Posts Tagged ‘Ralph Waldo Emerson’
10 Great Ideas from Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
May 22nd, 2012 | 
Author: 10 Great Ideas from Little Women
- Money and possessions do not equate to happiness.
- Count your blessings and be grateful for what you have in life.
- Conceit spoils the finest genius.
- Don’t let the sun go down upon your anger; forgive each other, help each other, and begin again tomorrow.
- When you’re feeling down, do something good for another.
- Pursue your own path in life, not merely what society and others expect from you.
- Teamwork allows you to get more done in less time.
- Have a purpose in life because it will keep you moving forward. So dream big dreams and have a sense of where you are going in life.
- Family is important – a family that plays together stays together.
- Death is a fact of life.
Why Little Women by Louisa May Alcott Still Matters Today
Little Women is a story about a traditional family – father, mother and four daughters. All families, traditional and non-traditional, form a community, which teaches its members how to function in the broader community. Life is very busy today, and family members often do not have enough time to sit down together. Little Womenreminds us how important it is for family members to communicate with each other. The March family had dinner together, at which time they would talk about how their day went.
Cover of Little Women
Why Louisa May Alcott is qualified to write Little Women
Little Women is semi-autobiographical, and the character, Jo March is based on Louisa May Alcott’s life. Louisa May Alcott was the second daughter of the educator and transcendentalist Amos Bronson Alcott and Abba May Alcott. Jo March’s life was more idyllic than Alcott’s. Alcott was dominated by her father and she had to bear the financial burden of her sisters and mother.
Louisa May Alcott is best known for Little Women (1868) and the seven novels that followed in the “Little Women” series. Like in the novel, Alcott is the second of four girls, and all children were homeschooled by their father. He encouraged them to keep a journal, together they wrote a family newspaper and plays in which they performed. The four girls also learned how to sew and take care of the home. Alcott drew on her experiences, as well as those of her sisters Anna and Elizabeth, to write Little Women, which she wrote in two months. The book was so very well received that fans asked the publisher for more stories about the March sisters – Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy. Alcott never married, took care of her aged parents, as well as adopted her sister Anna’s son and was also legal guardian of her sister May’s daughter.
Alcott was exposed to great writers such as Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Margaret Fuller – all were her mentors. As a child, she went on nature walks with Thoreau. And she borrowed books from Emerson, and wrote short stories for his children.
To get the most from this Little Woman SummaReview, after you have read it, answer the following questions:
- Is this a book you’d like to read for yourself? Why? Why not?
- What has made an impression on you while reading?
- Which character is most like you?
- Were there any kernels of wisdom in this reading?
- What are five takeaways from the SummaReview?
- What is one action that you can take as a result of reading this SummaReview?
The Novel, Little Women
While reading Little Women there were many times I felt like the book glorified poverty too much. However, the flawed characters balanced the story, and made them endearing because readers will find traits in one of the sisters that they can see in themselves. There is a lot of reference to The Pilgrim’s Progress, which I have never read, but research uncovered this, “In writing Little Women, Alcott alluded overtly in numerous instances to John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress (published in two parts in 1678 and 1684), a Christian allegory that was among her father Bronson Alcott’s favorite stories and one of the most well-known texts of the nineteenth century.”
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott is divided into two parts. In Part I the “little women” are growing up and in Part II they are adults. The story is set during the American Civil War and when it starts, Mr March is away at the war and funds are limited. It’s just before Christmas and the girls are lamenting about not having a lot of money to spend on Christmas presents. From the outset the reader gets insights into the personalities of Margaret (Meg) aged 16, Josephine (Jo) aged 15, Elizabeth (Beth) aged 13, and Amy aged 12.
On Christmas Day each of the four girls receives a book, different colours as a gift from Marmee (Mrs March). It’s not quite clear if the books are journals or copies of The Pilgrim’s Progress. The girls are taught to be selfless by their parents, and on Christmas Day their mother asks them to sacrifice their breakfast so that it be given to a family in need. Later, they perform The Witch’s Curse, an Operatic Tragedy. The girls get a welcome surprise when their wealthy neighbour, Mr Laurence gives them ice cream, cake and fruit, and French bonbons.
