LHP 451: EFFECTIVE READING

BOOK REVIEW

LITTLE WOMEN

NAME: KHAW REE NA

MATRIC NO.:84074
1.0 INTRODUCTION

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, is a novel about four sisters, Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy

March, written in 23 chapters. It was first published in 1869 and has become one of America’s

classics. I choose to review this novel firstly because I consider it my favourite book. I started

reading the abridged versions of this novel when I was young, and picked up the complete novel

in my teens. I have read and reread this ever since. This is because I find it very inspirational as

it is centred upon very sound values and have strong themes. Although partly autobiographical,

for this novel is based on Alcott’s own adolescence, the plot is well-developed and the characters

are true to life, so much so that the reader finds them easy to identify with.

1.1 PLOT

The story revolves around the four March sisters, and is set in 19th century, Civil War America.

At the beginning of the novel, Meg is sixteen years old, Jo is fifteen, Beth is thirteen, and Amy twelve.

The main setting of the novel is the Marches’ house in a suburban area. The March girls live in poverty

for their father “lost his property in trying to help an unfortunate friend”. Mr. March is away at war. He

volunteered to serve in the Civil War as a chaplain, for he was too old to fight. The girls live at home

with their mother where they hope and pray for their father.

What makes Little Women interesting is that each March girl has weaknesses to overcome. The

protagonist, Jo, has to tame her hot temper and change her boyish ways. Meg has a tendency toward

vanity. Beth’s weakness is that she is extremely shy, so much so that she cannot attend school, and has

to be taught at home. Amy’s chief fault is selfishness. The girls also have their strengths. Jo is an

aspiring writer, and she tries very hard to be good. Meg has a tender heart and exercises a positive

influence over her younger sisters. Beth cheerfully lives for her family and expects nothing in return,
except to be loved by those she loves. Amy’s strength is good manners, grace and charm. She is also a

talented artist.

Jo also befriends Theodore “Laurie” Laurence, the boy who lives next door, who is also a

prominent character in the novel. The plot develops as the March girls try to overcome their

weaknesses to reach their “Celestial City”.

1.0 CHARACTERS

The protagonist of this novel is Jo March. Other major characters include the three other March

girls, Meg, Beth and Amy, Mrs. March and Laurie. Of these characters, I relate to Jo best, and she is,

without any doubt my favourite.

Jo has many admirable qualities, the first and foremost is that she is a good daughter and sister.

This is evident from the start, when Jo proclaims that she is the “man of the family” now that Mr. March

has gone to serve in the army, and that she would take good care of her mother. In addition to that, Jo

also helps Meg, when she hurt her foot at Mrs. Gardiner’s new year dance. When Amy returns home

from school after being severely punished, Jo is indignant on her behalf, and goes to school to collect

Amy’s things, “carefully scraping the mud from her boots on the door mat, as if she shook that

dust of the place off her feet”. To Beth, Jo is her confidante and Jo exercises the most influence

over bashful Beth. Jo also does many things for Beth’s especial benefit, such as digging paths in

the snow for Beth to walk on when the sun comes up and nursing her when she contracts scarlet

fever.

Jo is also a generous person. Her generosity is apparent in Chapter 5: Being

Neighbourly. Seeing how sick and lonely Laurie is, and realising how blessed she is, she tries to

share all that she has with him. She then invites him to visit them, and says that Mrs. March will
do him “heaps of good” and that the girls will entertain and amuse him in their own way. Jo also

likes to lend her possessions to her sisters, as depicted in Chapter 9: Meg Goes to Vanity Fair. In

this chapter, Jo wants to lend Meg her coral bracelet, but her things are usually “too dilapidated

to be of much use”.

Another of Jo’s characteristic I very much admire is her determination. Jo aspires to

become a writer and she works very hard to earn income from writing. I believe it was much

more difficult for women in the nineteenth century to be taken seriously as writers, compared to

men, and Jo’s “rubbish” actually gets published in a newspaper, even if the editor doesn’t pay

beginners. In Good Wives, the second part of this novel, Alcott wrote that Jo does eventually get

paid a dollar a piece for her writing. Jo’s determination is also apparent when she decides to

befriend Laurie. Besides that, Jo is determined to conquer her “bosom enemy”, her hot temper.

This is evident when Mrs. March writes Jo a letter, which starts off with, “I write a little word to

tell you with how much satisfaction I watch your efforts to control your temper”. I believe that

to have this kind of determination to overcome a weakness makes Jo a strong and admirable

person.

Jo is also an independent young lady. When her father loses his property, Jo begs to

support herself by being allowed to work. Jo also goes to the newspaper’s office when she is

hoping to get her stories in print by herself, which again, is evident of her independence.

Another instance of independence is clear when Jo cuts off her hair and sells it to contribute to

“making Father comfortable and bringing him home” when Mrs. March prepares to go to

Washington, where Mr. March is critically ill. Jo does so because she knows that money for the

journey has to be borrowed from Aunt March, and it is her independent spirit, and maybe partly

her pride in not asking for help whenever possible, which makes her shear off her “one beauty”.
2.0 THEMES

The theme which is most central in Little Women is poverty. However, poverty as we

know it only seems to revolve around money. In the novel however, Alcott explores different

types of poverty. The Marches may have little money, but they are rich in terms of love, health

and youth, have many friends, kind neighbors and a faithful servant. Laurie, on the other hand is

rich, but he has no parents, and few friends. The Hummels, who serve as a foil to the Marches,

are far poorer than them, needier, and not quite as fortunate, which makes us readers feel that the

Marches do, in fact, get along quite comfortably, despite many complaints and material desires.

