Louisa May Alcott, Kate Chopin on Equality

Louisa May Alcott, Kate Chopin on Equality Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888) author of Little Women and Kate Chopin (1850-1904) author of The Awakening are two of the most celebrated female authors of the nineteenth century. The following hypothetical dialogue between Alcott and Chopin on women’s equality presupposes that each author would have an intimate knowledge of the other’s work although Chopin’s Awakening was not published until after Alcott’s death. Alcott: I am very pleased to meet you as you wrote the sort of novel that I always longed to write, that is, one that demonstrated the devastating effect that the patriarchal attitude of our time had on women, as that was something I rebelled against all my life. Chopin: I read Little Women when it was published in 1867. I was a little old to be reading a children’s book, but I found it extremely interesting and intriguing, especially in regards to your characterization of Jo because she did not fit the society’s expectations for girls. She was her own person and longed for a career rather than being simply a wife and mother. I know that you supported women’s suffrage, and you obviously could have made more points concerning the tyranny of patriarchy, but you did not. The theme was there in your novel, but it was very subtle. Why is that? Alcott: Have you ever been poor? Chopin: Yes, after my husband died, I had children to raise on my own and my financial situation was not dire, but I had to earn a living and I turned to w