Little Women by Louisa May Alcott *****

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott recounts the story of the four March sisters (Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy -16, 15, 13, 12). The main character is Jo. This is a book of 19^th-century gender stereotypes. Jo frequently says things like, “I don’t mean to plague you, and will bear it like a man.” Jo is strong, willful, independent, and a reader. I imagine that many young girls identified with Jo.

Despite, Jo’s resistance, the book is traditional and supportive of 19^th-century values. All the girls sew, cook, clean, and play music. Jo lives in a gendered ocean and cannot see the water even as she asserts her independence. A delightful book of an idyllic time that might never have existed. A fun read in a Norman Rockwell way.

This book was an instant success. Louise May Alcott was a 19^th-century J.K. Rowling. The author was one of the richest women in America. “The diaries of late-nineteenth-century young women are riddled with references to it. Girls and young women, including students at Vassar, started Alcott or Little Women clubs and took on the identities of the March sisters.” This is like people today adopting membership in the houses of Hogwarts.

Jo sold her hair for $25 long before Delia sold hers for $20 in O. Henry’s Gift of the Magi.

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