“Love and Self-Love”: The Balance between Sympathy and Self-Respect in Louisa May Alcott’s Early Fiction
This paper explores one of the early short stories by Louisa May Alcott in order to offer an example of a problem that plagued women in 19th century America, wanting to thrive both in the domestic and in the public spheres. By focusing on “Love and Self-Love,” an early short story, the paper highlig...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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European Association for American Studies
2022-10-01
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| Series: | European Journal of American Studies |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/ejas/18672 |
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| Summary: | This paper explores one of the early short stories by Louisa May Alcott in order to offer an example of a problem that plagued women in 19th century America, wanting to thrive both in the domestic and in the public spheres. By focusing on “Love and Self-Love,” an early short story, the paper highlights one of the major concerns at the time of the emergence of the first proto-feminist movements: the balance between women’s inclination to sympathy for others and their own self-esteem. The plot revolves around self-respect and stages forms of female empowerment by using fiction as a form of education oriented towards creating awareness in the public sphere. |
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| ISSN: | 1991-9336 |