Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
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The novel Little Women by Louisa May Alcott stands as an archetype of feminine writing from the nineteenth century, a story emphasizing the choices facing women in terms of home and family, career choice, and aspirations. Much of the sense of choice is placed in the hands of Jo, the strongest female in the novel and the one who becomes the center for her family as well. It is this power of choice and inner strength that has attracted generations of readers and that was the attraction for filmmakers recently when they produced a new version of Little Women and successfully shaped the story for a feminist age. Little Women is not a complex novel nor a complex study of human nature. It is largely about Jo and her struggle to be good and to improve herself in the world, and as such it is believed to represent Louisa's own struggle with the same issue: She personifies the battle to channel raw energy into acceptable conduits. Girls find in Jo their own fight to repress their aggressive, humorous, spontaneous instincts and turn them into ladylike submission. No one wants to be Meg, old and placid before her time, or Beth, too good to life, or selfish ad vain Amy. But Jo is tender and loving, brusque and abrupt, awkward and poignant. Everything she does is understandable, forgivable, and touching. . . (Saxton 4). Critics generally agree with this assessment and with the idea that Jo is the strongest character: The real attraction is not the book as a whole, but its heroin
. . .
womanhood and understanding is a long one, and each setback becomes a moment for reflection and analysis. The characters--including Jo--are not universally admired. Brigid Brophy, for instance, sees them as masochists. She sees Meg as a commonplace of the time and as the sort of character who has no character. Beth is simply too good and too filled with patience, humility, and a sunny disposition. Brophy sees Alcott as a craftsman who knows what she is doing, but what she is doing is shaping a sentimental tale with as little sentimentality as possible:
It's all, so to speak, between consenting adolescents. All four girls are quite masochists enough to enjoy what she does to them (Brophy 119).
Yet the home is an important element in this story, and the solidarity of the four girls is seen as especially important in a time of crisis such as the Civil War in which this story is set. home and family are the life of the mother, and Jo comes to accept this as an important aspiration for her own life as she helps hold the family together. Solidarity in the home is depicted as a test of the nation's health, with the final result depending on the strength and character of the women struggling to sustain that home:
This is n
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Approximate Word count = 1683
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)
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