A neighbour, Mrs. Gardiner, invites Meg and Jo to her house for a New Year’s Eve party. The girls do not have new clothes so they have to make do with what they have. While curling Meg’s hair, Jo accidentally burns the ends. At the party, they meet Laurie, Mr Laurence’s grandson. Jo and Laurie hang out at the party and it’s the beginning of a long friendship. Laurie is an orphan who now lives with his grandfather.
We learn that Mr March lost his property while trying to help an unfortunate friend resulting in his two eldest daughters having to work. Meg works as a governess teaching small children and Jo acts as a companion to her elderly Aunt March. Meg takes Amy under her wings while Jo does the same for Beth, and both pairs of sisters develop a strong bond. The March family is a closely knit one and they take time each evening to check in with each other to see how their day went.
Because of this kind of relationship, Jo feels sorry for Laurie who is always by himself and leads a very sheltered life. She marches over to his home and at the time, he was ill, so she reads to him and visits for hours. Laurie is welcome into the March family and they do a lot of things together. It’s not always smooth sailing and the girls are not angels. Amy burns a book that Jo is working on because her sister refuses to let her attend The Seven Castles of the Diamond Lake. A rift develops between the sisters and Jo refuses to forgive Amy. It takes a near tragic event for Jo to forgive her sister. Marmee talks to them about their hot tempers and Jo promises to work on taming hers.
The “little women” in Alcott’s book choose their destinies. When they are young Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy describe what they dream for themselves as adults when they describe their castles in the air. Meg chooses marriage, children and a lovely home; Beth describes a life at home with her parents, taking care of the family; Amy chooses to be “go to Rome, do fine pictures be the best artist in the whole world” (151 -152); and Jo exclaims, “I’d have a stable full of Arabian steeds, rooms piled with books, and I’d write out of a magic inkstand, so that my works should be as famous as Laurie’s music” (152). Laurie describes a life of travel, “After I’d seen as much of the world as I want to, I’d like to settle in Germany and have just as much music as I choose. I’m to be a famous musician myself, and all creation is to rush to hear me; and I’m never to be bothered about money or business, but just enjoy myself and live for what I like.”
Meg is invited by the Moffats, a wealthy family, to spend a fortnight with them. For a short time, Meg forgets about who she is and what her values are when she allows the Moffat to dress her up for a ball and be on display. But this is very human because most of us want to have beautiful things, and we want to be admired.
At one point, the March girls decide they want to be lazy so they take a week off and the house is in disarray. They quickly learn that for things to go smoothly they have to be consistent. The girls are very inventive and know how to keep themselves occupied. They have the Pickwick Club, a literary club, and the Busy Bee Society, which they allow Laurie to join.
When the family receives news that their father is seriously ill, Jo cuts off her hair for $25 to help offset the cost for her mother to travel to nurse her husband back to health. While the mother is away the girls are not as selfless as they are taught to be, except for Beth who is the only one who visits the Hummels a family in need. She discovers that the baby is quite ill, and babysits to give an older sister respite from the task. The baby dies and the doctor diagnoses that it’s from scarlet fever. Beth contracts the disease, which almost kills her. Though she recovers, the illness weakens her system and a few years later she would succumb to it.
When the girls grow up, Meg marries Laurie’s tutor, Mr Brooke, and has twins. She quickly learns that married life is not as idyllic and peaceful as she imagined – it’s filled with many ups and downs and couples have to work hard at the relationship. Jo is published and uses her $100 to send her mom and Beth to the seaside. They hope that Beth will regain her strength.
Laurie is in love with Jo who rejects him. Laurie is shattered and travels to Europe with his grandfather. He becomes lazy and forgets his dreams, living a life of an idle rich man. Amy gets the opportunity to travel across Europe and she learns that she doesn’t have what it takes to be a successful artist. Laurie visits Amy in Europe and she observes his laziness and calls him on it. She is very critical of him, and friends are supposed to say something when you are not behaving appropriately. You see a friendship blossoming into love and Laurie transfers the kind of love he has for Jo to Amy and vice versa.
