Education Values in Little Men - Book Report/Review Example

Hana AL Nassir Paper Amano English 102 10/11 Education Values in Little Men Louisa May Alcott is an American She was born in Germantown, Pennsylvania in the year 1832. Alcott was educated by her father Bronson Alcott even though he did not care about his family. The most important thing he did to them was to provide them with the required knowledge by sending them to school. Alcott moved from Germantown to New England where she stayed for the rest of her life. She was a very active feminist and abolitionist. Alcott spent most of her time writing even though she also worked as a teacher. She published most of her short stories in several novels but in various periods. The most famous work she published was the Little Women. It talked about a story on the lives of the March sisters. Her main character, who was Jo March, was based on her own life experiences. Flower Fables is her first book that was published in 1854. The book was an accumulation of stories written to entertain Alcott’s friend, Emerson, daughter. Before she became a famous writer, she also worked as a servant and Seamstress. Alcott was a Civil War nurse and all her letters to her family were published as Hospital Sketches in 1863. She became a well-known writer and famous when she published Little Women in 1868. After years of publishing her novel, she was later inspired to write the book Little Men (1871) when her two nephews became orphans. Good Wives of 1869 was initially the continuation to the novel Little Women of 1868. Fortunately, the two novels were combined together and published as a single volume. The Little Men is one of the most well-known books for children, which was later turned into a movie. The book is mainly about the life of Bhaer and the students, young boys’ who live together and learn at the Plumfiled Estate School which she manages with her husband. The children learn valuable lessons that help them grow into good gentlemen and ladies in then society. The characters mainly teach the readers how real friendship should always be. Louisa May Alcott tries to make the school a place where the boys can learn different lessons from the real life experiences. Besides crossing the gender in Little Men, Alcott believed that children can learn better from the interaction with friends and being cooperated with others, than learning from the text books; therefore, Alcott encourages her readers to see the benefits and value of education from the friendship and unity in her description in the book. Alcott describes the personality to each one of the boys starting with Nat, who is an orphan boy with an amazing ability to play the violin. She also described Dan, an orphan boy who knows too much about stealing and making troubles every time. On the other hand, she wrote that Billy is mentally slow while Daisy is a girl who loves and enjoys cooking. Demi was described as a character who loves to read books. Alcott therefore, tries to give her readers a clear vision of each character in order for them to understand how the unlike personalities of the boys, as they interact with each other in the same house, can help them to learn various values from one another. Alcott crosses the gender in Little Men by writing a school story about young boys. Alcott has a good understanding of the other gender psychology because she has an experience of rising boys even if she did not have children or marries; in fact, she took care of her nephews when they became orphans. Little Men is a complex and conflicting book because it revolves around adulthood, childhood, boys and girls. For example, the school hosts more the ten boys and two girls with Mrs. Jo and Mr. Jo living in the same home and interacts with each other daily. Alcott also included the handicapped people, especially Billy, whom she described to be mentally slow also lived in the same home. The environment of the school compound therefore consisted of various categories and types of individuals living together and interacting with one another. Billy Ward was described to be “innocent,” for though he was thirteen years old, he was like a child of six (Alcott. p 27). This mix of personalities show how it is hard to get along with all these different people living in the same house, however, Alcott wants to convince her readers how these different personalities can have a good effect on each child. The author Claudia Mills talked about how Louisa May Alcott in her novel Little Men described to the readers how the mental disability is positive and that she could undermine the effects of being a disabled person. The mentally ill person can find the happiness even if he/she is sick. For instance, she described in the book how Billy felt the happiness quietly, he enjoy his life different from other. He can make himself very happy that other healthy boys may find it worthless enjoyment. “Billy was delighted with his crop; and no one spoiled his pleasure in the little miracle which pity wrought for him, by making withered branches bear strange fruit” (Alcott. 269). In this section, Alcott tried to convince her audience that mental disability is something that we should not run away from or despise since it is very easy to deal with. Little Men is also a book that talks about the domestic feminism. For example, Mrs. Jo is the main principle for the Estate School. She is the one who guides the boys to the correct way of happy life while her husband helps her by teaching the students academically. From the first page of the book, the readers get an expression that the principle of the School is a women not a man. For example, when Nat first came to the school, he asked about the lady to give her a letter “All right; go up to the house, and give it to her; she’ll see to you, little chap” (p 7.Alcott). Alcott did this because she wanted to instill sense in people’s heads that women can teach and make students become very successful people in the community. She tries to convince the readers that Mrs. Jo being the principle, can teach the boys and help them to be successful. In addition, she also tries to explain that women can also do what men can do and do it better. Alcott therefore made Mrs. Jo the principle