Courage in Little Women and Treasure Island Essay -- Literary Analysis

The dictionary definition of courage is bravery or boldness. In the set texts of Little Women and Treasure Island, courage is defined through the interaction of the characters, the situation and their reactions to it. Thus, there are different aspects of courage explored throughout the texts resulting in either in physical or psychological pain or a mixture to the characters. In this essay, I will analysis the method that each author employs to inform the reader of courage, discuss some aspects of courage explored in the texts and look at how courage differs between the genders. Alcott uses characterisation to display courage. She builds the characters over a period through their words, actions and appearance in conjunction with other characters comments and an omniscient authorial voice (Lukens, 2003). The character of Beth has a shy manner and timid voice, staying at home and who admits to being afraid of people. She is ‘dear’ to other characters and the author tells the reader her pet name is mouse. Yet this character shows courage by thanking Mr Laurence, who frightens her, for her piano causing Meg to exclaim that ‘the world is coming to an end’ (Little Women p.63) Alcott enhances this action through intertextuality to Pilgrims Progress where Mr Laurence is one of the biggest lions guarding the Palace Beautiful. Beth is the foil for the main protagonist, Jo for whom this behaviour is normal as evidence by her statement of Mr Laurence ‘I’m sure now that I shouldn’t be afraid of him’ (Little Women p.52 ). This illustrates that there are different levels of courage dependant on the characteristics of the character. Stevenson (2009) admits in his essay about his first novel that he does not use psychology and fine writing wh... ... (eds), Children’s Literature Classic Text and Contemporary Trends, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan in association with Open University Loxley, D. (2009) ‘Slaves to adventure: The Pure Story of Treasure Island’ in Montgomery H and Watson N (eds), Children’s Literature Classic Text and Contemporary Trends, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan in association with Open University Lukens, R. (2003) ‘Character’, A critical Handbook of Children’s Literature, Boston (USA), Ablong Reynolds (2009), http://learn.open.ac.uk/file.php/6764/!via/resourcepage/59898199/6764/moddata/resourcepage/ea300_dvd1_Boys_and_girls_reading_19th_century_transcript.doc Stevenson, R. (2009) ‘My first Book: ‘Treasure Island’’, in Montgomery H and Watson N (eds), Children’s Literature Classic Text and Contemporary Trends, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan in association with Open University Courage in Little Women and Treasure Island Essay -- Literary Analysis The dictionary definition of courage is bravery or boldness. In the set texts of Little Women and Treasure Island, courage is defined through the interaction of the characters, the situation and their reactions to it. Thus, there are different aspects of courage explored throughout the texts resulting in either in physical or psychological pain or a mixture to the characters. In this essay, I will analysis the method that each author employs to inform the reader of courage, discuss some aspects of courage explored in the texts and look at how courage differs between the genders. Alcott uses characterisation to display courage. She builds the characters over a period through their words, actions and appearance in conjunction with other characters comments and an omniscient authorial voice (Lukens, 2003). The character of Beth has a shy manner and timid voice, staying at home and who admits to being afraid of people. She is ‘dear’ to other characters and the author tells the reader her pet name is mouse. Yet this character shows courage by thanking Mr Laurence, who frightens her, for her piano causing Meg to exclaim that ‘the world is coming to an end’ (Little Women p.63) Alcott enhances this action through intertextuality to Pilgrims Progress where Mr Laurence is one of the biggest lions guarding the Palace Beautiful. Beth is the foil for the main protagonist, Jo for whom this behaviour is normal as evidence by her statement of Mr Laurence ‘I’m sure now that I shouldn’t be afraid of him’ (Little Women p.52 ). This illustrates that there are different levels of courage dependant on the characteristics of the character. Stevenson (2009) admits in his essay about his first novel that he does not use psychology and fine writing wh... ... (eds), Children’s Literature Classic Text and Contemporary Trends, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan in association with Open University Loxley, D. (2009) ‘Slaves to adventure: The Pure Story of Treasure Island’ in Montgomery H and Watson N (eds), Children’s Literature Classic Text and Contemporary Trends, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan in association with Open University Lukens, R. (2003) ‘Character’, A critical Handbook of Children’s Literature, Boston (USA), Ablong Reynolds (2009), http://learn.open.ac.uk/file.php/6764/!via/resourcepage/59898199/6764/moddata/resourcepage/ea300_dvd1_Boys_and_girls_reading_19th_century_transcript.doc Stevenson, R. (2009) ‘My first Book: ‘Treasure Island’’, in Montgomery H and Watson N (eds), Children’s Literature Classic Text and Contemporary Trends, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan in association with Open University