《小妇人》中反映的美国文学和文化传统

美国19世纪后半期女作家路易莎•奥尔科特以其长篇小说《小妇人》而一举成名。这部小说在形式上是家庭日志，在内容上讲述的是马奇家四姐妹的成长。这篇小说围绕主人公乔展开，奥尔科特抱着“以自己的头脑做武器，在这艰难的尘世中闯出一条路来”的理念，最终造就了《小妇人》的成功。
奥尔科特根据孩童时期的经历并结合自身的感悟写成了《小妇人》，这部小说将时间设定在19世纪中期美国内战时期，背景是新英格兰的一个小镇，生动地体现出美国社会的变迁和文化传承。在该小说中，她把自己描写成乔•马奇，把自己的姐妹安娜、亚碧、伊丽莎白设定为角色中的梅格、艾米、贝思。  
本论文旨在分析美国文学和文化传统在小说中的具体体现及其意义。论文一开始阐述了奥尔科特的生平、写作生涯，接下来是对该小说的重点评价，当然评价中有积极和消极的两方面。第四部分阐述了清教主义对作者的影响，也体现了文化的重要意义；第五、六章结合小说具体分析并详细阐述了19世纪的社会改革、女性主义、超验主义和文学的传统。最后，阐明并重申为什么具有领导者意识、民主意识、敬业精神、开拓精神以及重视教育的清教主义对美国思想及文学都具有极其深远的影响力。从本论文中可以体会到美国文学和文化传统，本论文将对此进行进一步的研究。

关键词：文化传统；清教主义；美国精神；意识
Literature and Cultural Traditions of America
Reflected in Little Women
                                          
Abstract: During the later half of the 19th century in the United States, there is a woman writer Louis May Alcott who is famous for her novel Little Women. The form of this novel logs in the family dairy and the contents of this novel center on the growing story of four March sisters’. With regard to the analysis of the novel, particularly of the life experiences of the protagonist Jo, the readers can easily find the March’s concepts of families and religious beliefs of American cultural traditions. Alcott determines to “treat her own minds as weapon and through the difficult path to find a new way.”
She writes Little Women based on the childhood memories and sets the New England town during the American Civil War in the mid-19th century as the background. The novel reflects a vivid manifestation of the changes and cultural heritages in American society. She portrays herself as Jo March and her sisters whose names are Anna, Yabi, and Elizabeth then respectively as Meg, Amy, and Beth. This paper aims to analyze the concrete manifestation of American literature and cultural traditions as its main theme.
    The paper begins with Alcott's personal life and writing career, followed by a critical review of the novel both positively and negatively. The paper aims to analyze the influences of the cultural traditions on the author, Puritanism in particular. Puritanism as a dominant factor in American life, with a sense of leadership, democratic awareness, dedication, pioneering spirit and emphasis on education, has a great influence on the American cultural traditions. Chapters V and VI will have a concrete analysis of the texts of the novel, including the19th-century social reforms, Feminism, Transcendentalism and the literary traditions. Further, the paper elaborates its view on the embodiment of American cultural traditions respectively. Finally the paper reiterates the importance of literary traditions that has a profound influence on the United States.

Keywords: cultural traditions; Transcendentalism; American spirit; awareness

*若需了解更多与协助请咨询↓→[电脑QQ][手机QQ]【数据协助】