Abstract:Louisa May Alcott is a famous American woman writer growing up among transcendentalists. Many of her novels reflect the life of early settlers of New England. Little Women, her masterpiece, is the most popular novel and has a lasting effect on American.
This thesis attempts to re-interpret the characters in Little Women from the perspective of transcendentalism. Transcendentalism propagates the spiritual unity of man, God and nature. It emphasizes the importance of spiritual life, individual strength and self-reliance. All of these doctrines can be found in March sisters’ personalities as well as their growth. March sisters, with different personalities, give priority to their spiritual world, so in the process of growing up, they continuously improve themselves and become self-reliant. Many readers are deeply attracted by their unique personality charm. So transcendentalism has been fully reflected in March sisters’ spiritual pilgrimage.
The thesis consists the following four parts. Part one is the introduction to Louisa May Alcott’s life and the novel. Part two mainly deals with the ideas and development of transcendentalism and Louisa May Alcott’s view of transcendentalism. Part three chiefly focuses on the analysis of transcendentalism reflected in March sisters’ pilgrimage especially about how they overcome vanity, and shyness to be self-reliant, kind and optimistic women. Part four is the conclusion of the thesis.
Keywords: Little Women; Louisa May Alcott; transcendentalism; individualism
摘要:路易莎·梅.·奥尔科是一位在超验主义思想下长大的美国著名女作家。她的很多小说反映了新英格兰早期的移民生活。作为这方面的杰出代表作——《小妇人》是一部深受读者喜爱且具有广大影响力的长篇小说。
本文试图从超验主义的角度深入分析小妇人中的人物。超验主义宣扬人、神、自然的精神统一，强调精神力量、自我和自助的重要。这些思想都在马奇姐妹的性格和成长经历中有所体现。马奇姐妹性格迥异，但却都注重自己的精神世界，她们在成长过程中不断完善，体现出自助和自我的精神。她们独特的人格魅力得到了广大读者的喜爱。超验主义在马奇四姐妹的精神之旅中得到的充分的体现。
本文共分为四个部分：第一部分是引言，主要介绍了路易莎·梅.·奥尔科的生平和文学生涯，并简要介绍《小妇人》的故事情节。第二部分着重介绍了超验主义的思想及其发展、影响以及奥尔科的超验主义思想。第三部分从超验主义的主要观点出发探讨了马奇姐妹的精神之旅，分析了她们如何克服了爱慕虚荣、腼腆、害羞等缺点，成长为自力、善良、乐观向上的女性的过程。第四部分是结论。
关键词：《小妇人》 ； 路易莎·梅.·奥尔科；超验主义；个人主义
