When I sat down with Eight Cousins by Lousia May Alcott I was so excited to reread it after a gap of many years. After the death of her father, orphaned Rose Campbell is sent to live at ‘Aunt Hill’, so termed by the Campbell clan, with her great-aunts and to await the arrival of her new guardian, Uncle Alec. Uncle Alec, once arrived, proves to be a most eccentric guardian for a young girl, disregarding most of the advice of Rose’s aunts and great-aunts as well as societal conventions. No corsets or hobble skirts for Rose, just exercise, fresh air, and high ideals! And under his wing, along with the assistance of her seven rambunctious male cousins, Rose grows from a pale little shadow into a girl possessed of health, vitality and, because Alcott will not let us forget this even for a moment, moral fortitude.
But oh, what a preachy book this was! I didn’t remember its righteous tone but then I always preferred its sequel, Rose in Bloom; that was the volume I read and reread, not this. When Eva reviewed Eight Cousins last month I commented to say that I ‘rather like the moral tone of her [Louisa May Alcott’s] more preachy novels’ and I stand by that. I’d far rather read a children’s novel with an excess of morals rather than one without and if you’re going to preach morals, Alcott’s are as fine as any. Being reminded of the importance of charity, good sense, and self sacrifice does no one any harm but the way it is gone about, with Rose giving little or no resistance to the chidings of her elders, made me almost wish to smack the dear girl. She is too perfect too quickly. Rose is a very instructive heroine, to be sure, but not always a sympathetic one.
Rose is frequently held up as a model of decorum and virtue for her assorted male cousins while Rose’s paragon is Phebe, a servant girl at Aunt Hill who Rose ‘adopts’. The friendship between Phebe and Rose never seems quite developed in this novel and Phebe is used primarily not as a person in her own right but as a device to allow Rose to improve herself as she seeks to be as industrious and appreciative as the divine Phebe. The boys are equally vague as characters, with only the three eldest (Archie, Charlie, and Mac) getting any particular attention. Archie, as the eldest of the eight cousins, is their natural leader, the Chief of the young clansmen. He’s flat but in a kind and inoffensive way. Charlie and Mac, however, are both memorable, though it is for their flaws rather than their virtues. Charlie, beautiful and spirited, is egotistical and vain, by far the most outgoing and daring of the cousins, while the studious Mac, cast down by a serious ailment for much of the novel that Rose helps nurse him through (of course), comes across as cross and superior. And even though I describe him that way, Mac was always my favourite of the boys when I was younger. His illness and his very human reaction to it made him real in my eyes. He didn’t suffer nobly or bravely but reacted just as you’d expect a teenage boy to do – very natural behaviour in a book not particularly noted for its natural characters.
Uncle Alec’s experiments in raising a young girl were delightful to read even if my unresolved issues with him from Rose in Bloom make it impossible for me to like him. The equally enlightened, equally even-tempered Aunt Jessie is the perfect maternal counterpart to Alec. I’m not sure if that’s a compliment or not. Aunt Jessie lost me by doing what Uncle Alec does in Rose in Bloom: censoring the reading material of the younger generation. In this family, the focus is very much on keeping the children innocent and idealistic, an aim which I can admire but by means which I cannot. When Aunt Jessie finds her young sons reading trashy novels she is most disappointed (so much worse than when a parent is upset, as I’m sure we can all remember) and gives them a quite impassioned speech on the evils of their chosen reading:
‘It gives boys such wrong ideas of life and business, shows them so much evil and vulgarity that they need not know about, and makes the one success worth having a fortune, a lord’s daughter, or some worldly honor, often not worth the time it takes to win. It does seem to me that some one might write stories that should be lively, natural, and helpful, – tales in which the English should be good, the morals pure, and the characters such as we can love in spite of the faults that all may have. I can’t bear to see such crowds of eager little fellows at the libraries reading such trash; weak, when it is not wicked, and totally unfit to feed the hungry minds that feast on it for want of something better.’ (p.203)
I am of the belief that censorship accomplishes nothing and that children, and adults, need to see and sample the worst of what is out there, if they feel drawn to it, in order to appreciate the best. How much more impressive to develop your natural tastes on your own, to learn to discern and to reject that which is, to use an Alcott phrase, unwholesome by means of your own reasoning and moral code rather than to have someone else decide for you! And Alcott, through Uncle Alec and Aunt Jessie, does make you want to be as wholesome as Rose, to run and play, to wear only clothes that allow you to do so, and to study that which is good and useful. Chief among these good and useful subjects is the art of housekeeping, which might raise the ire of many a feminist, but not this one – how I wish that could have been my chosen area of study!
But children are not the only ones being instructed here. There are just as many edicts for how adults should behave; indeed probably more for the failure of any child to mature into a steady and virtuous adult is placed on those who raised him. Alcott’s cautionary asides to adults take up a number of passages but, again, though I don’t always agree with the tone or the phrasing I do think she was correct in essentials:
Fathers and mothers are too absorbed in business and housekeeping to study their children, and cherish that sweet and natural confidence which is a child’s surest safeguard, and a parent’s subtlest power. So the young hearts hide trouble or temptation till the harm is done, and mutual regard comes too late. Happy the boys and girls who tell all things freely to father or mother, sure of pity, help, and pardon; and thrice happy the parents who, out of their own experience, and by their own virtues, can teach and uplift the souls for which they are responsible (p. 227-228)
When I finished reading this, I immediately picked up Rose in Bloom and had an equally passionate response to it. Hopefully I’ll be able to get my review of it up later this week – stand by!
