AN ANALYSIS OF FEMINISM AS REFLECTED IN LOUISA MAY
ALCOTT’S
LITTLE WOMEN
A THESIS
BY
LIANA YUNIKE MANURUNG
Reg. No. 070705018
UNIVERSITY OF SUMATERA UTARA
FACULTY OF LETTERS
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
MEDAN
First, I would like to praise and give Heavenly Father the Almighty God in the name of Jesus Christ the greatest honour who always gives me His blessings, guidance and spirit to finish this thesis.
I would like to say thank to some lecturers who helped and guided to write this thesis, they are:
1. Dr. Drs. Syahron Lubis, M.A as the Dean of Faculty of Letters in University of Sumatera Utara.
2. Dr. Drs. Muhizar Muchtar, M.S as the Head of English Literature Department in University of Sumatera Utara.
3. Dr. Dra. Nurlela, M.Hum as the Secretary of English Literature Department in University of Sumatera Utara.
4. Dra. Martha Pardede, M.S as my Supervisor and Dra. Syahyar Hanum, DPFE as my Co-Supervisor for the precious advices, supporting assistance and understanding that motivated me to finish this thesis.
5. Prof. Dra., Tengku Silvana Sinar, M.A., Ph.D as my Academic Supervisor for the encouragement during my study at English Literature Department in University of Sumatera Utara.
I also thank all of my sisters in my lovely small group “Famz in Christ”: K”Shera, Evy, Eva, Ana, Ayaqi, Herlina, Yulietha who always support me with their love, care, pray and attention. Thank you for everything that we have shared through all these years. May God Bless you all!
brothers and sister Heri, Dicky, Meylani for their loving, caring, and kindness that encourage me to finish this thesis. I will always love you all forever more.
Finally yet importantly, I would like to say thank to my best friend who always supports me and to my entire friends for their participation to help me to do and finish this thesis; Debora, Dewi Maya, Vita, Maya, Rinandes, Elisabeth, Citra and whose names cannot be put in this thesis. They will be in my heart. Thank a lot for everything that they have done for me. Finally, I hope this thesis will always be beneficial for the readers.
Medan,
Liana Yunike Manurung
ABSTRACT
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……… . i
ABSTRACT……….. iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS……… . iv
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION………... . 1
1.1 The Background of Analysis……… 1
1.2 The Problem of Analysis……….. 3
1.3 The Objectives of Analysis……….. 4
1.4 The Scope of Analysis………. 4
1.5 The Significance of Analysis……… 4
1.6 The Theoretical Approach……… 4
1.7 The Theoretical Review……… 5
1.8 Reviews to related Literature……… 8
CHAPTER II : METHOD OF THE ANALYSIS………. 9
2.1 Data Collecting Procedure……… 9
2.2 Data Selecting Procedure………. 10
2.3 The Analyzing Procedure……… 10
CHAPTER III: A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF FEMINISM……… 11
CHAPTER IV: AN ANALYSIS OF FEMINISM AS REFLECTED IN LOUISA MAY ALCOTT’S LITTLE WOMEN……… 20
4.1 Women struggled against patriarchal culture ……… 23
4.3 Women can make decision in self determination……… 36
CHAPTER V : CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS……….. 51
4.1 Conclusion……… 51
4.2 Suggestions……….. 51
BIBLIOGRAPHY
APPENDIXES
Appendix 1: Summary of Little Women novel
ABSTRACT
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
1.1 The Background of Analysis
There are so many thought that women are dominated by men in family and society
and treated as the ‘second’ society because women are weak and powerless. Women are
supposed to be good mothers and women are only to speak when they are spoken to. I am
interest to talk about women because women should get their independence just like men
have. I want to show about women’s independence from this thesis because women are not
meek like the men thought.
Based on my opinion above, I found a good literary work which talked about women
independence. This literary work shows us about women’s determination. The literary work
entitled Little Women written by Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888), published in 1868. The
book was written and set in the Alcott family home, Orchard House in Concord,
Massachusetts. Little women is one of the best-loved children’s stories of all time, based on
the author’s own youthful experiences. It chronicles the lives of March family; father,
Marmee (Mrs. March), Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy and it details the struggles of the March
women, especially Jo, to find sustenance for their family and identities of their own in the
culture of a masculine society. When Mr. March lost his property in trying to help an
unfortunate friend, the two oldest girls begged to be allowed to do something toward their
own support. Meg, hired out as a governess, while Jo hired out to Aunt March as a
companion. But Jo’s desire to be a successful writer and to support her family had long been
cultivated in her strong and independent mind. Jo toiled at the confinement of being
companion and then a governess, but her imagination could not be confined to the quarters of
desire to become a fluent and financially independent writer. It also describes about the story
of their domestic adventure, their attempts to increase the family, their friendship with the
neighboring Laurence family and their later love affairs remain as fresh as ever.
I choose Little Women to be analyzed from the point of view of feminism because in
Little Women, the characters have to struggle for the life by their own support without men.
Alcott deliberately creates strong female characters in order to support the self determination
of women. When Mr. March left for the war, Marmee should continue to take care for the
girls by her own and can run their home without a man supporting it. And also the daughters
should be strong females and make decision by their own choice and work to support their
family.
In this thesis, I will discuss a novel since novel is the main object to be discussed.
Novels are stories of book length written in prose. They are about imaginary people and
events. Novels are about individual human beings, living in a particular time and place,
caught up together in a series of events. Novel is included into the prose fiction besides myth,
parables, romance and short stories. Based on Robert statement in Literature: An Introduction
to Reading and Writing (1995:2), prose fiction, poetry, drama and nonfiction prose are
classified as the literature genres.
Literature is one of the great creative and universal means of communicating the
emotional, spiritual, or intellectual concern of mankind. The basic material of literature is
experience. Through literature, an author tries to express his or her ideas about what he/she
ever experienced in his/her life time or what was happening around them from natural
phenomena to the lives of the people in their community. The word literature, basically,
comes from the Latin ‘littera’ which refers to the written or printed works. Literature helps
and understanding. It makes people understand human dreams, desires and struggles that
happen in different places and times.
1.2 The Statement of Problem
From this analysis I want to show that women have to be independent to discover
every aspect of their being and to develop each component in their own way by using Little
Women.
The book, Little Women, chronicles the lives of the March Family; Father, Marmee, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy, and it details the struggles of the March women, especially Jo, to find sustenance for their family and identities of their own in the culture of a masculine society.
Based on the statement above, I point out that the problems of analysis are:
1. How do the women struggle in Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women?
2. How do the characters fight for life in Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women?
1.3 The Objectives of Analysis
The objectives of the analysis tend to answer the problems of the analysis. Based on
the problems above, the objectives of this analysis mainly:
1. To show the women struggle in Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women.
2. To show the characters fight for life in Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women.
1.4 The Scope of Analysis
In doing the analysis of literary work, actually there should be a scope of analysis, so
understand by the readers. In this thesis I would like to analyze the women struggle through
the characters of Little Women.