It’s heartrending for the reader when they learn that Beth is dying, though she is at peace with it. Her father prepares her for death and Beth asks Jo to always take care of the family. Jo is devastated by Beth’s death and her parents try to comfort her. Her mother suggests that she starts writing again. Jo eventually finds love and still takes care of the family. Aunt March dies and leaves Plumfield, her home, to Jo who transforms it into a home where she and her husband, the Professor Bhaer teach boys – both rich and poor – so they grow up in a loving and caring environment. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott is a coming of age story, and although it was written close to 150 years ago, many of its lessons are timeless. Little Women changed me, and made me question some of the choices I have made in life.
I recommend Little Women by Louisa May Alcott because it’s a book that will touch your heart. In addition, it was a groundbreaking book at the time because the girls grew up and pursued their own paths in life, not merely what society expected of them. Please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right hand side) by email or RSS Feed.
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Further Reading
Ralph Waldo Emerson, American Essayist, Poet and Lecturer
Review – The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott – Radio Show
Little Women (1933) – Trailer, Click here to view video. Uploaded by TheMovieSceneUK on Nov 22, 2010
Why You Must Read Broadly – Tip 4
Reading broadly introduces diversity into your life.
Have you ever read an intriguing article and wondered how the writer came up with the idea? Have you ever read a book that connects two very different subject matters in a unique way? Have you ever transported one idea from one industry to another to resolve a pesky challenge? Have you ever read something that was so incredulous or even whimsical that it gave you the courage to try to do something that once seemed impossible?
Reading broadly introduces diverse types of information into your life. It helps you to become bolder in your work and life.
A few months ago, I read the article, Cosmetics: High-tech Meets Emotion, and although it makes perfect sense that technology would play a role today in making cosmetics, it’s not something that I had ever given much thought to. The article is insightful and made me immediately think about making it a habit to read a variety of book genres. It reminded me to read articles on subjects that I usually do not pay attention to.
When I learned about Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Representative Men: Seven Lectures, I immediately thought that Emerson must have read broadly to be able to choose six men who he thought were great – he gave two lectures on Plato. His representative men include Plato, Swedenborg, Montaigne, Shakespeare, Napoleon and Goethe. Why did Emerson choose those six men? What was it about the six men that left such an impression on him that he considered them to be great? The six men were very different, how did Emerson first learn about them?
Several months later, I came across Superwomen
Author Albert Payson Tehune (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
And the people that Emerson and Terhune chose are very different, which suggests diversity in what they read. I plan to read both Representative Men: Seven Lectures and Superwomen. I also plan to continue to expand my reading menu, with the hope that some day, I too will be able to create a body of work that is diverse and innovative, which is a symbol of the depth and breadth of the books and materials that I read.
How about you? Are you willing to expand the type of books and materials you read? If you are in business, what would happen if each week you read a science article from Magatopia.com or Magportal.com?
Do you agree or disagree that reading introduces more diversity into your life? Why? Why not? Please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right hand side) by email or RSS Feed.
Book links are affiliate links.
Related articles
- Why You Must Read Broadly – Tip 1 (theinvisiblementor.com)
Mentor Yourself: Profile of Wisdom – Thomas Carlyle, British Historian, Essayist and Leading Social Critic of Victorian England
Mentor Yourself: Thomas Carlyle, British Historian, Essayist and Leading Social Critic of Victorian England
“Thomas Carlyle, the nineteenth-century British historian and essayist believed that leaders shape and determine history…. was convinced that “history is the biography of great men,” the greatest of them being kings. The very word king, Carlyle contended, derives from the ancient word Can-ning, which means “Able-man” (although his etymology can be disputed). In Carlyle’s view, the Ablemen (and Ablewomen) of the human species direct the course of history and determine humanity’s destiny.” New Dictionary of the History of Ideas
Thomas Carlyle (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Name: Thomas Carlyle
Birth Date: December 1795 – February 1881
Job Functions: Historian, Essayist
Fields: History and Literature
To get the most from The Invisible Mentor Profiles, while you are reading it, answer the following questions:
- Are their similarities between Thomas Carlyle and yourself?
- What are your five takeaways from the profile?
- When you think of the Thomas Carlyle, what thoughts immediately come to mind?
- In what ways can you use the information in your work and life?
- Look at the process you use to get your job done, think of ways to improve the process and make it more efficient. Is there a way to eliminate a step or combine steps? Also, is there a way to do your work in a more cost-efficient manner?
- After reading the profile of Thomas Carlyle, what is one concrete action you can take?
