Little Women by Louisa May Alcott is a revolutionary novel on the struggles and obstacles young girls overcome as they strive to become well-mannered, elegant, and graceful. This coming-of-age story features four young girls learning how to be kinder and more generous, with their mother always there for them, despite their father being away at war in the army. They have many adventures and meet many boys, causing them to get married one by one. They have lots of fun, with some of them clinging to their childhood happiness, but eventually getting thrust into the adult world. As Amy, Meg, Jo, and Beth navigate the turbulent waters of growth, they have to face the fact that they are no longer children, and that there are dangerous things, big and small. Eventually, Beth succumbs to scarlet fever. Amy is the perfect woman, graceful and kind, with a husband that can support both of them. Jo finds a boy as poor as she is, and is happy about it. She is a governess, allowing her to help support Marmee and the others. Similarly, Meg is also a governess, but she hates her job, which reminds her of everything she once had. She marries John Brooke, Amy’s husband’s tutor. Little Women shows every aspect of ladyhood, the happiness, the sadness, and the love.
Love conquers all, whether it be petty quarrels, poverty, or even social acceptance. Once a person has finally found true love, they will have someone to comfort them, someone to welcome them home after a long day at work, and someone to help them through the troubles and problems in life. In Little Women, all the girls originally viewed love as something that only family had, but they eventually all found the perfect husband. They each had a multitude of problems, such as lack of money, insecure jobs, and not being a “proper” woman. But many problems were alleviated and even completely stopped when they were married, because they had someone to help them deal with their burdens. Despite having marriage problems, like with Meg and John fighting over how lonely Meg was during the day, with only her children keeping her company, or simply not wanting to be married like Jo, love can show you how amazing it can be with others to keep you company. Their mother knew the power of love. Love’s power lies in the fact that it helps relieve huge burdens and gives you someone to share them with, and help carry them. Love is a force that can change all people for the better.
Stereotypical assumptions towards females is a terrible thing, and is almost always wrong. It can create opinions that aren’t based on actually knowing someone, and are simply biased assumptions. In Little Women, stereotypes placed an extra stress on the girls, most impactfully Jo, who was thought to be extremely tomboyish and not a proper young girl, which was considered to be elegant and gentle. On the other hand, some of the girls such as Amy were already pretty and nice, but they still had to face contempt amongst the family. Stereotypes cause problems even if you follow all of them, because they are unfair. This problem is very deep rooted, and it’s linked to discrimination and racism to people from all walks of life. Many stereotypes are negative, and the few that are positive tend to insult other races. For example, a common stereotype is about how there are boy colors and girl colors, which can lead to people getting mocked and teased if they happen to like a color of the opposite gender. Assumptions can be hurtful and mean, especially if they are used as an insult. We should never use stereotypes and try to fight bias, and keep it from affecting our daily lives.
Poverty can be crippling to many people, but as long as you have family and friends to help fund you and comfort you, you can still become a great person. Wealth is not a big factor in being a good person. Wealth only gives some extra bonuses, but if you work hard and try your best, you can become successful. In Little Women, the girls tried to pursue their dreams, despite being fairly poor. Such as Meg, who hates her job, but is strong enough to work it until she has enough saved up. And Jo managed to be Aunt Marches companion, but she also makes time for her passion, writing, and gets many stories into the news. They are all very happy, even if their job is hard, or they are tired, they have each other to tell stories and have fun. Family can provide solace after very hard times, or even simply after a long day at work or having to reject a suitor. Poverty does not affect people very much unless you let it harm you, you can still empower yourself to rise out of the lower class.
Little Women is an advanced book that teaches and entertains us about the life of women in the 1860s, and it features many complex themes. This book shows us the power of love, and its transformative nature of good. It makes all of the girls more mature, and changes them in some way. Another major theme is marriage, which is shown by how many of the girls have conflicting feelings about marriage, most notably Jo, who simply wants to stay a child forever and not have to grow up. But they all eventually find the perfect husband, and get married. The last major theme is poverty. Poverty often causes people to become hopeless, but in this story the March girls were very poor, but they didn’t let that stop them. They tried to help other people even less fortunate than them, even though their father was away at war and they couldn’t even afford Christmas presents. Little Women by Lousia May Alcott is an amazing book, and I recommend it for all ages.
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