It seems as though May was an extrovert, and Louisa an introvert-introverts can, when they decide to expend the energy, be the most popular person in the room-ie, Louisa’s gift for being witty and funny-as long as it was people with whom she found reason to be comfortable-when Louisa decided to be “on”, she came totally “on”, but it took everything out of her to have done it, afterwards she would be fatigued and need solitude to “rejuvenate”

May early on learned she would HAVE to go her own way if she didn’t want to spend her life always caught up in the co-dependency of this family. I believe she was the most independent of all-she charted her course, gratefully received any help towards it-as most young women of her day would have had to do somewhere along the way-until she finally reached the point where she really could be independent-to another continent, if that’s what it took. Of all the sisters, May seems to be the one who least appreciated the perception of their relatives or of her own immediate family that they were a “pathetic” family. May decided she wasn’t pathetic,and would not be bound by buying into the family self-portrait. I admire her immensely for her stand, because she was the only one who achieved true independence, even more than Louisa. For all Louisa’s grumblings sometimes, she herself by making herself indispensable in too many ways, ensured that she tightened the bonds which already bound her to her family-and with her role as breadmaker, they to her.

May was the only one who didn’t have the almost paranoid “Alcotts-against-the-world” characteristic of the others. The world was a beautiful place full of interesting people, and she wasn’t afraid to see and meet them all, with no chip on her shoulder or sense of being “one of those weird Alcotts”

I think a good writer should tell May Alcott’s story. It would be a short one, both because her life was short and because I imagine there aren’t the records for hers that there were for her famous sister. But May made her mark in her short life-her art was shown more than once in Paris amongst the company of some of the highest of the day, and she herself came to know some of the famous names of the European art world. Most all who mention her, mention her charm, graciousness. She seems to have had thAt wonderful quality of truly enjoying and being interested in people, and they returned the favor thanks to her easy grace and her intrinsic glamor. Somebody really needs to write her story!

Thank you