Coincidentally, I was re-reading passages from ‘Rose in Bloom’ last night and had very much the same reaction as you. First time round, I really hadn’t remembered it as being that didactic. I’ve always understood that these were the books in which Alcott made plain her views on the ideal education for girls and the type of life they should aspire to as women. I’m sure that many of her ideas were revolutionary at the time, given how much book learning is encouraged, but I know very definitely that it wouldn’t have worked for me. Give me Nan from ‘Little Men/Jo’s Boys’ every time.
My feelings towards Rose in Bloom are complicated. Eight Cousins focuses very much on Rose whereas Rose in Bloom begins to address male education, just as strictly. Of all of her books, Rose in Bloom is where Alcott’s transcendentalist views are most fully expressed (though there are bits that really just read as a love letter to Emerson…but I’m getting ahead of myself and should probably just go and write the review already!). I’ve never liked the Little Women books so I’ll have to take a pass on Nan! Despite her flaws, I still love Rose, though Polly from An Old-Fashioned Girl is probably still my favourite Alcott heroine.
I’ve also read it recently and also found it a bit preachy (what does she mean no trashy novels?!) and saccharine-ish.
I’ve seen that Rose in Bloom is available on Gutenberg and will probably pick it up. The truth is, i was so curious about what would happen next that I went to Wikipedia to read the upcoming plot. *blush*
Yes, despite it’s flaws, I still love the characters and find it impossible to finish Eight Cousins without immediately reaching for Rose in Bloom!
It’s been years since I read this, but it came up last night. My 3 dds had a group of friends over last night to kick off a new book club (yes, the excitement level was high!) and this one was mentioned. It made their “long list,” but I don’t know when they’ll actually get to it. I’ll be eager to see how they react to it. I can’t think of any more “preachy” books for girls than the Elsie Dinsmore series by Martha Finley. They came to mind reading your review. Have you ever read one of those? My girls refuse to read them because Elsie is “too perfect.”
I agree with you on censorship with the caveat that they need to be old enough, or have the maturity to assess what they are reading. Reading something before they are ready to handle it can turn a young reader off of an excellent author forever and sometimes turn them off from reading, if they get a steady diet of things beyond them. (I’m trying to think of a good example… One I held my kids off of was Susan Cooper’s Dark is Rising series — if they had read it too young, it would’ve scared them to death, but as young teens, they are loving it. So, I’ve got two reading them, but my younger two have been told they have to wait a couple of years so they will enjoy them more. It’s not a “forbidden book,” but a “later” book — make sense?)
Thanks for the review — you’ve made me want to reread this one and see how “differently it reads” now. 🙂
Oh I think this would be a wonderful choice for a book club, regardless of age but particularly if it’s an all-girl group! Particularly if read with Rose in Bloom since both books are have very passionate discussions about education and women’s role in life.
I’m not familiar with Elsie but I remember her being suggested as a role model to some of my favourite heroines in my children’s books. She’s definitely mentioned in one of L.M. Montgomery’s Emily books.
I understand where you’re coming from with your caveat but I think that overreaching if a part of a reader’s natural development. I think that children have to try those books that are too complicated, too mature for them in order to gain the self-awareness of their limitations and perhaps their own tastes. It’s hard to feel excited or adventurous as a reader if you’re only reading material that is age and subject appropriate.
I had a similar experience very recently re-reading LMA’s An Old Fashioned Girl for the first time since childhood — that is I was amazed by the preachiness which I didn’t remember at all and can only think did not bother me at the time. I loved it anyway, and I’d like to read these novels as she is such a lively writer and so much fun despite the didacticism.
I adore An Old-Fashioned Girl and frequently reread it – Polly remains unchallenged as my favourite Alcott heroine. Yes, it’s a little preachy, but only a little compared to Eight Cousins!
How interesting to read this as I am currently reading this on my kindle although I have a copy in my library. I will follow with Rose in Bloom also. What I remember from reading RiB many many years ago is that I am getting better and better every day. I’ll see if it leaves the same impact. Anyway, so glad to read a review of EC while I am reading it. Yes, it is preachy but it’s ok with me. I’ll take what I want from it and forget the rest.
Isn’t it providential when another blogger reviews a book just as you’re reading it? I still enjoyed the novel, I was just surprised by how it differed from my memory of it. Alcott, even while being instructive, is always enjoyable!
I adore this book, but I always thought it was really unfair that Aunt Jessie wouldn’t let the little boys read adventure books. And compared them to smoking! Smoking is far worse than awesome adventure novels! Unfair.
The Campbell Family Code of Conduct is definitely rather strict, isn’t it?
New to me so thanks for the review. Waiting for the next.
Thanks Mystica! I hope to have the review for Rose in Bloom up on Thursday (the 20th).
I’m a huge fan of LMA’s Jack and Jill about a boy and girl who spend the book recovering from a skating accident. It has been a long time since I have read it–but my son is reading it right now. Perhaps I’ll pick it up after he finishes!
I always wanted to read Jack and Jill when I was younger but never found a copy! I’d be very interested to hear your thoughts on it if you do reread it.
Thank you for inspiring me to re-read Eight Cousins and Rose in Bloom. Can’t remember how long it’s been since those two books were read.
Yes they are “preachy” but the thing that really shook me up on this reading was how Aunt Peace is described when we first meet her. She never married because the man she was engaged to died before their wedding. She was 20 then, it’s now 30 years later, so she’s only 50, and is depicted as an old lady waiting to die.
[…] on the wearing of blue gloves. Carrie reviews Little Women, after three attempts to get though it. Claire, The Captive Reader re-reads my favorite Louisa May Alcott novel, Eight Cousins. Claire, The Captive Reader revisits Rose in Bloom, the sequel to Eight Cousins. Sam at Book Chase […]
[…] but it had been a few years since my last Alcott encounter, when I reread (with some reservations) Eight Cousins and Rose in Bloom. On Christmas Day, I was in the mood for something old-fashioned and comforting […]