`` Pen And Ink `` By Louisa May Alcott - 1716 Words

Similarly to how painters illustrate their lives in the canvas, authors utilize pen and ink in order to portray their lives in their stories. An example of this is the American author Louisa May Alcott, who utilizes her life as primary source of inspiration for her stories. Born in Germantown, Pennsylvania, Alcott studied informally with her father as a tutor and other family friends. Many of her tutors were prominent literary figures, such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, David Henry Thoreau and Theodore Parker. Due to her family s poverty, she seeked different jobs and served as a nurse in Washington D.C during Civil War (Biography.com). In addition to her will to work, one of Louisa’s most noticeable traits was her defiance of social construct†¦show more content†¦After this major success she continued to write books, including some sequels to the famous Little Women which allowed her to gain financial stability and make a living out of her writing. Alcott died in March 6, 1888 and was buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord (louisamayalcott.org). Alcott’s writings are rather unique as her life experiences influence her story and she utilizes different techniques, such as employing the story’s setting to convey a theme, using unique narration techniques and developing her characters, in order to create a piece of literature attractive to her large audience. A particular trait in Alcott’s writing is her usage of setting in order to convey themes, particularly the usage of the North during the times of the Civil War in order to illustrate the topic of patriotism. This is evident in the short story Scarlet Stockings where the character of Belle exhibits a rabid love and pride for the Union by wishing well to her substitute for the war and refusing to accept Henry Lennox’s - her friend- lack of nationalist feelings. When Henry, who is clearly reluctant to participate in the war, asks for reasons why he should join the Northern army Belle responds by saying â€Å"Why should you? What a question! Because you have health, and strength, and courage, and money to help on the good cause, and every man should give his best, and not dare to stay at home when he is needed.† (Alcott). Here, Belle