so as to teach her readers that women also play a vital role in the community and can enhance the development of their communities the same way as men. The most important work of the teachers at the Plumfield Estate School is to encourage the boys’ to work hard in their schoolwork and try to acquire good and accepted values that would help them grow into gentlemen and ladies. They encourage everyone to do what he likes. Alcott has the view the one can be a successful person if he or she does something he or she loves. For example, Nat who is a student at the Estate School has the miracle ability to play the violin. Nat therefore loves to play violin and enjoys the game. Mother Bhaer helps him by encouraging him to practice and play the violin everyday in school and perform for them every Sunday. Bhaer also encourages the other students to do what they like doing in order to get the best results out of it. For instance, Franz helped in the teaching, and was paid for it. “(Alcott. p.53). Therefore, encouragement in Bhaer’s school is an effective lesson to lead the children to correct way of life. This novel is filled with many of Christian morals that Mrs. Jo teaches her students. The book is presented in its full text and is simplified for easier reading. The stories are unique and have been carefully critiqued and selected for the quality of Christian content in it, the ability to unite a family together and the value of the message it contains. For example, Mrs. Joe tried to make Sundays a different day from any day. She teaches and encourages the boys to love Sundays and enjoy their time in the day. Mrs. Jo encourages the boys to be honest as she asked them to write every wrong they did. “I want my boys to love Sunday, to find it a peaceful, pleasant day, when they can rest from common study and play, yet enjoy quiet pleasure, and learn in simple ways, lessons more important than what they are taught in school” (Alcott. pg32). Alcott takes the teaching direction from her father’s experiences as a teacher. This explains why Alcott successfully wrote Little Men due to the good relationship she had with her father. Alcott style of teaching seems to be very different from other schools in the 19th century because she tried to teach her children from the real life experiences other than directly from the text book as schools did. The Cooperation is one of the lessons that the Estate School at Plumfiled focuses on in order to teach her children. Mrs. Bhaer tries to teach the boys how to help each other. She sees that being a cooperated person can make one become a better person in the future. It also helps one to become an important person in the society. For example, mother Bhaer gives each one of the boys a work in agriculture in order to make a beautiful garden that every one participated in. this was one of the ways she used to bring the children together and help them love themselves as they learn the moral values. She tries to teach them that cooperation work can built a strong relationship between them. Alcott turned the school into a family and the family to a school. “My child, you have got a father and a mother, and his home (Alcott. pg18) did different lane of education. It is an odd school that Alcott writes about in Little Men. It is a private school for boys with some girls living together and shares the experiences of life beside each other. According to Clark, Beverly Lyon, the author of the article "Domesticating The School Story, Retendering A Genre: Alcotts Little Men’, in the 19th Century, the boys schools were separate from girls, so when Alcott write this school-story and included two girls in boys school make a huge different and revolution in schools direction. In short, Louisa May Alcott is one of the famous writers who made a special sign in children’s literature. In Little Men, Alcott tries to show to the readers the advantages of good friendship. Little Men is a story of education, friendship, moral values, and love. “This place is made for all sorts of stories of education, friendship, moral values, and love. “This place is made for all sorts of boys to have a good time in, and to learn how to help themselves and be useful men “p18. Alcott”. Louisa May Alcott gives her readers a different look to the meaning of being successful and happy people by proving that getting a certificate from school is not the only way to have a good life. However, having good friends, helping others, enjoying and exploring, is the main way to find happiness. In the work, Alcott mixed her peerless naturalistic writing style including Christian world-view. The novel exalts the unorthodox methods of childhood creativity, teaching, and self realization through moral examples done practically. Alcott mainly needed persuasion in her writing work since she struggled writing for children as she was unsure of her work and slogged along with slight hope of success. She gained confidence in writing after realizing that people liked the novel, Little Women. From here she published the Little Men, a novel that touches various moral Christian values. Alcott explained that Jo, the main character in Little Women, is now a grown up and is married. The couples are the masters at Plumfield School where the students also board. They teach the students good manners that would help them be responsible people in adulthood. The novel starts with an introduction of a newcomer student, Nat whose father died. Due to their view of Christian charity, the Bhaers took the young orphans and educated them in their school. Most students at Plumfield Estate School are male with few girls including Daisy and the wilder Nan. This mixing of student contradicted the way of learning in the 19th century since boys were not mixed with girls. They both had separate schools. Alcott seemed to be so modern in his work by mixing both boy and girls in the same school even though the majority was boys. The majority number of boys led to the decision of the book’s title, Little Men. Nat’s street friend, Dan is introduced towards a third way through the novel. Dan is viewed to be out of control and therefore, requires tough love in order to bring him into the right direction using the Bhaer’s Christian values. Due