1.5 The Significance of Analysis
The analysis of this thesis is expected to give significance to the readers who want to
understand and appreciate literature in general and the works of Louisa May Alcott in
particular. I also hope this thesis will be useful for the readers or people who need this thesis
as a reference. As for human being, this thesis hopefully can help us to give more respect to
others especially women indeed.
1.6 The Theoretical Approach
In order to search the relationship between the novel and social values, there are two
approaches which can be used. First, intrinsic approach which an approach that emphasized
on the elements of the novel itself. As Rene Wellek and Austin Warren says in their book
Theory of Literature (1967:73, 81, 110) that the natural and sensible starting point to work in
literary scholarship is the interpretation and analysis of the work of literature themselves. It
means that it is important to analyze the literary works from the elements of the literary
works themselves in order to get the information. Second, extrinsic approach which analyzes
the literary work from external factors of the literary work such as; biography, autobiography,
history, psychology and other factors that support the making of the novel.
In analyzing this thesis, I use both of the approaches. Deals with the intrinsic
approach, I have to attempt to read the text carefully, try to classify them into their own
element and make a conclusion. I also use extrinsic approach because there is a relation
between the novel and the author. Jo’s character in the novel has almost the same character of
Alcott in the past.
M.H. Abrams in his book The Mirror and the Lamp in 1953 (Quoted from
into four kinds. They are mimetic theory, pragmatic theory, expressive theory, and objective
theory.
Mimetic theory (the theory of imitation) defines literature in relation to life, seeing it
as a way of reproducing or recreating the experiences of man’s life in words. Abrams
(1976:8-9) stated that mimetic theory is the most primitive aesthetic approach. The idea was
developed through Plato’s vision that the literary work itself cannot represent the real life, but
is only the imitation of what happened in our surroundings. Aristotle, on the other hand,
declined Plato’s argument by stated that literary work as an art aims to purify the emotion
(the Latin word ‘catharsis’).
Pragmatic theory relates literary work to its readers. It is called pragmatic because
literature may give the practical result to its readers, and is sometimes also called affective
since literature may give emotional effect to its readers. Pragmatic theory is used to reveal the
functions of literary work in the middle of society, the spread, and the development.
Pragmatic theory deals with the competence of the readers.
Expressive theory focuses on the relation between the literary work and its writer.
This kind of theory believes that literary work is produced through the expression and the
emotion of its writer which are influenced by the background and the experience of the
writer.
Objective theory focuses on the literary work itself, its language, forms, and devices.
This kind of theory declines the relation among literary work, historical aspects, sociological
In analyzing this thesis, I use expressive theory which will prove that the women
character in Little Women actually reflect the women struggle at the nineteenth century and
which will show that the novel is a result of the writer’s imagination and creativity to copy
her life into the novel as one of the independent writer.
Feminism is a phenomenon in the society. When we hear the word “feminism”, the
very first thing that comes up in our mind is “woman”. Feminism is, indeed, identical with
women, especially in their struggle upon the equality with men. Ratna (2004:184) says,
“Dalam pengertian yang paling luas, feminis adalah gerakan kaum wanita untuk menolak
segala sesuatu yang dimarginalisasikan, disubordinasikan, dan direndahkan oleh
kebudayaan dominan, baik dalam bidang politik dan ekonomi maupun kehidupan social pada
umumnya (In its broadest sense, feminist is a women’s movement which rejects the marginal,
subordinated and underestimated things by the dominating culture either in politics,
economics or social life in general). Feminist rejects the injustice as the result of patriarchal
society. Feminist also rejects the history and philosophy as they are assumed as male-oriented
disciplines. Through feminism, women claim to cultural consciousness that they will not be
assumed as the marginal and that the dynamic balance will be achieved (Ratna
2004:186-188).
Feminism is an idea and movement that appose the traditional view on woman. It is
about women who want to struggle to raise their status and their right in family and society.
They will discuss women who want to get free from the domination of men in family and
society. They refuse to be treated as the ‘second’ society and regarded as inferior. They do not
want to live under the shadow of men’s power. Selden states that in pre-Mendelian days men
regarded their sperm as the active seeds which give form to the waiting ovum which lacks
(1968), apropos the sperm/ovum nexus above, ‘deconstructs’ male-dominated ways of seeing
by suggesting that we might prefer to regard the ovum as daring, independent and
individualistic (rather than ‘apathetic’) and the sperm as conforming and sheeplike (rather
than ‘enthusiastic’).
Elaine Showalter in A Handbook to Literature (1999:211) says:
“Feminist criticism has become a wide-ranging exploration of the construction of gender and identity, the role of women in culture and society, and the possibilities of women’s creative expression.”
By using the feminist theory above, hopefully this analysis can show that women can
do what men can do. Also, women can get the equal right with men. As we know that
everything in this world is God’s creation and every person can have it, no exception for men
and women.
1.8 Reviews to Related Literature
In supporting this analysis, a number of books deal with the study are needed. The
several books are used as the main sources that useful to get further information, idea, or
other inputs deal within the analysis. Those books are:
1. An Analysis of Feminism in Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre (2008) by Verawati
Tarigan. This thesis discusses about feminism in the Jane Eyre to find out how far the
attention of Charlotte Bronte in the social condition and how Charlotte face the
women condition in the 19th century, also the ideas of Charlotte Bronte about women
and how far the feminism ideas in Jane Eyre.
2. Feminism in Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Kareninna (2005) by Ramadani Fitri.
CHAPTER II
THE METHOD OF STUDY
In the analysis of the aspect of feminism in Little Women, I apply library research. I
collect the data from related books and other literature that can be connected to the object of
investigation. I also find suitable references from the internet in doing this analysis. I got the
primary source from the novel (Little Women & Good Wives. 1993. London: Wordsworth
Edition Limited), in this case through the characters, while my secondary source is from other
books that related to Feminism.
2.1 Data Collecting Procedure
The very first procedure I collect the main sources of the data which is Little Women
novel by Louisa May Alcott. The technique is used by gathering all the data from the library
or from the internet and other supporting material relevant to the topic of this thesis as many
as possible, and then I begin to read the data carefully, to take down notes and I compose it
properly. In reading the novel I underline every data that show about feminism to make me
easier in collecting from the whole data. The whole data, the quotation will be put in my
thesis later on and find out the relations with the study. The right data are divided into parts to
suit the parts of the study. All of the data are read carefully line by line to find out the relation
2.2 Data Selecting Procedure
The second procedure is data selecting. After I read the novel many times and
underline the data, then I select the data that show feminism. The whole data, the quotation
will be put in my thesis later on and find out the relations with the study. The right data are
divided into parts to suit the parts of the study. All of the data are read carefully line by line
to find out the relation with study.
