A Review and Biographical Sketch: Little Women

Today, a 36-year-old woman author writing a bestselling novel about growing up with her sisters would not be unusual. In 1868, when Louisa May Alcott wrote Little Women, this was revolutionary. She lived in Concord and Boston, Massachusetts, and wrote her most famous novel about four sisters, Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy March. These four sisters are a part of a poor but happy family. Their father is in the Civil War and their mother takes care of the family at home. They have a housemaid named Hannah and are friends with a neighbor boy, who is Jo’s age, named Laurie. The story begins around Christmas and takes places in a small New England town. 

The genre of the book is a coming of age and sentimental novel. Little Women reflects the life of Louisa May Alcott, who was born on November 29, 1832, in Germantown, Pennsylvania. She and her three sisters, Anna, Elizabeth, and May, were educated by their father, Bronson Alcott, who was a philosopher and teacher. Louisa and her sisters also learned the importance of living out their Christian faith through serving from their mother, Abigail May Alcott. Like the character “Jo March,” Louisa was a tomboy. She had a rich imagination and often acted out her stories with her sisters. She always liked to act out as villains, ghosts, bandits, and disdainful queens. Louisa found out she liked to write when she was young. Sadly, Louisa also had a sister who died at young age, which obviously contributed to the story of Beth in Little Women. Louisa wrote poems, short stories, thrillers, and tales for young children to read. In all, she wrote 30 books and collections of stories.  

In the novel, the March family faces many troubles. For example, the girls’ father becomes ill while fighting in the war, and their mother must leave immediately to help him. While she is gone, Beth develops scarlet fever after visiting a poor German family. She becomes permanently weakened. As her life goes on, Beth’s scarlet fever gets worse. Beth realizes that she does not have much time left to live. She tells Jo that she is nearing the end and that she is not afraid of dying. She encourages Jo to carry on with her writing but to continue her career with a focus on loving and serving others. Beth says, “… remember that I don’t forget you, and that you’ll be happier in doing that than writing splendid books or seeing all the world, for love is the only thing that we can carry with us when we go, and it makes the end so easy.” Jo responds, saying, “I’ll try.” In fact, all of the sisters try and succeed. In time, Meg, Jo, and Amy are married and off on their own. 

I really enjoyed reading Little Women because of the moving trials that the March girls go through and the funny situations they fall into.

“My book came out; and people began to think that topsy-turvy

Louisa would amount to something after all.” -Louisa May Alcott

– By Shieldmaiden