Essay Questions

What does the story tell us about the lives of women during the 1800s?

The character of Tribulation tells us a great deal about women, and also explains why the suffrage movement had needed a great deal of time and exertion before it could achieve anything at all. Oportunities for women were very limited. There was marriage, of course, and then motherhood. Career choices were bound by conventions, and were usually of a kind which linked women to the private sphere. Even creative outlets were not an option, for even though writing was an open calling for women, female writers were not taken seriously back then. In an ironically tragic kind of way, the war had given Tribulation far more opportunity than peace time ever did.

Tribulation wanted to feel that she was making the contribution that she wanted to make, and not that which her society allowed her to. She is depicted as a hands-on, go-get-it kind of young woman, who does not want to sit passively by whilst the young men of her generation went off to the war she was not permitted to participate in. This is why she grasps her brother's suggestion instantly with the design of becoming a nurse, helping people, and doing something meaningful on a personal level.

All in all, the story tells us that at the time of the Civil War, societal norms had restricted women to a certain sphere which was linked to the false norms of femininity.

Why was Alcott reluctant to write the book?

Following its publication, Alcott was surprised at the success of her work, and amazed that anyone should be interested in the contents of the letters she had sent home during her service in a field hospital. After all, they contained no plot development. They were a record of her feelings and emotions, her sadness and her daily experiences. She considered them personal, and so had never thought of acquainting the public with their content.

One more reason behind her reluctance concerns her financial state. In spite of her love for literature and writing, Alcott had to put her own pleasure aside and write for money, for she needed that income for her family. She understood that writing a novel or novella would bring far more financial benefit, and so was led by such a belief to overlook the brilliancy of her sketches

Is Hospital Sketches a feminist text?

Louisa May Alcott herself was a feminist writer who had consecrated her works and writings to voice the question of women during the 1800s. Tribulation Periwinkle is, by no means, her only independent female character, nor the most iconic either. But she belongs, nevertheless, to that cast of characters who had positively refused to submit to the conventions of a patriarchal society. The book depicts Tribulation’s struggles, and sketches, at the same, time the endless challenges that faced women on their way towards suffrage, equality, and independence. Therefore, it stands as a loud and proud feminist composition in the literary world.

What are the antagonistic forces in the Book?

While the protagonist of the work is obviously its narrator, there is no clear antagonist to be found within its pages. However, the book is so far from being one with no antagonistic powers in it. In truth, the only reason behind the absence of a clear antagonistic character is the universality of such a malignant force, and the incapability of any character to translate fully the evil with which it had enveloped society. Hospital Sketches sets its heroine, nurse Periwinkle, against the greatest evils of the 19th century in America; namely Slavery and Patriarchy. These are the main antagonistic forces in the book. The former is clearly perceived in the outcome of the Civil War, the suffering, hardships, and death of young soldiers. The latter can be similarly observed in the endless difficulties which met Tribulation ever since she had set on her journey towards Washington. In this manner, Alcott had managed to produce a very clear, yet very subtle representation of the evils of her society.