2.3 Data Analyzing Procedure
For the last procedure is data analyzing. In composing this analysis, I have to combine
the important data from many sources which have been collected and analyzed them well. I
apply library research. Library research is a kind of research where researcher gains the data
from related books and other literature, I analyze the selected data, describe clearly the
analysis and then I can make a conclusion in the end of the analysis.
CHAPTER III
A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF FEMINISM
When we talk about feminism, we talk about women who want to free themselves
from men domination in family and society. They refuse to be treated as the “second” society
and regarded as inferior.
The distinction between biological sex and society constructed in gender is a key
concept to understand feminist theory, which underpins the woman’s movement of the
subordinate status assigned to woman in patriarchal culture. Patriarchy is the popular sense of
male domination either in home or outside home and the power relation by which man
dominates woman. This cultural construction of gender forms the basis for feminist demands
for sex equality and woman liberation. Feminism is not only about woman’s struggle for
political rights but also a system of ideas and a social movement directed toward opposing
men’s privilege of position and woman subordination. This term includes redistribution of
power and recognition of sex equality. Feminism is also called woman freedom in which
want to get the equal right with men. As Charlotte Perkins Gilman, in Women and
Economics (1898), insisted that women not be liberated until they were freed from the
‘domestic mythology” of home and family that kept them dependent on men.
Cordelia Fine, in Delusions of Gender, argues that there is currently no scientific
evidence for innate biological differences between men and women’s minds, and that cultural
and societal beliefs contribute to commonly perceived sex differences.
In the late 14th- and early 15th-century France, the first feminist philosopher, Christine
de Pisan, challenged prevailing attitudes toward women with a bold call for female education
given equal access to education. In the late 16th century Mary Astell issued a more reasoned
rejoinder in A Serious Proposal to the Ladies (1697). Astell suggested that women inclined
neither toward motherhood nor religious vocation should set up secular convents where they
might live, study, and teach.
Feminism is an idea and movement that appose the traditional view on woman. It is
about women who want to struggle to raise their status and their right in family and society.
They will discuss women who want to get free from the domination of men in family and
society. They refuse to be treated as the ‘second’ society and regarded as inferior. They do not
want to live under the shadow of men’s power. Selden states that in pre-Mendelian days men
regarded their sperm as the active seeds which give form to the waiting ovum which lacks
identity till it receives the male’s impress. This idea leads to a belief that the mother is no
parent to her child. Mary Ellman, in her book Thinking about Women (1968), apropos the
sperm/ovum nexus above, ‘deconstructs’ male-dominated ways of seeing by suggesting that
we might prefer to regard the ovum as daring, independent and individualistic (rather than
‘apathetic’) and the sperm as conforming and sheeplike (rather than ‘enthusiastic’). (Selden
et.al. 1997:121)
At the beginning, feminism was only a social movement, then it transformed into
social theory with various theoretical forms. These terms oppose woman’s subordination after
frontal challenge to patriarchal culture and social organization. It is a political label indicating
support for the aim of the new woman’s movement. The movement’s history has gone
through three waves, beginning in the late 18th century.
The first wave was oriented around the station of middle or upper-class white women,
and involved suffrage and political equality. Writers such as Virginia Woolf are associated
“describes how men socially and physically dominate women”. The argument of the book is
that “women are simultaneously victims of themselves as well as victims of men and are
upholders of society by acting as mirrors to men”. She recognizes the social constructs that
restrict women in society and uses literature to contextualize it for other women.
The second wave is identifying from the record publication of Betty Friedan’s The
Feminine Mystique. In the book Friedan hypothesizes that women are victims of a false
belief system that requires them to find identity and meaning in their lives through their
husband and children. Here Friedan as a housewife and mother also writing about middle
class wives and mothers like herself too, who looking at their nice homes and families.
The third wave was a reaction to and continuation of the second wave, taking a
post-structuralist analysis of femininity to argue that there is in fact no all encompassing single
feminist idea. The feminist movement has brought a sweeping variety of social and cultural
change, its impact touching family relations, the place of women in society, gendered
language, and relationships between men and men.
According to Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, Feminism is the belief and aim
that the women should have the same rights and opportunities as men. It is about woman
liberalization, sexual equality between woman and man that have the same responsibilities
and privileges in society, against woman and children violence, rape, and pillage a woman’s
body and emotion, also teaches woman to defense herself from improper condition, how to
maximize her talents and side by side work with man to make a better life.
Feminism teaches woman how to give birth and how to raise their children. It shows
us that relationship between women and her children never ends. It demands that society be
Feminism teaches us that we have both the responsibility and the right to educate our
own children. This is a paramount duty that belongs to both the mother and father. The
feminist rebels against the involuntary intermittent incarceration of children for the crime of
being young. The feminist seek to educate mother and father so that they are able to have and
use their intellect and to develop it to full capacity.
‘Gender studies’ Healey, J. F. (2003:31), is a field of study of interdisciplinary studies
which analyze the phenomenon of gender. Gender studies are sometimes related to studies of
social class, race classification of human beings race, ethnicity, and gender identity sexuality
and location geography location.
In gender studies, the term ‘gender’ is used to refer to the social and cultural
constructions of masculinities and femininities, not to the state of being male or female in its
entirety.
Nancy F. Cott tells the term feminist entered the English language sometimes around
1910. Then, as known, it means a “complete social revolution” in the roles of women. Cott
explain that early feminism had “two dominating ideas: the emancipation of woman both as a
human-being and as a sex being”. It goals were the elimination of all barriers that prevented
women from achieving their complete development as individuals. More radical in its
demands that the suffrage movement, it attracted only a few of the youngest and most
educated woman of its day. It persisted organizationally as the Nationally Woman’s Party,
with its demand for complete constitutional equality of women and men.
The premises of modern day feminism are traceable to its roots in early feminism.
Three main tenets of this philosophy continue today:
ii. Women’s roles and status are a product of the social structure, and thus
changeable
iii. Women are self-identified as a social group; thus they are positioned to act “as
a group” to change their status.
Castro (1990:46) says that true feminism embraces all women. It is not the product of
one political ideology. It embraces conservative and libertarian women as well as liberals and
socialists. It is not the exclusive property of white middle to upper class women in the United
States, who dictate to the rest of the world what it means to be a woman.
Feminism bring about the world in which people of all ages and both sexes embrace
full responsibility for their action, it teaches that women are not slaves to men. Our bodies are
our most precious material possession we will only have one body. We deserve to have that
body respected by men. This means that rape is unacceptable. Assault is unacceptable. We
have a right to a fortress of peace in which or raise our children and we have right to be free
of the mind control which is used a woman to convince them that do not deserve peace in
their homes.
