Tag Archives: Little Women

Illness in 19th Century Lit

By Robin Bates | Published: March 24, 2020

19th century literature is filled with images of illness. Reading it should make us grateful to the advances in medical science.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Bleak House, Charles Dickens, Charlotte Bronte, Elizabeth Gaskell, epidemics, fathers and sons, Francis Hodgson Burnett, George Eliot, Illness, Ivan Turgenev, Jane Eyre, Louisa May Alcott, Middlemarch, North and South, pandemics, Secret Garden | Comments closed

Pakistani Girl Saved by “Little Women”

By Robin Bates | Published: July 30, 2019

Wednesday NPR has done it again. Ira Glass’s recent This American Life episode about a classic novel coming to someone’s rescue reminds me of Morning Edition’s account of Anna Karenina doing the same for an unjustly imprisoned Somali prisoner. (See my account here.) The radio program reported on how Little Women came to the aid […]

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Feminism, Louisa May Alcott, Pakistani women, patriarchy | Comments closed

Child Heroines Who Die for Our Sins

By Robin Bates | Published: November 2, 2015

The child heroine who dies, a common trope in the 19th century, continues to fascinate us, appearing in “Bridge to Tarabithia” and “The Fault Is in Our Stars.” One of my students has this as a senior project topic.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Annabel Lee", Bridge to Tarabithia, Charles Dickens, Charlotte Bronte, Children, death and dying, Edgar Allan Poe, Feminism, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Jane Eyre, Katherine Paterson, Louisa Mae Alcott, Old Curiosity Shop, Uncle Tom's Cabin | Comments closed

Lit’s 10 Most Painful Marriage Proposals

By Robin Bates | Published: November 21, 2013

Literature 10 most painful marriage proposals.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Beggar's Opera, Charlotte Bronte, Daniel Defoe, Far from the Madding Crowd, Geoffrey Chaucer, Importance of Being Earnest, Jane Austen, Jane Eyre, John Gay, Louisa May Alcott, Marriage, marriage proposals, Moll Flanders, Oscar Wilde, Pride and Prejudice, Thomas Hardy, Wife of Bath | Comments closed

Lit’s 10 Strongest Female Characters

By Robin Bates | Published: September 9, 2013

Who are literature’s ten strongest female characters? Here’s my list.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged As You Like It, Charlotte Bronte, Daneil Defoe, Doll's House, Geoffrey Chaucer, Henrik Ibsen, Henry James, Jane Austen, Jane Eyre, Louisa May Alcott, Mansfield Park, Moll Flanders, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Portrait of a Lady, Scarlet Letter, Wife of Bath, William Shakespeare | Comments closed

Sadness over Little Women, 12th Night

By Robin Bates | Published: May 19, 2010

Although reading and grading student essays is the most demanding aspect of my job—I graded around 535 formal and informal essays this past semester, as well as reading another 100 essay proposals and early drafts—it can also be the most rewarding. That’s because I will regularly see students working through major life issues at the […]

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged 12th Night, Education, Feminism, Louisa Mae Alcott, Marriage, William Shakespeare | Comments closed