to his mischievous behavior, Dan was sent to another school where he became even more disruptive and later he ran off. He later returned to Plumfield after getting his foot injured. He was taught important lessons that transformed him into a better person. Dan managed to get through his pride and participated as a contributing member of the community. This mainly resulted due to Jo and her husband’s faith in Christian principles. This novel is a book that revolves much around Christian morals. The couples find it easier to teach these morals because they practice what they preach. For instance, when Nat misbehaves, Professor Bhaer makes him strike himself with a cane. This would definitely make the boy feel how much it pains the Bhaers when he misbehaves. This scene makes Nat to feel that the punishment is absolutely excruciating. These methods used by Bhaer are seen to be psychologically effective by making deep inroads into Nat’s understanding of morals and finally reforming his bad manners. According to Mrs. Jo Bhaer, she believes that the children could be helped best by encouraging them in their creativity and treating them with respect as young adults. The Childlike whimsies are also indulged because they can lead to serious avenues of study and investigation. She therefore approves the weekly pillow fight, since she could notice the advantages of play. These styles make the novel to seem quite modern and progressive in the approach of teaching compared to the way of teaching in the 19th century. In the novel, children come to realize the value of self discipline and virtue through constant examples they get from their teachers, the Bhaers. The most interesting thing is that discipline was not enforced to the children authoritatively but through learning in organic way about the right and wrong hence comprehending and absorbing the lessons deeply. This is because they observe the rewards or benefits of exemplary behavior when acted out in practical ways and adopt them as their own. Little Men is a novel that is completely self-contained on its own. The main triumph of the book is Alcott’s employment of naturalistic style with her view of Christian world. This makes the novel a book of great authenticity. The Plumfield Estate School is school that brings up students in a good manner and helps them grow into adulthood as both boys and girls keep on the right track by carefully and responsibly following the given instructions. The novel is closely related to farming practice as the farmer normally doesn’t produce the harvest alone. He only does the cultivation, sowing the seed, tending crops and harvesting labor. In the same way, a teacher does not literally teach as a farmer produces fruits, since he also needs another form of power for the students to complete the teaching and learning process. For instance, a teacher needs to prepare a proper environment, broadcast, tend the children and uproot weeds hoping for a fruitful harvest. In this manner, the image of a teacher is seen as a sowing farmer while students as the fruits. This book mainly explains the values of education as it explains the life of the boys and how they slowly transformed into good mannered boys. It gives the real meaning of education and the benefits of uniting together. It explains how the boys are brought up and how joy prevails among them as well as faults, troubles and happiness as they learn good morals. It also describes coming together, sharing, and loving one another helped the students in their learning process. The fruits of education can be seen in this novel as students with bad behavior transform into gentlemen and contribute in the school’s community work. Alcott’s article does not only talk about the story of Jo and her husband but also shows various educational ideas that her father never communicated clearly in writing. The book portrays the nineteenth-century American family life as it depicts a secure and placid world where a home serves as a place or center for religious and moral education. The prevailing view of the nineteenth century in most authors is that people should submit to misfortunes as form of obedience to the will of God and because maybe the misfortunes were intended for one’s own good. Alcott’s elaborates in this point depending on how he described Billy’s disability and how he reacted towards it. She also tried to show how the children were directed to the best way of life through lessons of Christian moral values that would help them learn to respect God. In addition, by making Mrs. Jo the principle, Alcott definitely tried to explain how education transformation took place from the 19th century because men were popularly known for such posts. Moreover, she also explained that a school should be like a family and therefore the students should have good relationship by helping each other and simply uniting as a family. Alcott explained this by making a learning environment to be a home where both teachers and students live together as a family while interacting with each other. This form of schooling encourages unity, love, sharing and it also increases the level of students understanding as they practice what they learn in class daily. This clearly shows the reform of schooling in the 19th century. Work cited Lousia May. Little Men. Publisher Signet Classics. Alcott, Louisa. Little Men. New York: Penguin Group, 1871.Print. "Louisa May Alcott." Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6Th Edition (2011): 1. Academic Search Complete. . Web. 17 Sept. 2012. "Louisa May Alcotts Little Men." Human Events 54.20 (1998): 18. Academic Search Complete. Web. 17 Sept. 2012. Mills, Claudia. "The Portrayal Of Mental Disability In Childrens Literature: An Ethical Appraisal." Horn Book Magazine 78.5 (2002): 531-542. Academic Search Complete. Web. 17 Sept. 2012. Lombardo, Cindy. “Little Men. “School Library Journal 56.7(2010):46.Acadmic Search Complete. Web.14Sep.2012. Friedell, Deborah. "The Vortex." New Republic 232.18 (2005): 42-45.Academic Search Complete. Web. 24 Sept. 2012. Clark, Beverly Lyon. "Domesticating The School Story, Regendering A Genre: Alcotts Little Men." New Literary History 26.2 (1995): 323. Academic Search Complete. Web. 24 Sept. 2012. Read More