Moods

As Alcott's first novel, this book is much more than a precursor to Little Women. It was also her attempt at serious literary recognition. Its intertexualities with the Transcendentalists, particularly Thoreau and Marget Fuller, make it an important book, as does its serious examination of a taboo subject in the 1860s: marriage and divorce. Although Alcott was not satisfied with the book, due to the many cuts required by her publisher, Moods exhibits a very ambitious Alcott finding her voice as a writer and addressing the difficult and controversial subjects with which women were wrestling. Alcott's first novel was influenced by Jane Eyre and The Scarlet Letter and bears reading alongside those two classics.

I was basically forced to read this novel for a college survey course in American Romanticism. I had read 'Little Women' in high school and didn't think much of it. Too morally heavy-handed and contrived and not entertaining at all. 'Moods' suprised me. The same criticisms apply, but I did find the book a pleasure to read. The criticisms that the book places against the society of the times about women's behavioral expectations, while not exactly revolutionary, were well thought out and not as in-your-face as the messages found in 'Little Women'. The characters are not as one dimensional as in 'Little Women' and I thought Sylvia's dilemna was belieavable. Like I said before, I was suprised at how much I liked the book.