Inspired by Evan's idea (and very stuck on my own paper) I decided to do a word cloud of Chapter 1 of Alcott's Little Women.
Here's the link! http://wordle.net/gallery/wrdl/240665/_Little_Women_Chapter_1
It's interesting to me that of all the girls, Jo's name is the biggest. Of course, it's obvious that Jo is the main focus (and the model of Louisa May Alcott) in the story. However, in light of some of the other large words, the focus on her is a bit more intriguing.
Some other prominent words were "little," "things," and "much," all pieces of what Marmee wants her daughters to be: selfless, proper, and lacking materialism. While they don't have "much," she expects them to care about the needs of others more than their own. However, it seems that Jo is always the one failing in these departments, causing her great distress and many foul consequences throughout the book.
Maybe this is Alcott's picture of the Civil War -- that materialism and selfishness are the enemies that women must fight on the homefront while the men in their lives are away at war. Focusing on Jo's character, we can see this raging battle take place in the book.
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1 comment:
Carolyn, I don't know how I missed this post the first time around. I thought it was interesting that "little" and the other words were so prominent, too, and your explanation of these makes good sense.
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