Louisa May Alcott's Pets

• 발행기관: 한국아메리카학회
• 저자명: Na Rim Kim
• 간행물 정보: 『미국학논집』제57집 1호, 41~59쪽, 전체 19쪽
• 주제분류: 인문학 > 기타인문학
• 파일형태: PDF
• 발행일자: 2025.05.31

국문 초록

Pet keeping first became a popular way of life among Americans in the nineteenth century. Across the span of the century, texts for children actively participated in the shaping of pet keeping culture by instructing the next generation on how humans might best engage with domesticated nonhuman animals. This essay sheds light on Louisa May Alcott’s participation in this history by examining a number of her (potential) pet-featuring stories for children, all of which raise serious questions about the ethics involved in pet keeping. Specifically, Alcott’s “Cocky Twitters” (1874), “Buzz” (1868), “Huckleberry” (1873), and Under the Lilacs (1878) provide space for readers to reflect on how pet keeping affects the animals themselves, and to consider the obligations of humans who seek to make a pet out of an animal. In varying degrees, these texts both reveal and express apprehension toward the anthropocentric nature of pet keeping—Alcott expresses discomfort with how pet keeping can benefit humans at the expense of their pets.

목차

Pets in Alcott’s Short Stories

A “Valuable” Dog in Under the Lilacs

Conclusion

Works Cited

키워드

Louisa May Alcott pet keeping animal studies anthropocentrism nineteenth-century American children’s literature