In addition to that, this novel goes to show that one can also be very rich, and yet be

hurting in other aspects. The Moffats are well off, but “they were not particularly cultivated or

intelligent people”, as is expected from one of their station, “and that all their gilding could not

quite conceal the ordinary material of which they were made”. This goes to show that rich

people may not necessarily be cultured, wise or happy. It also shows that financial poverty is

bearable, so long as those suffering from it realizes how better off they are, compared to people

who are poorer than them, or people who are rich, but unable to enjoy their comforts. All this

can be concluded from part of a paragraph from Chapter 4: Burdens:

“…were surprised to see how well off they were. One discovered that money couldn't keep shame and
sorrow out of rich people's houses, another that, though she was poor, she was a great deal happier, with
her youth, health, and good spirits, than a certain fretful, feeble old lady who couldn't enjoy her comforts, a
third that, disagreeable as it was to help get dinner, it was harder still to go begging for it and the fourth,
that even carnelian rings were not so valuable as good behavior.”.

Another theme in this novel is the theme of home. Most of the chapters of Little Women

takes place at the Marches’ family home, which proves that the home is important in the
development of the plot, as well as the characters. The theme of home is very apparent in

Chapter 9: Meg Goes to Vanity Fair, when Meg has various thoughts of home during her

fortnight’s stay at Annie Moffat’s, as depicted in phrases such as “cry and rush home to tell her

troubles”, “please don’t tell at home”, and “home is a nice place”. The idea of home is

particularly enforced, and at the same time contrasted with the term “house” when Mrs. March,

in this chapter, says, “…I am ambitious for you, but not to have you make a dash in the world,

marry rich men merely because they are rich, or have splendid houses, which are not homes

because love is wanting”.

It is because of the love that grows in the Marches home that the girls are well-behaved

and happy children, and this is what attracts Laurie, who has no father or mother. Love is what

Laurie lacks. His grandfather, Mr. Laurence, provides him with every comfort imaginable, but

he finds it hard to show Laurie love, even if he does love and care for him. At the Marches, they

do not hide their affection for one another, and the girls’ innocent affection and Mrs. March’s

motherly love, does indeed do Laurie good. This somehow brings us back to the other theme of

poverty, and further reinforces the idea that rich people may not necessarily be happy because

they need not have everything they need to be so.

3.0 ENDING

Little Women does not have an ending. It is so because this novel is actually published in

two parts. The second half of Little Women is titled Good Wives. However, Little Women does

have a happy ending. Beth recovers from a critical bout of scarlet fever. Mr. March is

dispatched from the army. John Brooke, Laurie’s tutor, confesses his love to Meg, and thus

Meg’s romance begins. Jo’s career in writing is also taking flight. Although Jo is distraught
about Brooke and Meg’s romance, Laurie’s promise that he will always be by her side comforts

her.

4.0 GENERAL COMMENTARY

This is a novel most probably written for girls, as it has mostly female characters. I

would recommend this book to those in search of some inspiration, as well as those who are

dissatisfied with life. This is also a good novel for girls in their teenage years.

However, I find that modern critics would often argue regarding the place of women at

the center of a happy and loving home. Feminists too would argue with the idea of women being

merely domestic. In Little Women, a woman makes a household a happy place. However, it

does not stop there. The female characters in the novel are all fiercely independent and

industrial. As an example, Mrs. March is left in charge of four girls in the absence of her

husband. In addition to that, the two oldest girls have jobs and are proud of their independence.

The language used is fairly easy with bits of colloquial language, or slang, here and there,

such as “Marmee” instead of “Mummy”, and “fess” for “confess”. The Marches’ servant,

Hannah Mullet uses slang most of the time, probably because English is not her native language,

or that she is used to using conversational, “cockney” or dialect English. It is also revealed that

Hannah is not very well educated, in a letter to Mrs. March in Washington, as Hannah doesn’t

spell very well, as portrayed in “I jist drop a line to say we git on fust rate. The girls is clever and

fly round right smart. Miss Meg is going to make a proper good housekeeper. She hes the liking

for it, and gits the hang of things surprisin quick. Jo doos beat all for goin ahead, but she don't

stop to cal'k'late fust, and you never know where she's like to bring up”. 
 Alcott also induces some French and German in the novel, such as the French “Quel nom

a cetter jeune demoiselle en les pantoulles jolis”, and the German “Das ist gut! Die Engel-

kinder!”. The author also uses some form of abbreviation for the character’s names, such as Meg

for Margaret and Jo for Josephine. On the subject of names, it is also interesting to note how

Alcott chooses the names for her characters. Jo, for instance, is a boyish name, and is befitting

of Jo, who is a tomboy. Laurie, on the other hand sounds feminine, and it suits Laurie because

he is somewhat effeminate. Another thing to note is the significance of the name “March”. In

America, March is the month where winter turns to spring and winter is symbolic of being bare

of plants and flowers and colourless, whereas spring is a season of growth and joy. It signifies

that the Marches start off in “winter” where they endure heavy burdens and trials so that when

they overcome these obstacles, they will receive much happiness.