Biography
British Historian, Essayist and Leading Social Critic of Victorian England, Thomas Carlyle was born close to the end of the 18th century in Scotland. His father was a staunch Calvinist. Thomas attended Annan Grammar school and later Edinburgh University in 1809 where he distinguished himself in mathematics. He was also a voracious reader. It was Thomas’ intention to enter ministry, but he changed his mind because he lost his faith while attending university, and first worked as a mathematics schoolteacher until he began a literary career as a freelance journalist. In 1817, a reading of Edward Gibbon precipitated Carlyle’s rejection of the Bible.
Madame de Staël’s Germany, Volume 1…
In 1823 – 1824, Thomas published a Life of Schiller (Complete Works of Thomas Carlyle: The Life of Friedrich Schiller, Comprehending an Examination of His Works
While in Edinburgh and Craigenputtock, Carlyle wrote a series of distinguished essays for the Edinburgh Review and the Foreign Review, which were compiled and published as Miscellaneous and Critical Essays (Critical and miscellaneous essays, collected and republished. Vol. IV
While living at the Craigenputtock farm, Carlyle began a lifelong friendship with the American essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson. Sartor Resartus was published in book form in Boston in 1836, with a preface by Ralph Waldo Emerson, influencing the development of New England Transcendentalism. The first English edition of the book followed in 1838.
In 1834, Carlyle and Jane moved to Chelsea, London where he acquired the name, “Sage of Chelsea.” In London, he became a member of a literary circle which included essayists Leigh Hunt and John Stuart Mill. Writing Sartor Resartus had matured Carlyle as a writer, so he decided to graduate to much longer works. He started to study the French Revolution and Mills encouraged him, by giving Carlyle his own notes on the subject. The French Revolution published in 1837, cemented Carlyle on the literary map. Instead of writing a factual account of the French Revolution like most historical writing, Carlyle immersed himself in the subject, capturing the spirit and focusing on the drama of the event – he highlighted personalities and circumstances. He was able to animate history.
After the publication of The French Revolution
Carlyle gained acclaim and his popularity led him to give several series of lectures on German literature, the history of literature, modern European revolutions, and finally, and most significantly, on heroes and hero worship. In 1841, Carlyle published these lectures, On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and The Heroic in History
On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History celebrates eleven disparate figures grouped into six categories:
- “The hero as divinity (Odin)
- The hero as prophet (Mahomet [Mohammed] Muh ammad)
- The hero as poet (Dante, Shakespeare)
- The hero as priest (Martin Luther, John Knox)
- The hero as man of letters (Samuel Johnson, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Robert Burns)
- The hero as king (Oliver Cromwell, Napoleon).”
On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in Literature also led to two larger projects later in his career: Oliver Cromwell and Fredrick the Great. In 1845, Carlyle published, Oliver Cromwell’s Letters and Speeches (Oliver Cromwell’s Letters and Speeches, with Elucidations by Thomas Carlyle: Volume 1
Carlyle was elected as Rector of Edinburgh University the in 1865, the same year his wife Jane died. Between 1866 and 1869, Carlyle headed a committee that defended Governor Edward John Eyre of Jamaica – who had suppressed a rebellion of plantation workers in Morant Bay, allowing at least 439 people to be killed retributively – in a fierce public debate. This debate pitted Carlyle and his colleagues Charles Dickens, John Ruskin, and Alfred Tennyson against Charles Darwin, T. H. Huxley, and Herbert Spencer.
Thomas Carlyle influenced a number of his younger contemporaries such as Alfred Tennyson, Robert Browning, Charles Kingsley, John Ruskin, and James Froude. He also influenced later Victorian writers. “His impact is present in Benjamin Disraeli’s Sybil, or the Two Nations
Thomas Carlyle’s Steps to Success
- Believed in and practiced continuous learning.
- Kept on writing and created a substantial body of work.
- Had a support network.
Why Thomas Carlyle’s Contribution Matters
Thomas Carlyle not only left us a body of work to enjoy, but he also influenced some of the writers we love dearly, such as Benjamin Disraeli, Charles Dickens, John Ruskin and Alfred Tennyson.
