IN DEFENSE OF ALCOTT

While Andria Spencer’s review of Louisa May Alcott’s life (Book Review, Feb. 25) is largely accurate, the reader is given the impression that Alcott was a subjugated, passive victim of her father’s flagrant irresponsibility. “. . . Alcott never seemed able to loosen the restraints of her servitude.”

Nothing could be further from the truth. A staunch feminist long before the term was coined, Alcott lived a life of financial independence and intellectual freedom most women of her time never even dreamed possible.

Along with contemporaries like Susan B. Anthony, Alcott championed the women’s suffrage movement and equal pay for equal work.

Far from lying down and dying, as Spencer suggests, after the death of her youngest sister May, Alcott--rapidly approaching 50--adopted May’s daughter, Lulu. After May’s death, Alcott wrote in her journal, “I now see why I lived--to care for May’s child.” Alcott reared and supported Lulu until her own death in 1888.

VALERIE E. WEICH, PASADENA