louisa for her ever important children’s novel “Little Women,” but her abilities reached far beyond juvenile fiction, she also wrote autobiographical adult fiction, a sentimental adult novel, an experimental adult novel, and sensation stories (4). One of Louisa’s first big publications was a grouping of letters she wrote while serving as a nurse in the war. This letters were collectively called “Hospital Sketches” and based largely on her personal experiences, just dramatized. After these were released Louisa stated “----------” (