Works Cited/Referenced
New Dictionary of the History of Ideas
Encyclopedia of World Biography
Encyclopedia of Religion
Encyclopedia of European Social History
Europe 1789 to 1914
American History Through Literature, 1820 – 1870
Encyclopedia of Philosophy
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How to Fill the Information Gap
Is there a subject that you have to learn that is quite dull? There are many ways to fill the information gap if you get creative enough. Take me for instance, I do not like history and it has never been one of my favourite subjects, but more and more, I am feeling the information gap and the need to fill it. See Part Two and Part Three of How to Fill the Information Gap series.
There are many people who I wanted to learn more about, many were historical figures and well known, and others were not so well known. The well known figures, I knew their claim to fame but not much else. No one wants others to know, that they are ignorant about anything, myself included. No one wants to ask the “dumb” questions. I decided to educate myself by creating Wisdom of Life Profiles which took on a life of its own. I started off researching people who I was interested in learning more about.
In addition, I learned about people to profile who are mentioned in some of the books that I read. For instance, while reading books from the Rogue Angel series, Alex Archer (pen name) always scatters interesting tidbits about people like Boudica, Joan of Arc, and Frederic Auguste Bartholdi (sculpted the Statue of Liberty). When I researched these people, history unfolded before my eyes. As I read Faye Kellerman’s Hangman: A Decker/Lazarus Novel, I learned about Russian musician Sergei Rachmaninoff who fled from Russia and lost everything during the Bolshevik Revolution. Rachmaninoff was a great pianist and composer who I didn’t know about until I read that novel.
When I researched Ralph Waldo Emerson, I learned that he was against the Fugitive Slave Act and refused to obey it because he felt all people were equal. I also learned about biographer and historian Thomas Carlyle who was a friend of Emerson. What makes learning history this way interesting, is that I am seeing it through the eyes of people I am interested in so I’m likely to remember what I read.
Think of ways to bring a dry subject to life. Is there someone who you respect, who has written about that subject? Are there children’s books on the subject? How about videos or films? What about comics and graphic novels on the subject? For me, I found a starting point, and then I delved into the subject. Tomorrow we’ll review A Short History of the World by J. Milnor Dorey.
How can you use this information? What do you have to add to the conversation? Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right hand side) by email or RSS Feed.
Related Articles
The Precursor to How to Master a Subject
How to Master a Subject
How to Fill the Information Gap Part Two
How to Fill the Information Gap (when you don’t know there is a gap) Part Three
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Posted in Article, How-to, Professional Development, Profiles of Wise People, Self-improvement | 
Tags: A Short History of the World, Alex Archer, Emerson, Faye Kellerman, Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, How to learn a dull subject, learning history, Rachmaninoff, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Rogue Angel, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Thomas Carlyle | 
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The Invisible Mentor Week in Review
Image via Wikipedia
This is what we talked about on The Invisible Mentor Blog this week: The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë, Ralph Waldo Emerson, American Essayist, Poet and Lecturer and Interview with Tina Brillinger.
Mondays at the Salon
In “The Secrets of Creative Problem Solving” Otto Schmidt presents a simple methodology for problem solving, which beautifully ties in with Graham Wallas’ Creativity Model.
The Secrets of Creative Problem Solving
Booked on Tuesdays
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë is an early feminist work. It is an important work because it was written in the Victorian age, and for a woman to defend another’s right to leave a disastrous marriage was quite novel and courageous.
Review: The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë
Wisdom Wednesdays
Ralph Waldo Emerson was a leader in the transcendentalist movement. He was a voracious reader, digesting works of Zoroaster, Confucius, Muhammad, the Neoplatonists, Jakob Boehme, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Baron de Montesquieu, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Edmund Burke, the Scottish philosophers, Emanuel Swedenborg, Johann Gottfried Herder, and Madame de Staël.
Ralph Waldo Emerson, American Essayist, Poet and Lecturer
Perspective Thursdays and Workshop Fridays
This week we featured Tina Brillinger, an online publisher of food safety resources. Brillinger has had some interesting experiences which she has generously shared with us. She agrees with the expression, “The world is your oyster,” which means that opportunities are everywhere waiting for us to explore them. Here are Part One and Part Two of Tina Brillinger’s interview.
How can you use this information? What do you have to add to the conversation? Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right hand side) by email or RSS Feed.
Or use email.
