LOUISA MAY ALCOTT AND GEORGE ELIOT ON CLASS, GENDER, AND MARRIAGE By ELIZABETH MICHELLE MYERS, A.A., B.B.A., M.A., M.Ed. DISSERTATION IN ENGLISH Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Texas Tech University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Approved Dr. Ann Daghistany Ransdell Chairperson of the Committee Dr. Mary Jane Hurst Dr. Wendell Aycock Fred Hartmeister Dean of the Graduate School December 2010 Copyright 2010, Elizabeth Michelle Myers Texas Tech University, Elizabeth M. Myers, December 2010 Acknowledgments I would especially like to thank my committee chair, Dr. Ann Daghistany Ransdell, and my committee members, Dr. Mary Jane Hurst and Dr. Wendell Aycock for all of their patience, guidance, and support throughout my tenure as a graduate student at Texas Tech. ii Texas Tech University, Elizabeth M. Myers, December 2010 Table of Contents Acknowledgments .................................................................................................... ii Introduction ............................................................................................................... iv Background .......................................................................................................... iv Organizational Structure ...................................................................................... x Theoretical and Critical Context .......................................................................... x Chapter 1: On Becoming Louisa May Alcott and George Eliot .............................. 1 Birth & Family Background ................................................................................ 1 Childhood & Education ....................................................................................... 4 Becoming George Eliot ....................................................................................... 12 Becoming Louisa May Alcott .............................................................................. 30 Chapter 2: Adam Bede and Moods (1864 Edition) ................................................... 46 Class ..................................................................................................................... 50 Gender .................................................................................................................. 57 Marriage ............................................................................................................... 69 Chapter 3: The Mill on the Floss and Little Women ................................................. 84 Class ..................................................................................................................... 93 Gender .................................................................................................................. 105 Marriage ............................................................................................................... 122 Chapter 4: Middlemarch, Work, Daniel Deronda, and Moods (1882 Edition) ........ 139 Class ..................................................................................................................... 147 Gender .................................................................................................................. 159 Marriage ............................................................................................................... 174 Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 188 Works Consulted ....................................................................................................... 195 Works Cited .............................................................................................................. 197 iii Texas Tech University, Elizabeth M. Myers, December 2010 Introduction This comparative dissertation will explore in-depth the categories of class, gender, and marriage in both the writings of the American Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888), and the British author, George Eliot (1819-1880). In addition, and when relevant, additional topics and categories are investigated, including, but not limited to: religion, morals, race, and education. The primary Alcott fictional works to be studied include Moods (1864 & 1882), Little Women (1868-69), and Work (1873). The primary Eliot fictional works to be studied include Adam Bede (1859), The Mill on the Floss (1861), Middlemarch (1871- 72), and Daniel Deronda (1876). Additional works mentioned include, but are certainly not limited to, Alcott’s Little Men (1871), “How I Went Out to Service” (1874), Jo’s Boys (1886), and Eliot’s Scenes of Clerical Life (1857) and Silas Marner (1859). Background This dissertation uses Alcott’s Little Women trilogy (Little Women, Little Men, and Jo’s Boys) and Eliot’s The Mill on the Floss as the starting point for the comparisons. In the Little Women trilogy, Alcott recreates her own family in the March family. The real-life Alcott family consisted of Bronson and Abba May Alcott and their four daughters, Anna, Louisa May, Elizabeth, and May. The fictional family consists of Mr. March and Marmee, as she is affectionately known, and their four daughters, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy. Louisa May, the real-life second daughter in the Alcott family, creates Jo, the second daughter in the March family as her own fictional persona. Like the real iv Texas Tech University, Elizabeth M. Myers, December 2010 Louisa May Alcott, Jo is also a tomboy and a writer who possesses many of the same thoughts, ideas, and experiences as the real-life Louisa May. Likewise, Eliot does the same when she creates Maggie Tulliver in The Mill on the Floss. Eliot, who was born Mary Anne Evans, but was known by numerous pen names throughout her life, was greatly influenced by her immediate family and had a particularly special bond with her brother, Isaac. Maggie also shares a similar special bond with her brother, Tom, in The Mill on the Floss. However, Isaac and Mary Anne had their differences, both in terms of opinion and opportunities available, and this too can be seen in their fictional counterparts. Thus, Louisa May Alcott in some ways represents the fictional Jo March and George Eliot in some ways represents the fictional Maggie Tulliver. By studying the characters of Jo March and Maggie Tulliver, we can begin to study the two authors as well. In addition to both writers incorporating themselves as the main characters in their most popular novels, it is interesting to note one particular event which occurs in each novel and which happens to be an almost identical occurrence for both and thus furthers the similarities between the authors, their characters, and their novels. Although for different reasons, both Jo and Maggie cut their hair. Jo cuts her hair in order to earn extra money to help the family when Mr. March is injured in the war. Maggie cuts her hair in a rebellious moment after tiring of the constant remarks about her unruly hair and dark complexion and the constant comparison of her to Lucy Deane, her perfectly feminine blond-haired doll-like cousin. Despite the abhorrence of family members regarding their v Texas Tech University, Elizabeth M. Myers, December 2010 actions, the haircuts are befitting to both Maggie and Jo because of their tomboyish natures and both are representative of the principles for which each character stands. There are many other similarities as well as differences between the lives of the real women and their fictional counterparts, Jo and Maggie. Just like Alcott, Jo pursues a writing career, and like Alcott, she succeeds to become a famous children’s author. However, unlike Alcott who never married or had children of her own and only raised her niece after her sister’s death, Jo comes to believe at the close of Little Women that she is lonely and desires marriage and a family. Jo does marry, has two children of her own, and along with her husband, runs a school where numerous children, including her nieces and nephews attend and live. Eliot also shares many similarities with the character of Maggie. Eliot and Maggie are both plagued by the restrictions placed on women in nineteenth-century Britain. In Maggie, Eliot creates a young woman who is frustrated with these limits and who, despite all her brilliance and potential, can never seem to convince anyone that she is worthy of a good education. Maggie’s brother Tom, however, is sent to schools because he is a boy, despite his dislike for school and studying and his poor intellectual skills. Maggie, for whom studying and book-style learning comes much easier and faster, is denied this same education simply because she is a girl. While Tom is asking to not have to endure any more formal education, Maggie is begging to be sent to school, but all to relatively no avail. Instead, she is expected to marry, have a family, and in the meantime depend entirely on her father and brother for her own well-being. Eliot, who faced many of these same struggles in her own life, albeit with greater successes than Maggie achieves, nevertheless creates a character through vi Texas Tech University, Elizabeth M. Myers, December 2010 whom she can express these frustrations and demonstrate to her audience the many problems of gender equity in nineteenth-century Britain. Both Alcott and Eliot, at least to some degree, seem to wish for different endings for themselves and other women of their time period. Both appear to have achieved their desired careers, but