Eight Cousins

Even though Rose is the protagonist of the story, she does not mature based solely on her own actions and instincts but as a result of Uncle Alec’s successful parenting “experiment.” Uncle Alec’s role as guardian to Rose is the focus of the novel, and his character forms the foundation of the theme of Parenting Styles and Their Impacts. By using a male character as the most successful mother figure in a story about mothering, Alcott crafts Uncle Alec to subvert gendered domestic configurations while still upholding some conventional beliefs about parenting and family structure.

Uncle Alec is nurturing and his intimacy with Rose from their first moment together is sentimental and mimics a mother-child bond. He is a gentle and reassuring presence for Rose, who from their first interaction finds herself “in the arms of a brown, bearded man, who held her close” (29). He listens to her worries, jokes with her, and is also skilled in domestic tasks such as sewing and cooking. On the other hand, he possesses conventional masculine qualities: He is athletic and agile, capable of climbing up banisters, and he is a doctor, respected in the public, male-dominated sphere. Rose feels at ease in his presence; there is “a general air of strength and stability about him which pleased Rose” (32). Uncle Alec exhibits both motherly and fatherly qualities. Alcott hence undermines rigid 19th-century constructions of gendered spheres even while several characters in the novel are rewarded for adhering to gendered ideals.

As a stand-in mother figure, Uncle Alec’s success is based on his moral worth. He believes that it is his fraternal and moral obligation to look after Rose despite having quarreled with George over Rose’s mother, with whom he fell in love before she married his brother. He is a dutiful guardian to Rose and does not abuse his control of her fortune—he even warns her that guardians “might be tempted” to be dishonest (116). He is also a considerate man. Though he teases the aunts for their foibles, he is flattering to them, often consulting with Aunt Jessie or praising Aunt Plenty and Peace’s talents. Additionally, he is charitable and generous with his resources, such as when he brings presents back from his sea voyages or when he promises to pay for Phebe’s education. When he makes a mistake, such as letting his pride cause him to send Rose out in the cold, he recognizes them and repents that “[i]t’s not fair the poor child should suffer for my sinful overconfidence” (332). Ultimately, the novel rewards Uncle Alec for his morality with a successful experiment and Rose’s good favor, as she chooses to stay with him above the rest of her family.

Phebe is a 15-year-old servant girl working at Aunt Plenty and Peace’s house who becomes Rose’s maid and eventually her adoptive sister. Phebe’s initial role in the novel is to expose Rose’s lack of worldly knowledge about poverty and later demonstrate her growth and charity.

Phebe acts as a foil to Rose because they are both young girls who have been orphaned but left in vastly different circumstances. Phebe’s parents abandoned her as a baby at a poor house, which was a tax-supported residential institution that housed people of all ages who couldn’t provide for themselves. Phebe’s resilience to her circumstances is recognized and admired by Uncle Alec, who praises her to Rose: “So she doesn’t call desertion, poverty, and hard work, troubles? She’s a brave little girl” (36). Phebe’s courage, humility, and kindness to Rose make her a role model for Rose, who is viewed by others as “spoilt” by her late father. Rose, unexposed to the world outside her late father’s estate, is unaware of the hardships of the working class and thinks of Phebe’s life as a story from a book. From Phebe’s perspective, Rose represents everything that Phebe desires. She wonders “how life could be dull to a girl who wore a silk frock, a daintily frilled apron, a pretty locket, and had her hair tied up with a velvet snood” (7-8). Alcott tempers the fairytale trope of “rags-to-riches” by not rewarding Phebe with such riches but portraying a modest raise in circumstances and using her to highlight Rose’s growth.

Phebe’s character is a female model for Rose to compete with and aspire to as she develops. Phebe is a flat character in the sense that, despite improvements in her status and circumstances, she does not undergo an inner transformation but exhibits the same qualities throughout. She is a symbol of the romanticized poor, and her virtues are her compassion, fortitude, and graciousness. Reflecting the dominant Christian morality of the era, Phebe fits the common archetype of hard-working impoverished people who exhibit moral virtue despite their low circumstances. Uncle Alec initially praises Phebe’s embodiment of such qualities, motivating Rose to improve her stamina and grow a “strong pair of arms” like Phebe has from doing manual labor (70).

Rose later demonstrates her true friendship with Phebe and her inner growth when she promises to adopt her when she comes of age and advocates for Phebe’s schooling. Alcott uses third-person narration to emphasize Phebe’s graciousness in accepting these gifts and establish her virtues in relation to domestic labor:

Her willing feet were never tired of taking steps for those who had smoothed her way; her skillful hands were always busy in some labor of love for them, and on the face fast growing in comeliness there was an almost womanly expression of devotion, which proved how well Phebe had already learned one of life’s great lessons–gratitude (357-58).

Through Phebe, Alcott utilizes contemporary literary conventions and tropes to portray the Development of Moral Consciousness in young women.