SOURCE: "Little Women: Alcott's Civil War," in Feminist Studies, Vol. 5, No. 2, Summer, 1979, pp. 369-83.

In the following essay, Fetterley argues that Little Women reveals stylistic and thematic compromises that were made by Alcott in deference to prevailing social opinions of the time and the preferences of her publisher.

When, toward the end of Little Women, Jo finds her "true style at last," her father blesses her with the prospect of inner peace and an end to all ambivalence: "You have had the bitter, now comes the sweet. Do your best and grow as happy as we are in your success." And Alcott adds her benediction: "So, taught by love and sorrow, Jo wrote her little stories and sent them away to make friends for themselves and her, finding it a very charitable world to such humble wanderers."¹ Finding her true style at last was not, however, such a...