A story about a nineteenth-century woman's search for a meaningful life through work outside the family sphere, „Work: A Story of Experience" is at once Alcott's exploration of her personal challenges and a social critique of America, examining women's independence, the moral significance of labor, and the goals to which a woman can aspire. The story depicts the struggles of a young woman trying to support herself. The main character, Christie Devon, a New England orphan, works outside the home in a variety of different jobs, but the end of her story marks „the beginning of a new career as a voice and activist for other working women". Influenced by Transcendentalism and by the women's rights movement, it affirms the possibility of a feminized utopian society.