Examining Motherhood in Victorian’s Orphan- Heroine Novels: Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre and Louisa May Alcott’s Eight Cousins and Rose in Bloom

The orphan-heroine novels are a sub-genre of children’s literature developed in the Victorian period. The authors of these novels offer a window into a broader dialogue about the role of women in society.They ask critical questions about motherhood, probing the definition of a mother and arriving at conclusions that attempt to balance conformity with socially acceptable deviance. Of many dimensions of motherhood, teacher and healer are chosen and analyzed in Jane Eyre, Eight Cousinsand Rose in Bloom. These novels wonder if it is possible for a girl to become both mother and teacheror mother and healer. Teaching, one of the few professional careers permitted to women is redefined by Alcott as an essential motherly attribute, despite Jane Eyre’s ultimate rejection of teaching. Bronte and Alcott expand the mother-as nurse to incorporate physical and psychological healing

Keywords:

Orphan-heroine , Motherhood , Bronte , Alcott , Victorian