Mary Wollstonecraft as the first feminist or mother of feminism in her book length
essay talk about women’s rights and especially on women’s education, A Vindication of the
Rights of Woman argues that women are not naturally inferior to men, but appear to be only
because they lack of education. She suggests that both men and women should be treated as
rational beings and imagines a social order founded on reason.
Mary Wollstonecraft is usually considered a liberal feminist because her approach is
a difference feminist in her honoring on women’s natural talents and her insistence that
women not be measured by men’s standards.
Lubis (2006:122) stated that there are several feminist theories that develop in the
society, such as liberal, social, Marxist, psychoanalytic, post-modernism, post-structuralism
and ecofeminism, which develop in different situation and condition to represent women’s
experiences which cannot be equated to men’s.
Liberal feminist believe that “female” subordination is rooted in a set of customary
and legal constraints that blocks women’s entrance into and/or success in so called public
world.
Liberal feminist thus believe that if the rules of the game are defined by constitutions,
laws, and the mechanisms established fro their implementation, enforcement, and
adjudication and if they encourage or permit unfair policies to exist then the constitutions,
laws, and mechanisms must be changed.
Socialist feminists see prostitution, domestic work, childcare and marriage as ways in
which women are exploited by a patriarchal system that devalues women and the substantial
work they do. Socialist feminists focus their energies on broad change that affects society as a
whole, rather than on an individual basis. According to some socialist feminists, this view of
gender oppression as a sub-class of class oppression is naive and much of the work of
socialist feminists has gone towards separating gender phenomena from class phenomena.
Marxist feminism attributes women’s oppression to a capitalist economy and the
private property system. Argues that capitalism must be overtrown if the oppression of
women is to end. Draws parallels between women and “workers” and emphasizes collectives
Lesbianism is considered as one of the result of Second-Wave Feminism. The
dissatisfaction of women towards the men makes the women to search for the fulfillment in
women. The beginning of lesbianism was in World-War II where many of women
participated in the army. They used man’s clothing, acted like man and fell in love with
women. The lesbians assume the heterosexuality as a part of patriarchy. Lesbian ethics is not
just a sexual orientation; it is a refusal to be defined either sexually or morally by men.
Liberal feminism is a kind of feminism which focuses on women’s ability to show
and maintain their equality through their own actions and choices. The important issues to
liberal feminism include reproductive and abortion rights, sexual harassment, voting,
education, equality of wage, affordable childcare, affordable health care, and the reduction of
sexual and domestic violence against women.
Post-feminism is a reaction against second-wave feminism, especially lesbianism.
Post-feminists believe that women have achieved the goal of feminism; the equality for
everyone has been done. The characteristic of this idea is when a woman is happy with her
sexuality and is confidence with it. Marrying a man is not considered as something
patriarchal. Instead, it is the realization of finding someone who will make everything
worthwhile. Anti-man is rejected by post-feminism.
The post-structural feminism combines various epistemological movements, including
psychoanalysis and political theory (Marxist), which maintains that difference is one of the
most powerful tools that females posses in their struggle with patriarchal domination, and that
the definition of equality is still defined from the masculine or patriarchal perspective.
The ecofeminism evaluates the patriarchal systems, where men own and control the
land which is seen as an oppression of women and destruction of the natural environment
The social feminism evaluates the unequal standing in both the workplace and the
domestic sphere which holds women down. Social feminism sees prostitution, domestic
work, childcare and marriage as ways in which women are exploited by a patriarchal system
that devalues women and the substantial work they do. Socialist feminists gain their power so
that the effect of the movement will spread out to the whole of society rather than to
individual basis.
According to Rosemary Tong, Radical Feminism focused on two parts. First, it
focuses on man’s manner in controlling woman’s body, dealing with sterilization,
contraception, abortion law, and violence. Second, it articulates the way of man’s
construction on woman’s sexuality to serve their need, desire, without considering women’s
need and desire. Radical feminism focused on reproduction and motherhood, gender and
sexuality themes.
Radical feminism: Cutting-edge branch of feminism focused on sweeping social
reforms, social change, and revolution. Argues against institutions like patriarchy,
heterosexism, and racism and instead emphasizes gender as a social construction, denouncing
biological roots of gender difference. Often paves the way for other branches of feminism.
CHAPTER IV
AN ANALYSIS OF THE ASPECT OF FEMINISM IN LOUISA MAY ALCOTT’S
LITTLE WOMEN
Little Women is a book that values the experiences of women and empowers women
control the characters lives. Little Women shows how women struggled in the
nineteenth-century when women are supposed to be good mothers and women are only speak when they
are spoken to. This novel offer much to young today in the way of feminist virtue, it also does
portray young women with a strong work ethnic and a strong moral foundation. It also
depicts young women with independent minds. In 1869 female independence was simply
chatter. Alcott introduces characters who have the ability to go on and achieve dreams that
were virtually forbidden to women of that time.
All the characters have their own style in living the life from that century. Start from
Margareth called Meg who love the luxurious things because she has ever been rich before
Mr. March lost his property in trying to help an unfortunate friend.
‘We shouldn’t enjoy ourselves half so much as we do now. But it does seem so nice to have little suppers and bouquets, and go to parties, and drive home, and read and rest, and not work. It’s like other people, you know, and I always envy girls who do such things, I’m so fond of luxury,’ said Meg, trying to decide which of two shabby gowns was the least shabby. (p.37)
Josephine March, the second daughter of March family who love being called Jo, a
little bit different with Meg. Joe loves writing and act like a boy because she thinks that a boy
can do everything by their own without any consideration from others. And being a boy she
feels free like use slang words and do whistle.
‘Jo does use such slang words!’ observed Amy, with a reproving look at the long figure stretched on the rug. Jo immediately sat up, put her hands in her pockets, and began to whistle.
‘Don’t, Jo. It’s so boyish!’ ‘That’s why I do it.’
‘I detest rude, unladylike girls!’
‘I hate affected, niminy-piminy chits!’ (p.9)
…I agree not to expect anything from Mother or you, but I do want to buy UNDINE AND SINTRAM for myself. I’ve wanted it so long,’ said Jo, who was a bookworm. (p.7)
‘Jo! Jo! Where are you?’ cried Meg at the foot of the garret stairs. ‘Here!’ answered a husky voice from above, and, running up, Meg found her sister eating apples and crying over the Heir of Redclyffe, wrapped up in a comforter on an old three-legged sofa by the sunny window. This was Jo’s favorite refuge, and here she loved to retire with half a dozen russets and a nice book, to enjoy the quiet and the society of pet rat who lived near by and didn’t mind her a particle. (p.27)
The dim, dusty room, with the busts staring down from the tall bookcases, the cozy chairs, the globes, and best of all, the wilderness of books in which she could wander where she liked, made the library a region of bliss to her. The moment Aunt March took her nap, or was busy with company, Jo hurried to this quiet place, and curling herself up in the easy chair, devoured poetry, romance, history, travels, and pictures like a regular bookworm. (p.40-41)
Beth is a quiet, kind young woman, and a pianist. She enjoys her dolls and cats. She
prefers to be homeschooled and avoids most public situations.
