The coming-of-age novel “Little Women” written by Louisa May Alcott focuses on the lives of the four March sisters—Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy—and their journal from childhood to adulthood. The eldest sister, Meg, hopes to be a successful housewife and marry well. Jo, as a tomboy, doesn’t want to be a girl and assumes the behaviors of a boy. She is friends with a boy nicknamed Laurie. Beth is very gentle, shy, and musical, while Amy is the baby of the family and is very artistic. Through their day-to-day experiences, the sisters navigate the struggles of growing up, challenges of loss and hardship, and learn important life lessons about kindness, compassion, and resilience from their mother Marmee. The first part gives lessons that girls learn throughout their life, while the second part gets into their sentimental and romantic aspects, where John Brooke marries Meg, Professor Bhaer marries Jo, Beth dies of illness, and Amy and Laurie marry. At the end of the novel, all rejoice in Marmee leading such a successful life and celebrate her sixtieth birthday. This book presents the stereotypes of women, discusses being poor, and shows opinions about marriage.
Women, especially in the Victorian era, have been asked to meet the stereotypes about being a perfect lady, from their appearance to their personality, which is unfair to women and this is why people must fight to diminish the stereotypes about women. The social norms expect women to be elegant, dainty, polite, compassionate, and caring. The stereotypes portray women as selfless, nurturing, and dedicated to serving their families and maintaining a peaceful domestic life. Meg embodies the ideal woman, as she could do many things as traditional domestic roles, such as doing housekeeping work and having a girlish attitude. Many people thought Meg is a good little woman and approved of her. Thus, her marriage was quite successful with John Brooke. She had occasional check-ins with Marmee to see where she could improve. Jo, on the other hand, is a tomboy and doesn’t like submitting to men all the time. She makes her career with her writing skills. She entered multiple writing competitions and even got some of her works published. Many people dislike her. An ideal or perfect lady in society is one who conforms to domestic life. This, however, makes it burdensome for many women to satisfy. Jo, the protagonist in the novel, challenges traditional gender roles and rejects social expectations for women. Neither does Jo look like a girl in her appearance, nor does she act and think like a girl in her spirit. She longs for being independent and makes a living of her own with her talent in writing. She never wants to marry, although she does at the end of the novel. Even so, she does not depend entirely on Bhaer, her spouse. Instead, they have an interdependent relationship where Bhaer depends on Jo and Jo depends on Bhaer. This novel informs readers that a woman’s status in the family depends on their financial status. If the woman has a job, then it would be likely that she could support herself in society, regardless of how people view her. This novel also points out two types of women, the ones that marry rich men dependent upon them, like Amy, and the ones that are headstrong and independent with their own job, like Jo. Every woman has her own choices to be which kind of women; no right or wrong or any biased description from the author. As long as women have their protection, whether it is from men or themselves, they would be able to survive in society. Women need to be given freedom from their minds and opportunity to find their own value and prove the value of themselves, rather than being limited to marriage. The stereotype toward women is very harsh; that’s why we women need to fight against such unfair stereotypes with the assumption of women having a working job, showing they are financially independent.
Even though being poor in money can be heartbreaking to some people or some families, they are rich in spirit which gives them comfort and have no jealousy at rich people. The idea of being poor is re-defined, emphasizing the importance of finding inner strength and happiness and having unconditional family love and support as sources of true wealth. The March family does not want to be rich, and each one has her own daily life, making them fulfilled. The girls are encouraged by their mother Marmee to learn moral values of kindness, selflessness, compassion, and resilience. They realize that a complete family is a precious fortune, as there may be many happy moments. Laurie, on the other hand, is very lonely with his grandfather because his parents died when he was born. When people are poverty stricken, they often hope for money and other valuable things to make them rich again. However, some people do not wish for more money, nor for having jealousy towards rich people, despite their financial struggle. This is because they come from a complete family, which is a priceless treasure. The mother Marmee consistently demonstrates empathy, compassion, and wisdom. Her guidance and unconditional love provide girls the foundation for their personal growth and inner strength. This makes them not inclined to make money and ask why they are so poor, like other people. They even have the ability to help people who are poorer than them, like helping the Hummels for food and warmth. In contrast, the boy Laurie was a very unfortunate orphan. Laurie’s grandfather always took care of him, never letting him go out. It wasn’t until Jo went there that he began to feel well. The old Mr. Laurence was also very touched by the March’s generosity, and in turn gave them a large and beautiful dinner that would be proper for a banquet. Material wealth does not necessarily equate to happiness and fulfillment, but spiritual richness, highlighting the significance of family love, kindness, and resilience, makes the poor pleasant.
A fulfilling marriage is one based on emotional connection, mutual support, and shared values, rather than built on societal or materialistics motives. Everyone has his own opinions about marriage, based on what to marry, and whom to marry. Whatever the reasons are, everyone should consider carefully if he would be happy or feel the understanding and support from his new life companion before getting married. Jo, mother Marmee, and Aunt March all have different views toward marriage. In Aunt March’s mind, the most important thing in marriage is money. To mom Marmee, emotion plays a vital role in marriage. Jo feels the need to have full support from her husband about her writing career and understand her. Eventually Jo marries Bhaer because she knows Bhaer will support her even if sometimes they have some disagreements. Marriage debates the lives of many people. If a person marries wrong, he or she might end up with a miserable life because of the unhappiness with the wedded husband or wife. It is essential for a person to look for what qualities the spouse needs to have, such as caring characteristics, or other singularities. While some people prioritize love and emotional connection when thinking about marriage, others consider more in financial ability and social status. It’s hard to tell which one is better since there might be other concerning factors, but it would be better to find the balance between marrying for practical reasons or love. Moreover, women’s dreams or ambitions shouldn’t be limited before, during, or after marrying. Women have the right to pursue their financial independence and personal growth even if they are committed to a marriage. Most importantly, women should be treated equally as men within the marriage. Marriage could be seen as a collaborative relationship where both husbands and wives respect, contribute and grow from each other. There is no right or wrong way to approach marriage but for sure each individual needs to find his own path to happiness.
Little Women is a beloved coming-of-age novel that is loved by all readers. It is a very lovely story that concerns four sisters, and their lessons and experiences of growing up, especially Jo and Meg. They all share the same lessons and argue a lot. But they always have a good sisterhood. In the second part there are many marriage affairs, between Meg, Jo, and Amy, Amy marries Laurie, Jo marries Professor Bhaer, and Meg marries John Brooke. Meg asks Mrs March for some ideas about how to connect with John after they have kids. Being a woman was hard in the Victorian era because of the many stereotypes about women.This made many women want to challenge the beliefs about women and be standing up to the stereotypes. Also, being poor is not bad, because as long as people have plenty of love and other spiritual riches, they will not have the thirst for more money. Marriage is a very serious topic to consider, as many people have different views on it.
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