Louisa May Alcott MBTI Personality Type
Personality
What personality type is Louisa May Alcott? Louisa May Alcott is an ENFP personality type in MBTI, 4w3 - sx/so - 485 in Enneagram, SLUAI in Big 5, IEE in Socionics.
ENFP: she wrote the character of Jo March (who is very obviously an ENFP) after her own personality, so we can make the (probably correct) assumption that Alcott herself is an ENFP as well. ENFPs tend to think outside of the box and are pretty creative individuals, sometimes leading them to go through unconventional routes of doing things. Louisa displays this function, better known as Ne, in an entry she wrote in her journal in 1851, called How I Went Out to Service — she says: "When I was eighteen I wanted something to do. I had tried teaching for two years, and hated it; I had tried sewing, and could not earn my bread in that way, at the cost of health; I tried story writing and got five dollars for stories which now bring a hundred; I had thought seriously of going upon the stage..." Here, she displays her constant influx of ideas of how to support herself and her family, an obvious Ne trait. Another Ne aspect is eagerness for new experiences, and in this journal entry, she talks of how she is offered a job doing domestic work, and even though her mother warns her that she may not enjoy this type of job, Louisa looks forward to it, because it's something she's never tried before. As far as Fi goes, Louisa has been known to be a feminist and go against social cues and norms. She prefers to follow her own path, one she's paved for herself, and being authentic while she's at it. I will admit, I need to do more research on Louisa's display of Te and Si, but like I said — she modeled Jo's personality and overall character very closely to herself, if not pretty much exactly. That being said, I highly doubt that any explanation of Jo's display of Te and Si won't also apply to Louisa herself. 4w3: This enneagram type is highly creative and strives to make a living doing what they love (e.g., Alcott pursuing and obtaining a successful career in writing). I say she is a 4 with a 3 wing because as opposed to those with a 5 wing, 4w3s tend to be more willing or likely to make alterations or compromises to their creative works in order that it will be more pleasant for those who will be consuming it. 4w5s are more likely to sacrifice recognition for authenticity and staying true to the main point of their creative work. Which, in my opinion, is not Louisa. A good example of this behavior in Alcott is when she first published her debut novel, Moods, in 1864 — she says in the preface of the revised version she released in 1882, that "When Moods was first published, . . . it was so altered, to suite the taste and convenience of the publisher." If that's not a good enough argument for her being a 4w3, I don't know what is.
Biography
Louisa May Alcott ( November 29, 1832 – March 6, 1888) was an American novelist, short story writer and poet better known as the author of the novel Little Women (1868) and its sequels Little Men (1871) and Jo's Boys (1886).
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