Beth was too bashful to go to school.It had been tried, but she suffered so much that it was given up, and she did her lessons at home with her father. Even when he went away, and her mother was called to devote her skill and energy to Soldiers’ Aid Societies, Beth went faithfully on by herself and did the best she could. She was a housewifely little creature, and helped Hannah keep home neat and comfortable for the workers, never thinking of any reward but to be loved. Long, quiet days she spent, not lonely nor idle, for her little world was peopled with imaginary friends, and she was by nature a busy bee. There were six dolls to be taken up and dressed every morning, for Beth was a child still and and loved her pets as well as ever. Not one whole or handsome one among them, all were outcasts till Beth took them in, for when her sisters outgrew these idols, they passed to her because Amy
repulsive, but all were fed and clothed, nursed and caressed with an affection which never failed. (p.41)
Amy is interested in arts and always acts like a very proper young lady.
‘Little Raphael,’ as her sisters called her, had a decided talent for drawing, and was never so happy as when copying flowers, designing fairies, or illustrating stories with queer specimens of art. Her teachers complained that instead of doing her sums she covered her slate with animals, the blank pages of her atlas were used to copy maps on, and caricatures of the most ludicrous description came fluttering out of all her books at unlucky moments. She got through her lessons as well as she could, and managed to escape reprimands by being a model of deportment. She was a great favorite with her mates, being good-tempered and possessing the happy art of pleasing without effort. Her little airs and graces were much admired, so were her accomplishments, for besides her drawing, she could play twelve tunes, crochet, and read French without mispronouncing more than two-thirds of the words. She had a plaintive way of saying, ‘When Papa was rich we did so-and-so,’ which was very touching, and her long words were considered ‘perfectly elegant’ by the girls. (p.42-43)
Those are the differences among the March sister. Now, I would like to show us how
the women against the patriarchal culture because women are not weak and don’t want to be
called as the second inferior in society because women can earn money and run the house by
her own money and absolutely women can make her own decision with the self determination
with no consideration by others and do it in responsibility.
4.1 Women struggled against patriarchal culture
The convention of the nineteenth century dictated that women stay in the home,
marry, have children and find happiness in so doing. In Little Women appears the self
determination of women through the characters. From the quotation below, it can be seen
women are not weak and here women try to break the patriarchal culture.
Margareth “Marmee” March or Mrs. March is the head of household while her
moral and to shape their characters, usually through experiment. As a mother and being a
father for a while of four daughters she still has time to help and join herself to Soldiers’ Aid
Societies.
….and her mother was called to devote her skill and energy to Soldiers’ Aid Societies….(p.41)
‘As I sat cutting out blue flannel jackets today at the rooms, I felt very anxious about Father, and thought how lonely and helpless we should be , if anything happened to him. It was not a wise thing to do, but I kept on worrying till an old man came in with an order for some clothes. He sat down near me, and I began to talk to him, for he looked poor and tired and anxious. ‘‘Have you sons in the army?’ I asked, for the note he brought was not to me. ‘Yes, ma’am. I had four, but two were killed, one is a prisoner, and I’m going to the other, who is very sick in a Washington hospital.’ he answered quietly.
‘‘You have done a great deal for your country, sir, ‘ I said feeling respect now, instead of pity.
‘‘Not a mite more than I ought, ma’am. I’d go myself, if I was any use. As I ain’t, I give my boys, and give ‘em free.’ ‘He spoke so cheerfully, looked so sincere, and seemed so glad to give his all, that I was ashamed of myself. I’d given one man and thought it too much, while he gave four without grudging them. I had all my girls to comfort me at home, and his last son was waiting, miles away, to say good-by to him perhaps! I felt so rich, so happy thinking of my blessings, that I made him a nice bundle, gave him some money, and thanked him heartily for the lesson he had taught me.’ (p.46)
In raising her daughters without her husband next to her, Mrs. March who always
been called Marmee by the March family often gives advices to them and make them feel
free to talk and say anything and never have any secret to be hidden from her. The quotation
above is one of the moral lessons from her. Marmee wants her daughters be free to talk about
everything with her and she is very close to all of them.
to sew diligently.) ‘These girls were anxious to be good and made many excellent resolutions, but they did not keep them very well, and were constantly saying, ‘If only we had this, ‘ or ‘If we could only do that, ‘ quite forgetting how much they already had, and how many things they actually could do. So they asked an old woman what spell they could use to make them happy, and she said, ‘When you feel discontented, think over your blessings, and be grateful.’’ (Here Jo looked up quickly, as if about to speak, but changed her mind, seeing that the story was not done yet.) ‘Being sensible girls, they decided to try her advice, and soon 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. So they agreed to stop complaining, to enjoy the blessings already possessed, and try to deserve them, lest they should be taken away entirely, instead of increased, and I believe they were never disappointed or sorry that they took the old woman’s advice.’ ‘Now, Marmee, that is very cunning of you to turn our own stories against us, and give us a sermon instead of a romance!’ cried Meg. ‘I like that kind of sermon. It’s the sort Father used to tell us,’ said Beth thoughtfully, putting the needles straight on Jo’s cushion. ‘I don’t complain near as much as the others do, and I shall be more careful than ever now, for I’ve had warning from Susies’s downfall,’ said Amy morally. ‘We needed that lesson, and we won’t forget it. If we do so, you just say to us, as old Chloe did in UNCLE TOM, ‘Tink ob yer marcies, chillen! ‘Tink ob yer marcies!’’ added Jo, who could not, for the life of her, help getting morsel of fun out of the little sermon, though she took it to heart as much as any of them. (p.46-48)
Josephine “Jo” March consistently struggles with the boundaries 19th century society
placed on females, including not being able to fight in war, not being able to attend college.
The society at that time believes that a man is able to join the war not a woman. But the fact
Jo wants to help in the war as the nurse to help the victim or even she can fight with her
father. For the education, a man is more proper to get the high level education than a woman.
Because in this case people believe that man will be the one to earn money in a family and
woman just stay at home and waiting for her husband. Jo wants to show that a woman has a
…And it’s worse than ever now, for I’m dyin to go and fight with Papa. And I can only stay home and knit, like a poky old woman!’ (p.8)
‘Don’t I wish I could go as a drummer, a vivan—what’s its name? Or a nurse, so I could be near him and help him,’ exclaimed Jo, with a groan. (p.13)
‘I suppose you are going to college soon? I see you pegging away at your books, no, I mean studying hard.’ And Jo blushed at the dreadful ‘pegging’ which had escaped her.Laurie smiled but didn’t seem shocked, and answered with a shrug. ‘Not for a year or two. I won’t go before seventeen, anyway.’ ‘Aren’t you but fifteen?’ asked Jo, looking at the tall lad, whom she had imagined seventeen already. ‘Sixteen, next month.’ ‘How I wish I was going to college! You don’t look as if you liked it.(p.33)
As Jo ever said before that she wants to be the man while Mr. March gone to the
battle, Jo also wants to be independent woman, as she said below.
