Only a Little Mask

After today’s lecture I concluded that Behind a Mask is allegory for Louisa May Alcott herself. Jean Muir is a woman who chose to defy the societal rules of her day by placing a mask over her true identity in order to achieve the goals that she sought to accomplish. She was able to successfully live both lives and come out on top in the end because of her keen ability to read the situation around her and play it to her benefit. I believe that Louisa May Alcott did the same in her career. The societal norm was to look down upon women who chose the career path of an author except for a few appropriate exceptions. Writing woman’s domestic or sentimental fiction was one of these exceptions and Alcott took advantage of the opportunity to show her great talents as a writer by publishing books such as Little Women, Good Wives, and Flower Fables. While Louisa was a great success in her chosen career and in keeping her reputation as a lady, she secretly desired a different life. Her famous stories told the world that she was a great supporter of the good morality that all girls and women are taught to possess, but Alcott seemed to actually find that role of women to be a bore. Under a mask with the name of A.M. Barnard, Alcott was able to tell the story of her true feelings and beliefs. She published many books, including Behind a Mask, under this disguise. The women in these tales are portrayed as stronger and wiser than men and often deceptive and villainous in character. The character of Jean Muir, in Behind a Mask, fights against the normal expectations of society and humbles all of those around her in the process, a goal in which I believe Alcott had for herself in writing books that would have possibly ruined her reputation had she published them under her real name. Like Jean Muir, Alcott fooled the world, gained her fortune and her title, while living both lives with the help of only a little mask.