Female Writer Becomes Family Financial Supporter

Little Women Secures Louisa May Alcott's Writing Career

Aug 8, 2009

The book based on four sisters, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy, is reflective of Alcott's own life growing up. She idealized her father, Amos Bronson Alcott.

Louisa May Alcott was born in Germantown, Pennsylvania on November 29, 1832. Her father was a transcendentalist and educator. After unsuccessfully supporting his family financially in Pennsylvania he moved to Boston, Massachusetts. There he continued to be unsuccessful financially.

Soon after Louisa’s mother, Abigail May, received an inheritance, Bronson Alcott moved his family to Concord, Massachusetts. Louisa’s father joined the transcendentalist movement and became friends with Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. Louisa learned later that Emerson helped her father out financially.

Emerson and Thoreau captivated Louisa and her sisters. The moment they walked in the door, they had the little women’s attention.

First Publications by Alcott

Louisa knew by the time she was eight years old she wanted to write. She first wrote a poem called “To a Robin” and then at the age of sixteen she wrote her first published novel titled Flower Fables. Unfortunately, she never received royalties for it.

She wrote a story in 1851 that was published by Gleason’s Pictorial and received five dollars. Needless to say, she was thrilled. The following year, the Boston Saturday Gazette published another one of her stories and paid her ten dollars.

Alcott began writing a story every hour. By 1860, the prestigious Atlantic Monthly magazine occasionally published her stories and paid her fifty dollars.

The book that brought Louisa May Alcott the most success is undoubtedly Little Women. With the success, Alcott could now negotiate payment for her writing and it is not surprising to say that she was a hot commodity after Little Women.

Alcott’s personal life took second place due to her popularity. She was regularly asked to speak at functions and to meet fans. She also joined the Women’s Movement and volunteered to write letters and publish articles on their behalf.

Eventually, Louisa’s health began to deteriorate due to her constant worry about family finances although she was now financially secure.

Two days after the passing of her father Louisa died. Some say it was due to a broken heart from the loss of her father. Louisa is buried in the little poet’s colony in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. She is buried near Hawthorne, Emerson, and Thoreau.

Source:

Stern, Madeleine. Louisa May Alcott. Holliston, MA, Northeastern Publishers, 1999.

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