‘I don’t like favors, they oppress and make me feel like a slave. I’d rather do everything for myself, and be perfectly independent.’ (p.283)
Jo always wants to be a boy, not by the physically appearance but being a woman
with no difference between man and woman. She thinks that woman can do what man can do
and man has one thing he can not do as giving birth to a child. Jo wants woman speak when
woman have to speak something that is true. As seen below Jo wants girls show when they
disapprove men.
‘But I think girls ought to show when they disapprove of young men, and how can they do it except by their manners? Preaching does not do any good, as I know to my sorrow, since I’ve had Teddie to manage. But there are many little ways in which I can influence him without a word, and I say we ought to do it to others if we can….
Because too independent, Jo has been left by Aunt March and choose Amy to France.
Jo feel it is not fair Amy can go to France and learn to paint while Jo just wait and find her
own way to be a great writer. But the fact she really wants to go to France with Aunt March
because she has being a companion for her aunt longer than her sister Amy.
‘I’m afraid it’s impossible, Jo. Aunt says Amy, decidedly, and it is not for us to dictate when she offers such a favor.’ ‘It’s always so. Amy has all the fun and I have all the work. It isn’t fair, oh, it isn’t fair!’ cried Jo passionately.
‘I’m afraid it’s partly your own fault, dear. When Aunt spoke to me the other day, she regretted your blunt manners and too independent spirit, and here she writes, as if quoting something you had said—‘I planned at first to ask Jo, but as ‘favors burden her’, and she ‘hates French’,
I think I won’t venture to invite her. Amy is more docile, will make a good companion for Flo, and receive gratefully any help the trip may give her.’ (p.292-293)
As a new mother, Meg loved it very much. She loved to do the house keeping and
loved being a wife for her husband. Meg still runs her role to be a good mother fir her little
family. Meg has the great jobs to be a good mother for her children and be a good wife for
her husband.
‘Yes, Mother, I’m sure of that,’ said Meg, listening respectfully to the little lecture, for the best of women will hold forth upon the all absorbing subject of house keeping. ‘Do you know I like this room most of all in my baby house,’ added Meg, a minute after, as they went upstairs and she looked into her well-stored linen closet. (p.231)
Jo is a fighter for March family.
…. But, you see, Jo wasn’t a heroine, she was only struggling human girl like hundreds of others, and she just acted out her nature, being sad, cross, listless, or energetic, as the mood suggested. It’s highly virtuous to say we’ll be good, but we can’t do it all at once, and it takes a long pull, a strong
devote her life to Father and Mother, trying to make home as happy to them as they had to her?
And if difficulties were necessary to increase the splendor of the effort, what could be harder for a restless, ambitious girl than to give up her own hopes, plans, and desires, and cheerfully live for others? (p.411)
Money come to the people who still waiting for it because God still has plan for
everyone who wants to wait. After the death of the rich Aunt March, she gives Plumfield, a
big house to be run by Jo. Being not so greedy, Jo simply change the use of the house being a
school for little lady, a good, happy and homelike school. Finally she decides that she would
like to open a boys home with her and the Professor as teachers. The home would provide a
place for both rich and poor boys so that each could learn and grow up in a giving
environment. In the nineteenth-century, running a big house and change it into a school like
is still unbelievable because woman at that time are supposed to be a good mother for her
own children not to run any school like that.
The second year began rather soberly, for their prospects did not brighten, and Aunt March died suddenly. But when their first sorrow was over—for they loved the old lady in spite of her sharp tongue—they found they had cause for rejoicing, for she had left Plumfield to Jo, which made all sorts of joyful things possible. ‘Boys. I want to open a school for little lads—a good, happy, homelike school, with me to take care of them and Fritz to teach them.’ ‘That’s a truly Joian plan for you! Isn’t that just like her?’ cried Laurie, appealing to the family, who looked as much surprised as he.
‘I like it,’ said Mrs. March decidedly. ‘So do I,’ added her husband, who welcomed the thought of a chance for trying the Socratic method of education on modern youth.
‘It will be an immense care for Jo,’ said Meg, stroking the head or her one all-absorbing son.
‘Jo can do it, and be happy in it. It’s a splendid idea. Tell us all about it,’ cried Mr. Laurence, who had been
longing to lend the lovers a hand, but knew that they would refuse his help.
jolly for them before it was too late. I see so many going to ruin for want of help at the right minute, I love so to
do anything for them, I seem to feel their wants, and sympathize with their troubles, and oh, I should so like to be a mother to them!’ (p.454-456)
4.2 Women can work
Society in the nineteenth-century did not expect women to work to support
themselves. Family obligations and duties takes away from the woman’s ability to attend to
her own needs and wants. As the American society grew and changed, so did the household.
The American nineteenth-century family often consisted of a man working outside the home,
while the women took care of the house and the family. According to the old English
Common laws, men had absolute power over the family. A woman who has turned into their
puberty will be managed to marry a man who is usually her relative or acquaintance. Most of
them were not permitted to enter the school, even to work. From the statement below, the
characters of Little Women show us that women can work just like men and earn money.
Margareth “Meg” March, as the oldest daughter help mother in run the house. By
being a nursery governess for King’s family and raise a small salary, Meg shows that woman
can do everything even though Meg has ever felt being a daughter with everything served by
her parents before the lost of her parents’ property.
‘I know I do—teaching those tiresome children nearly all day, when I’m longing to enjoy myself at home,’ began Meg, in the complaining tone again. (p.8)
beautiful, life full of ease and pleasure, and want of any kind unknown. She
tried not to be envious or discontented, but it was very natural that the young girl should long for pretty things, gay friends, accomplishments, and a happy life. At the Kings’ she daily saw all she wanted, for the children’s older sisters were just out, and Meg caught frequent glimpses of dainty ball dresses and bouquets, heard lively gossip about theaters, concerts, sleighing parties, and merrymakings of all kinds, and saw money lavished on trifles which would have been so precious to her. Poor Meg seldom complained, but a sense of injustice made her feel bitter toward everyone sometimes, for she had not yet learned to know how rich she was in the blessings which alone can make life happy. (p.39-40)
Josephine “Jo” March as the second daughter is a tomboy, outspoken and has a
passion of writing. In helping the March financial Jo is working with Aunt March being her
companion. Jo is unhappy employed as a companion by her aunt, but in order to get money
she has to do it.
