Question

She went for runs when running wasn't considered "ladylike," helped enslaved people, and wrote thrilling stories with shady characters. Then, Louisa May Alcott did something she did not want to do.

She wrote Little Women.

If you've read the classic 1868 novel or watched one of the many TV or movie versions, you might imagine the author was quiet and prim. She wasn't.

Alcott had a rough childhood. Her father was a major education reformer who was not all that concerned with making money. The Alcott family lived on bread and water, sometimes for weeks or more, and hunger sparked in young Louisa a determination to achieve financial stability as an adult.

In 19th century America, most women found financial support through marriage. But Alcott saw that this hadn't worked out for her mother. She decided pretty early that she wouldn't depend on a husband to provide for her. Instead, Alcott wanted to support herself.

"I'd rather be a free spinster and paddle my own canoe," she once said.

Young Alcott worked odd jobs to help overcome her family's financial hardships and taught writing to a runaway enslaved person that her family harbored. She worked on her own writing skills, too. Lucky for her, she had plenty of inspiration. Alcott had Henry David Thoreau as a teacher and Ralph Waldo Emerson as a neighbor! She had access to Emerson's library, borrowing books and leaving behind wildflowers as thanks.

Alcott's first book hit the shelves when she was 22. From there, she published stories under several different names, including Aunt Weedy, Flora Fairfield, Oranthy Bluggage, Minerva Moody, and A. M. Barnard, which was the name she used for her thrilling tales.

By the time she hit her mid-30s—after serving as a Civil War nurse—Alcott had made a few names for herself. She was in demand with publishers.

One publisher desperately wanted her to write a book for girls. Alcott wasn't interested. She refused more than once before the publisher offered up a bribe: If she wrote it, he would publish her father's book, too. Alcott gave in and reluctantly produced Little Women in just 10 weeks.

The book was an instant bestseller. It helped Alcott earn the kind of money that allowed her to do what she'd always wanted—support her family. It also brought droves of fans to her home. Alcott wasn't interested in fame, though. Sometimes she'd pretend to be a servant when she answered the door.

The novel was originally published in two parts, Little Women and Good Wives. Before Good Wives came out, fans clamored for something Alcott did not want to give them.

"Girls write to ask who the little women marry, as if that was the only aim and end of a woman's life. I won't marry Jo to Laurie to please anyone," Alcott journaled, referring to the heroine and her childhood best friend.

Still, readers wanted more. So Alcott wrote two sequels because she knew they would be profitable and she never wanted her family to go hungry again.

When she wasn't writing, Alcott was rallying women to vote after a law was passed in Massachusetts in 1879 that let them cast ballots on child- and education-related issues. Alcott was the first woman to register to vote in her hometown of Concord. But getting others to join her wasn't easy.

In the end, the suffragist said she "gave [the reluctant women] a good scolding & offered to drive the timid sheep to the fatal spot where they seem to expect some awful doom."

Alcott kept up the voting rights fight until she died in 1888, leaving behind a legacy as an abolitionist and women's rights advocate, along with a cast of beloved characters whose stories have never gone out of print. Though, really, literary scholars say, the best character Alcott ever gave the world was herself.

Question 5


5 / 8

Which passage from the Article best supports the idea that Alcott was a successful woman outside of her writing?

The novel was originally published in two parts…. Before Good Wives came out, fans clamored for something Alcott did not want to give them.
Alcott kept up the voting rights fight until she died in 1888, leaving behind a legacy as an abolitionist and women's rights advocate.
The Alcott family lived on bread and water, sometimes for weeks or more, and hunger sparked in young Louisa a determination to achieve financial stability as an adult.
Alcott's first book hit the shelves when she was 22. From there, she published stories under several different names.

Answer 1

"Alcott kept up the voting rights fight until she died in 1888, leaving behind a legacy as an abolitionist and women's rights advocate."

This sentence shows her achievements outside of writing—her long-term activism and leadership in social causes.