【正文】 nt: This paper discusses the importance of the Transcendentalism in Little Women and its influence on the minds of the four March daughters. Outline: Ⅰ .The Development of Transcendentalism A. The Connotation of Transcendentalism B. Some Important Comments on Transcendentalism Ⅱ .Transcendentalism in Little Women A. A Brief Look at the Plot of the Little Women B. The Reflection of Transcendentalism through the Characters in Little Women 1. Tomboyish Jo 2. Beautiful Meg 3. Fragile Beth 4. Romantic Amy 5. John Brooke 6. Laurence boy Ⅲ .The Influence of Transcendentalism in Little Women on the Future Literature Ⅳ .Conclusion 內(nèi)江師范學(xué)院本科畢業(yè)論文 3 A Transcendental Reading of Little Women Introduction Louisa May Alcott, the second daughter of Amos Bronson Alcott and Abigail “Abba” May was born in Germantown, Pennsy1vania on November 29, 1832. Her famous work, Little Women is a novel written and set in the Alcott family home, Orchard House, in Concord, Massachusetts. It was published in two parts in 1868 and 1869. The novel follows the lives of four sisters—Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy March—and is loosely based on the author39。s perspective of reading the novel. Transcendentalism promotes the unity of people, God, the spirit of natural, to emphasize the spirit of self and selfreliance. These ideas are reflected in the March sisters? growing up and character. March sisters have different personalities and talents, but they focus on their own spirit improvement and strongly maintain the selfreliance and selfindependent spirit. Transcendentalism gave the charisma to the March sisters and made the novel won the reader39。s Boys (1886). Little Women has been adapted to play, musical, opera, film, and animated feature. Some scholars have studied about images in Little Women. They lay particular emphasis on selfdependence and selfdiscipline in Little Women (許綺， 2021： 122). From the studies, we can find out that different personalities reflect different outlooks on value and life. The studies only describe what the female images in Little Women, while this thesis is to attempts to read this novel from the perspective of Transcendentalism, and try to tap the Transcendentalism embodied in thought, in order to broaden people39。s essays to be his favorite reading, dwelt upon the transcendentalists39。 and, a little vain of her white hands, longed at heart to be a fine lady. In her childhood, she hoped she could live sumptuous life. So she was so willing to go to Vanity Fair. And there was a chance to learn through party. Meg departed in style for a fortnight of novelty and pleasure. Mrs. March had consented to the visit rather reluctantly, fearing that Margaret would e back more discontented than she went. So Mrs. March agreed Meg to take her first taste of fashionable life. When Meg came back home she had told her adventures gaily and said over what a charming time she had had, but something still seemed to weigh upon her spirits, and sat thoughtfully staring at the fire, saying little and looking worried. Meg suddenly left her chair and taking Beth?s stool, leaned her elbows on her mother?s knee, saying 內(nèi)江師范學(xué)院本科畢業(yè)論文 13 bravely “Maumee, I want to ?ferns?.” “I thought so, what is it, dear?” (Little Women, 256) Then she told the various bits of gossip she had heard at the Moffat? Margaret sat thinking a moment while Jo stood with her hands behind her, looking both interested and a little perplexed, for it was a few thing to see Meg blushing and talking about admiration, lovers, and things of that sort。 secretly rebelling against it all the while, for it seemed unjust that her few joys should be lessened her burdens made heavier, and life get harder and harder as she toiled along. Some people seemed to get all sunshine, and some all shadow, it was not fair, for she tried more than Amy to be good, but never got any reward, only disappointment, trouble, and hard work. If she had been the heroine of a moral storybook, she ought at this period of her life to have bee quite saintly, renounced the world, and gone about doi ng well in a mortified bon, with tracts in her pocket. But, you see, Jo wasn?t a heroine, she was only a struggling human girl like hundreds of others and she just acted out her nature, 內(nèi)江師范學(xué)院本科畢業(yè)論文 12 being sad, corns, listless, or energetic, as the mood suggested. It?s highly virtuous to say we?ll be good, but we can?t do it all at once, and it takes a long pull, a strong pull, and a pull all together before some of us even get our feet set in the right way. Jo had to get so far, she was learning to do her duty, and to feel unhappy if she did not。s sake. One of his short stories, Never Bet the Devil Your Head, is a clear attack on transcendentalism, which the narrator calls a disease. The story specifically mentions the movement and its flagship journal The Dial, though Poe denied that he had any specific targets. Transcendentalists were strong believers in the power of the 內(nèi)江師范學(xué)院本科畢業(yè)論文 6 individual and divine messages. Their beliefs are closely linked with those of the Romantics. The movement directly influenced the growing movement of Mental Sciences of the mid 1800s which would later bee known as the New Thought movement. New Thought draws directly from the transcendentalists, particularly Emerson. New Thought considers Emerson its intellectual father. Emma Curtis Hopkins the teacher of teachers, Ernest Holmes, founder of Religious Science, The Fillmores, founders of Unity, and Malinda Cramer and Nona L. Brooks, the founders of Divine Science, were all greatly influenced by Transcendentalism. B. Some Important Comments on Transcendentalism Transcendentalism is an idealistic philosophy that in general emphasizes the spiritual over the material. By its very nature,