‘You don’t have half such a hard time as I do,’ said Jo. ‘How would you like to be shut up for hours with a nervous, fussy old lady, who keeps you trotting, is never satisfied, and worries you till you you’re ready to fly out the window or cry? (p.8)
When March family receives a telegram from Washington told about Mr. March is
seriously ill makes Marmee has to come to Washington and taking care of Mr. March. In
order to be there Mrs. March need money and asked Jo to borrow money from the rich Aunt
March, but knowing the stingy of Aunt March finally Jo decide to make money by her own.
In the way to get to Aunt March house, she decides to sell something that belongs to her. It is
her long hair such a good sacrifice that Jo made. Jo goes and has her hair cut off and so that
she can provide the family $25.00.
‘My dear, where did you get it? Twenty-five dollars! Jo, I hope you haven’t done anything rash?’ ‘No, it’s mine honestly. I didn’t beg, borrow, or steal it. I earned it, and I don’t think you’ll blame me, for I only sold what was my own.’ As she spoke, Jo took off her bonnet, and a general
outcry arose, for all her abundant hair was cut short. ‘Your hair! Your beautiful hair!’ ‘Oh, Jo, how could you? Your one beauty.’ ‘My dear girl, there was no need of this.’ ‘She doesn’t look like my Jo any more, but I love her dearly for it!’ (p.155-156)
Jo’s hobbies in writing any story she like, finally in bravely she decide to let her story
to be printed even though she got nothing for it. It is because as beginners she paid for
nothing, but let her story published is enough for her.
‘Tell us about it.’ ‘When did it come?’ ‘How much did you get for it?’ ‘What will Father say?’ ‘Won’t Laurie laugh?’ cried the family, all in one breath as they clustered about Jo, for these foolish, affectionate people mad a jubilee of every little household joy. ‘Stop jabbering, girls, and I’ll tell you everything,’ said Jo, wondering if Miss Burney felt any grander over her Evilina than she did over her ‘Rival Painters’. Having told how she disposed of her tales, Jo added, ‘And when I went to get my answer, the man said he liked them both, but didn’t pay beginners, only let them print in his paper, and noticed the stories. It was good practice, he said, and when the beginners improved, anyone would pay. So I let him have the two stories, and today this was sent to me, and Laurie caught me with it and insisted on seeing it, so I let him. And he said it was good, and I shall write more, and he’s going to get the next paid for, and I am so happy, for in time I may be able to support myself and help the girls.’ (p.150-151)
Joe finally can earn money from her story “rubbish” as she called it. The purpose of
her to write a story is to satisfy her to do her hobby. As she and her family need money to
stay alive, finally Jo sent her story to a newspaper to be published. And she made it well even
the money she gets is to small, but she still tries it until she becomes a great writer. She called
her story “rubbish” because the moral lesson of the story should be cut because of the
demand of the market which likes the sensational story with no moral lesson in it.
slowly increasing pile of blotted manuscript, which was one day to place the name of March upon the roll of fame. (p.227)
A good girl is a girl who can arrange her financial. Jo as one of the March daughter
who has earn money by being a companion of her aunt know how difficult to earn money and
warn her sister Amy to spend her money for such a need thing and not spend it for nothing.
‘Why in the world should you spend your money, worry your family, and turn the house upside down for a parcel of girls who don’t care a sixpence for you? I thought you had too much pride and sense to truckle to any mortal woman just because she wears French boots and rides in a coupe,’ said Jo, who, being called from the tragic climax of her novel, was not in the best mood for social enterprises. (p.246)
The purpose of Jo going to New York is to get money and can make her family and
especially Beth happy and can get what Beth wants. Jo knows that with money she can buy
an organ for Beth and filling home with comforts and going herself abroad.
Though very happy in the social atmosphere about her, and very busy with the daily work that earned her bread and made it sweeter for the effort, Jo still found time for literary labors. The purpose which now took possession of her was a natural one to a poor and ambitious girl, but the means she took to gain her end were not the best. She saw that money conferred power, therefore, she resolved to have, not to be used for herself alone, but for those whom she loved more than life.
Jo March has the story with moral lesson inside, but because the market ask
something in sensational story with no moral lesson, so Jo should cut her story and just left
the sensational part and lose the moral lesson part. There is a bad thing at her heart because
she thinks that a story has to have a moral lesson inside, but because she needs money she
just cut it and at the end she decide to write a story with moral lesson inside.
When she went again, Mr. Dashwood was alone, whereat she rejoiced. Mr. Dashwood was much wider awake than before, which was agreeable and Mr. Dashwood was not too deeply absorbed in a cigar to remember his manners, so the second interview was much more comfortable than the first. ‘We’ll take this (editors never say I), if you don’t object to a few alterations. It’s too long, but omitting the passages
I’ve marked will make it just the right length,’ he said, in a businesslike tone. Jo hardly knew her own MS again, so crumpled and underscored were its pages and paragraphs, but feeling as a tender patent might on being asked to cut off her baby’s legs in order that it might fit into a new cradle, she looked at the marked passages and was surprised to find that all the moral reflections—which she had carefully put in as ballast for much romance—had been stricken out.
‘But, Sir, I thought every story should have some sort of a moral, so I took care to have a few of my sinners repent.’
Mr. Dashwoods’s editorial gravity relaxed into a smile, for Jo had forgotten her ‘friend’, and spoken as only an author could. ‘People want to be amused, not preached at, you
know. Morals don’t sell nowadays.’ Which was not quite a correct statement, by the way.
‘You think it would do with these alterations, then?’
‘Yes, it’s a new plot, and pretty well worked up— language good, and so on,’ was Mr. Dashwood’s affable reply. (p.329)
‘What do you—that is, what compensation—’ began Jo, not exactly knowing how to express herself. ‘Oh, yes, well, we give from twenty-five to thirty for things of this sort. Pay when it comes out,’ returned Mr. Dashwood, as if that point had escaped him. Such trifles do escape the editorial mind, it is said. ‘Very well, you can have it,’ said Jo, handing back the story with a satisfied air, for after the dollar-a-column work, even twenty-five seemed good pay. (p.329-330)
After decide to write what is inside of her heart Jo finishes her new story and sent by
her father to a magazine and got paid for it. Jo dedicates her work to her family. And also this
An hour afterward her mother peeped in and there she was, scratching away, with her black pinafore on, and an absorbed expression, which caused Mrs. March to smile and slip away, well pleased with the success of her suggestion. Jo never knew how it happened, but something got into that story that went straight to the hearts of those who read it, for when her family had laughed and cried over it, her father sent it, much against her will, to one of the popular magazines, and to her utter surprise, it was not only paid for, but others requested.
Letters from several persons, whose praise was honor, followed the appearance of the little story, newspapers copied it, and strangers as well as friends, admired it. For a small thing it was a great success, and Jo was more astonished than when her novel was commended and condemned all at once.
‘I don’t understand it. What can there be in a simple little story like that to make people praise it so?’ she said, quite bewildered.
