Born in 1832 to Bronson and Abba Alcott, Louisa May Alcott constantly struggled with the anger and individualistic, unladylike spirit that came naturally to her. Since Louisa, like her mother, was born dark-haired and "willful," her father viewed her as a challenge, sometimes going so far as to call her the "Possessed One" "pathetic," and "bound in chains . . . which she could not break"(Stern, Biography, p. 78). He thought that teaching Louisa to suppress her natural inclinations …showed first 75 words of 2210 total…

…showed last 75 words of 2210 total…uir's of the world would someday be free to speak their minds. Alcott wrestles with the question of liberation throughout her work, indicating over and over that women's voices and selves are censored by patriarchal discourses and false definitions of femininity (Saxton, Louisa, p. 184). The question "When shall I be liberated?" asked by Sybil in "A Whisperer in the Dark," is thus a recurring and unresolved issue both in Alcott's work and personal life.