Eight Cousins

Dominant 19th-century American society was characterized by strict gender roles reinforced by legal and economic systems. Family structures were patriarchal, meaning that men were considered the heads of the family and the chief breadwinners. As industrialization progressed, cities became the centers of commerce and the sites of labor rather than the countryside. Increasingly, men commuted to work, meaning that they were often absent from their rural homesteads and the domestic space was considered a feminine space. In the novel, the convention of the absent male figure is demonstrated by the marginalization of Rose’s uncles in the domestic setting, except for Uncle Alec. Her Uncle Steve lives in India and never appears, while Uncle Jem works as a sea captain and shows up once briefly for a surprise visit. Even Uncle Mac, despite being physically present for much of the time, is overshadowed by the aunts; he is “quiet as a mouse at home” and “let his wife rule undisturbed” (47). Alcott’s setting of her story in a domestic space run primarily by female characters, established through the name “Aunt Hill,” epitomizes this context of 19th-century family life.

While many men of the era were away in the city at work, women—who were excluded from most professions by law or had limited access to a qualifying education—were often confined to isolated rural estates. Many women were relegated to the profession of homemaking. Women were commonly viewed as both the “queens” and “angels” of domestic spaces and responsible for making a happy home; as written by Mrs. A. J. Graves in 1841, “[t]he sanctuary of domestic life is to her [the wife] the place of safety as well as the ‘post’ of honor” (Quoted in Goodsell, W. “The American Family in the Nineteenth Century.” The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, vol. 160, 1932). Alcott’s characterization of Aunt Plenty as “cumbered with the cares of this world and quite happy with them” demonstrates this archetype of the mother as dutiful homemaker in the novel (51). This is also recognized by Uncle Alec, who encourages Rose to learn the practical skills of running a house as a part of her well-rounded education. While Alcott’s work partly idealizes women’s passivity and conformity to domestic roles, the novel takes a progressive stance on The “Real” Versus “Ideal” Woman.

The United States in the 19th century was a Christian-dominated society in a period of moral reform. Many people believed in gendered sets of moral qualities, including the idea that mothers possess a special influence on The Development of Moral Consciousness in children. The novel explores the parent-child relationship. It adopts a high moralistic tone, using authorial intrusion to directly comment on and display the children’s flaws as a failing of their parents’ approaches to child-rearing. However, its family scenes are unconventional for the time. Middle and upper-class children were usually raised by nannies and governesses, but Alcott’s fictional families are intimately placed in close-knit domestic scenes. These scenarios echo Alcott’s own unconventional childhood, as her father played an active role in her and her sisters’ education and development.