‘There is truth in it, Jo, that’s the secret. Humor and pathos make it alive, and you have found your style at last.
You wrote with not thoughts of fame and money, and put your heart into it, my daughter. You have had the bitter, now comes the sweet. Do your best, and grow as happy as we are in your success.’
‘If there is anything good or true in what I write, it isn’t mine. I owe it all to you and Mother and Beth,’ said Jo, more touched by her father’s words than by any amount of praise from the world.
So taught by love and sorrow, Jo wrote her little stories, and sent them away to make friends for themselves and her, finding it a very charitable world to such humble wanderers, for they were kindly welcomed, and sent home comfortable tokens to their mother, like dutiful children whom good fortune overtakes. (p.411-412)
4.3 Women can make decision in self determination
From Little Women, Alcott deliberately creates strong female characters in order to
support self determination.
Amy is a strong character. She too succumbs to peer pressure as a youngster but
emerges strong in the end. Amy and her friends enjoy sucking on limes in school even though
it is forbidden. She succumbs to peer pressure by bringing the forbidden limes to school and
gets caught by Mr. Davis, the teacher. Amy honestly hands over the limes and is still severely
punished by Davis. After boldly enduring the punishment she leaves the school house
and sisters. By her own volition, Amy decides to stay at home to be schooled rather than be
humiliated and bullied by Mr. Davis.
‘Young ladies, you remember what I said to you a week ago. I am sorry this has happened, but I never allow my rules to be infringed, and I never break my word. Miss
March, hold out your hand.’ Amy started, and put both hands behind her, turning on him an imploring look which pleaded for her better than the words she could not utter. She was rather a favorite with ‘old Davis’, as, of course, he was called, and it’s my private belief that he would have broken his word if the indignation of one irrepressible young lady had not found vent in a hiss. That hiss, faint as it was, irritated the irascible gentleman, and sealed the culprit’s fate. ‘Your hand, Miss March!’ was the only answer her mute appeal received, and too proud to cry or beseech, Amy set her teeth, threw bach her head defiantly, and bore without flinching several tingling blows on her little palm. They were neither many nor heavy, but that made no difference to her. For the first time in her life she had been struck, and the disgrace, in her eyes, was as deep as if he had knocked her down.
‘You will now stand on the platform till recess,’ said Mr. Davis, resolved to do the thing thoroughly, since he had begun.
The fifteen minutes seemed an hour, but they came to an end at last, and the word ‘Recess!’ had never seemed so welcome to her before.
‘You can go, Miss March,’ said Mr. Davis, looking, as he felt, uncomfortable.
He did not soon forget the reproachful glance Amy gave him, as she went, without a word to anyone, straight into the anteroom, snatched her things, and left the place ‘forever,’ as she passionately declared to herself.
Later in the novel Amy makes yet another independent decision that will affect the
course of her life. Early in the novel Amy too makes her desires known. She wishes to “be an
artist, and go to Rome and so fine pictures.” This wish is realized as Amy does go to Rome
and keeps a part of her life until the end. While in Rome on an excursion to be trained in arts
and culture Amy decides to marry Laurie without the consent or consideration of the opinions
of others or her family.
‘Little Raphael,’ as her sisters called her, had a decided talent for drawing, and was never so happy as when copying flowers, designing fairies, or illustrating stories with queer specimens of art. Her teachers complained that instead of doing her sums she covered her slate with animals, the blank pages of her atlas were used to copy maps on, and caricatures of the most ludicrous description came fluttering out of all her books at unlucky moments. (p.42-43)
If ‘genius is eternal patience’, as Michelangelo affirms, Amy had some claim to the divine attribute, for she persevered in spite of all obstacles, failures, and discouragements, firmly believing that in time she should do something worthy to be called ‘high art’. She was learning, doing, and enjoying other things, meanwhile, for she had resolved to be an attractive and accomplished woman, even if she never became a great artist. Here she succeeded better, for she was one of those happily created beings who please without effort, make friends everywhere, and take life so gracefully and easily that less fortunate souls are tempted to believe that such are born under a lucky star. Everybody liked her, for among her good gifts was tact. She had an instinctive sense of what was pleasing and proper, always said the right thing to the right person, did just what suited the time and place, and was so self-possessed that her sisters used to say, ‘If Amy went to court without any rehearsal beforehand, she’d know exactly what to do.’ (p.243-244)
Amy has ever said before that she will be a great painter in the future and now she has
one step closer to make her dream come true. She goes to Rome and proves that she can be a
teacher of drawing for her living next.
‘It isn’t a mere pleasure trip to me, girls,’ she said impressively, as she scraped her best palette.
‘It will decide my career, for if I have any genius, I shall find it out in Rome, and will do something to prove it.’ ‘Suppose you haven’t?’ said Jo, sewing away, with red eyes, at the new collars which were to be handed over to Amy.
Amy finally realizes that a woman does not marry just for money but love. As can be
seen she left Fred Vaughn and accept Laurie because she loves Laurie with the fact that
Laurie is not as rich as Fred Vaughn.
If they love one another it doesn’t matter a particle how old they are nor how poor. Women never should marry for money...’ Amy caught herself up short as the words escaped her, and looked at her husband, who replied, with malicious gravity... ‘Certainly not, though you do hear charming girls say that they intend to do it sometimes. If my memory serves me, you once thought it your duty to make a rich match. That accounts, perhaps, for your marrying a good-for nothing like me.’ ‘Oh, my dearest boy, don’t, don’t say that! I forgot you were rich when I said ‘Yes’. I’d have married you if you hadn’t a penny, and I sometimes wish you were poor that I might show how much I love you.’ And Amy, who was very dignified in public and very fond in private, gave convincing proofs of the truth of her words. (p.431-432)
The independence of women is shown most frequently through Jo’s character. Jo’s
wish is to “write books and get rich and famous some day”. While Jo does write, she does not
become rich and famous. After entering a story to win a $100 prize Jo waits an excruciating
six weeks. She does win the prize to the pleasant surprise of her family. Jo then continues to
realize her dream to write and continues to do so throughout the story. It must have been
difficult for a woman to take on such goals in the late 1800’s.
After knowing that Amy went to Rome with Aunt March, Jo decide to get out from
her house and goes to New York to try her fortune. Marmee helps Jo in finding a boarding
house of Marmee’ friend. Jo being a teacher of Mrs.Kirke’ children in New York before she
can try her wings to be a good writer. Jo tries everything she can do to make her dream come
true.
‘Why, Jo?’ And her mother looked up quickly, as if the words suggested a double meaning. With her eyes on her work Jo answered soberly, ‘I want something new. I feel restless and anxious to be seeing, doing, and learning more than I am. I brood too much over my own small affairs, and need stirring up, so as I can be spared this winter, I’d like to hop a little way and try my wings.’
