ott has problems portraying strong male
             characters, probably from the fact that she hadn¹t seen too many of them.
             Furthermore, Alcott is not able to describe a situation where love is emoted expressively from men. In all
             her novels, the male characters disappoint -- in one way or the other. In many ways, they are very similar to
             her own father. Bronson Alcott was a man who preferred dreaming, shirking his fatherly and husbandly
             duties, and was prone to going on extended trips without his family. Bronson Alcott deserted his family for
             months at a time purportedly to earn a living. But he was not very successful in that area. Once he came
             back with a new scarf and a dollar in his pocket to a hungry family waiting for the money to buy some
             much needed bread. He handed over the token that he was paid to Alcott with the careless remark: ³Well,
             Louisa, there¹s little money, but I had a great time and was asked to come again.²
             In Little Women, the appearance of these hapless males in search of a mother figure to comfort them
             celebrates the Good Mother, a role played by Marmee and her four daughters. The Good Mother figure, as
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