Abstract

Little Women, based on a little town in New England in the later period of 19th century, reflects the social change and cultural transmission. This novel concerns the lives and loves of four sisters growing up during the American Civil War. To pursue self-independence and freedom seems the most important theme in this novel, which can be seen from four sisters’ different degrees of appetite of music. Louis May Alcott illustrated this great theme in the book known to everyone---Little Women. This paper mainly discusses the early feminism in America in 19th century reflected in the novel with regard to music by discussing the March sisters’ different talents of music and awareness of women’s independence in Little Women.

Key Words: feminism, independence, music, conventional stereotype

摘 要

露易莎•梅•奥尔科特的《小妇人》以19世纪中叶美国内战时期的新英格兰小镇为背景，生动地体现出美国社会的变迁和文化传承。这本小说被归为家庭日记小说，但我们不可忽视小说中所展现的女性主义的萌芽。本文通过分析马奇四姐妹对音乐的喜爱程度与她们对独立自主的向往，意在指出越是对音乐痴迷的女性，所拥有的独立自主意识就越弱；反之，音乐天赋越弱的女性，所拥有的独立自主意识就越强，从而展示出《小妇人》一书中与众不同的新女性主义。

关键词：女性主义；独立自主；音乐；传统陈规

1. Introduction
Louisa May Alcott, a famous woman writer in the 19th century in America, wrote Little Women in 1868. The novel, a representative of early feminism, has touched female readers to the heart. It is based on Alcott's own experiences in Concord, Massachusetts with her three sisters, Anna, May, and Elizabeth. Like a story teller, she presents us a peaceful scene of a family life and development of the March sisters during the Civil War.
At the beginning of the novel’s publishing, her novel was studied only by the scholars of children's literature with love and kindness until the 1960s and 1970s. At the same time, conventional stereotype reflected in the novel was the main praise. When it came under closer scrutiny, feminist critics put the new emphasis on expanding the standard to include marginalized writers and works associated with popular culture, which brought more attention to Little Women in the 1980s. Afterwards, not only scholars but also readers began to pay attention to the non-conventional theme of the novel. Absolutely, early awareness of women's independence is the non-conventional theme. Though this novel can be analyzed from various perspectives, this paper mainly focuses on discussing the non-conventional theme with regard to music.