LITTLE WOMEN By Louisa May Alcott
Little Women has entered our cultural consciousness as a byword for wholesome American family values, as emblematic as a patchwork quilt or apple pie.
Rejected by some now as saccharine and sentimental or offering a restrictive view of women, it is cherished by many more who recognise the realism, humour and integrity of Alcott’s work.
It is the story of the March family. When the father goes off to serve in the Civil War as a chaplain, Marmee is left to guide and raise her four daughters: Meg, the beautiful 16-year-old who hankers after comfort; Jo, the harum-scarum writer who wishes she were a boy; Beth, an unwell 13-year-old whose unselfishness and calm makes her loved by all; Amy, a rather vain 12-year-old with artistic pretensions. Together, these girls learn how to work hard, think of others and forgive and, eventually, to leave behind personal ambition through the wise advice of their mother, prayer and a rather moralistic interpretation of Pilgrim’s Progress (the ‘little book’ they are to read every day).
Familiar moral landscape
The world my daughters are growing up in is very different from 19th-century New England — they don’t need to fret about spoilt gloves or chaperones, and no one will frown at their running, short hair or educational ambition. Still, the moral landscape is terribly familiar. Vanity, peer pressure, laziness and anger must still be battled against, and there is more moral credibility in this narrative than in most modern novels which might have more sophisticated characterisation or contemporary reference. Little Women is a great tool, then, for girls growing up. It dramatises the real necessity of taming our hearts and the beauty of living a good life.
I do have a caveat though. The battle the March family engages in is moral not spiritual; by trying hard those girls can conquer sin and move onto a higher plane of ease and satisfaction, at which point they can become settled mothers themselves. While inspired by a March determination to change, we do well to remind ourselves, as we read Little Women, of Paul’s words: ‘Work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and act according to his good purpose’. God’s grace shows us the battle, equips us for the battle and, ultimately, wins the battle.
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