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    "They Talked as Industriously as They Worked": Reforming the Family and its Labor in Louisa May Alcott's Work: A Story of Experience

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    Isaac_ku_0099M_10321_DATA_1.pdf (287.3Kb)
    Issue Date
    2009-04-27
    Author
    Isaac, Jessica A.
    Publisher
    University of Kansas
    Format
    64 pages
    Type
    Thesis
    Degree Level
    M.A.
    Discipline
    English
    Rights
    This item is protected by copyright and unless otherwise specified the copyright of this thesis/dissertation is held by the author.
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    Abstract
    As my title suggests, this project examines Alcott's vision of the family in Work (1873). Her characters do indeed "talk as industriously as they work" as a means of creating the circumstances necessary for the achievement of sentimental ideals at the very moment when sentimentalism itself begins to lose cultural dominance. They achieve the goals of voluntary affective relationships and protection from the ills of wage labor not through a "change of heart," as Harriet Beecher Stowe's characters do, but through changing the circumstances in which they live their lives. Using the work of Habermas and Wallerstein to articulate those circumstances, this project explores the significance of Alcott's novel within the context of reform movements and labor history, ultimately concluding that the practicality of Alcott's vision undermines its political potential.
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/1808/7768
    Collections
    • English Dissertations and Theses [449]
    • Theses [3827]

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    785-864-8983

    KU Libraries
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    Contact KU ScholarWorks
    785-864-8983
    KU Libraries
    1425 Jayhawk Blvd
    Lawrence, KS 66045
    785-864-8983

    KU Libraries
    1425 Jayhawk Blvd
    Lawrence, KS 66045
    Image Credits
     

     

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