The Inheritance Summary
Edith is ceaselessly presented as the embodiment of remarkable goodness, noble self-sacrifice, infinite patience.
Besides her charitable deeds, she immerses herself in moral bondage to her host family. She effaces herself before Lady Ida, even agreeing to the woman's demand not to join the group's activities.
But Amy will not let Edith enter into seclusion. Thus Edith continues to participate, to discourage Lord Percy, and to yield before Lady Ida's verbal barbs which grow ever more hateful as the desirable nobleman increasingly, and despite himself, reveals where his affections lie.
For much of the novel it seems that Edith must find the identity and inner peace she hopes for through the self-sacrifice she practices fully. The reader might conclude for a time that virtue is its own reward, even though this virtue saddens and isolates the virtuous one. The reader may surmise also that personal moral qualities are...
(read more from the Short Guide)
Study Pack
The The Inheritance Study Pack contains:
The Inheritance Short Guide
Louisa May Alcott Biographies (8)
458 words, approx. 2 pages
Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888) is one of America's best-known writers of juvenile fiction. She was also a reformer, working in the causes of temperance and women's suffrage.Louisa May Alcott was born i...
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5,376 words, approx. 18 pages
If longevity is any benchmark for literary greatness, then Louisa May Alcott would qualify. Her novel Little Women, published in 1868, still attracts legions of readers well over a century after publi...
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699 words, approx. 3 pages
Louisa May Alcott (29 November 1832-6 March 1888) still retains her reputation as one of America's best-loved writers of juveniles. That reputation was established with the publication of Little Wom...
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9,998 words, approx. 34 pages
Though she also wrote adult novels, Louisa May Alcott is known primarily for her eight novels for children in the Little Women series. Her children's novels are characterized by their glorification...
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855 words, approx. 3 pages
Louisa May Alcott is an unexpected inhabitant in the world of magazine editing. Her name is better known as the author of Little Women (1868-1869) and other children's stories, and her novels are now ...
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6,772 words, approx. 23 pages
Louisa May Alcott was widely known during her lifetime as the Children's Friend, a reputation based principally upon her domestic sagas for young adults, Little Women or, Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy (1868, ...
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6,187 words, approx. 21 pages
For most of the twentieth century Louisa May Alcott's literary reputation rested largely on her masterpiece, Little Women (1868, 1869). Yet, late in the twentieth century, Alcott--whose first biograph...
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10,539 words, approx. 36 pages
Biography EssayThough she also wrote adult novels, Louisa May Alcott is known primarily for her eight novels for children in the Little Women series. Her children's novels are characterized by their g...
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