Hello there. Hope you're feeling well.
Normally I don't make claims about myself as a reader but I wonder whether outside of North America what other man in the 21st century has read two books by Ms Alcot other than Little Women?
Could it be because I've a particular interest in nineteenth century women writers? Or could it be because I just downloaded a load of free books onto my Kindle? That I'll leave you to decide.
Anyway after reading An Old Fashioned Girl I put forward the view that Louisa Alcot was the quiet feminist. A person who would not so much rock the boat as gently sway it. Such a person is actually quite important as if you consider any malign orthodoxy there is a need for people to weaken it before somebody/ some group comes along and destroys it. Louisa Alcot falls into that catagory.
So we come to Eight Cousins the story of Rose,a recently orphaned young girl who is looked after by her aunts whilst her actual guardian, her uncle, is out to sea and her adventures particularly dealing with her cousins (aka boys).
I did think even when I was reading the novel that I'd made a mistake reading it given that it was a novel for young girls. Being a fifty six year old man with an occasional back problem I'm obviously not Ms Alcot's target audience. Until this morning I was of the view that had I realised that before hoovering up all those free books on the Kindle I would have read it. However I've subsequently learnt that there was a sequel with Rose as an adult. I'm glad I read it now though to chat about Eight Cousins properly I reckon I'd need to read that subsequent book first.
But for the moment we come back to the question of the title. Is Louisa May Alcot the quiet feminist? I would say yes. Without spoiling the end at first glance you would think that Rose has been subsumed into patriarchal society, she @knows her place@ as it were.
But throughout the book she is the one who confronts the problems dealing with herself and her male relatives. She is the one who for example, nurses, confronts someone smoking tobacco (yes even then) and is even an educator.
There is an interesting line that strong women are tomboys, implying that they need a bit of male chracter. At first glance it would seem that she's saying females need to act like men, but of course tomboys are actually a mixture of male characteristics but they're still women.
However at the end the message is clear. Men (who incidentally are not evil - In the three books of Ms Alcot I've read I don't get the impression that she doesn't like them) my seemingly rule but without women they're helpless. And if you forget the "rule" bit it's something the wife says to me all too often.
Until the next time.
