Little Women (Final)

Little Women- Louisa May Alcott

****Don't read for spoilers!

After finishing this book, I must admit that I'm quite dissapointed in the way that everything turned out for the March family. First of all, it ended up being Amy who married Laurie (seriously? he was in love (and probably still is) with her sister and he decides to just settle for another sister??? That's not how fiction works!) Second of all, they made Beth die. C'mon that's 0/2 in happy endings here. And Meg ends up getting married to John, so that was a good thing, but it was expected earlier in the book. Then, just to top things off, Jo went and married Prof. Bhaer (still no clue how to say his class name...) It was kind of nice that the author made a change and decided not to have the two main characters fall in love and live happily ever after, but my real disappointment came from expecting that to happen the whole book. Ugh. I'm still bitter.

As a side note to other plot related things, the poem that Jo wrote about Beth right before she was dying was so cute. I'll admit it, I got a little teary eyed...but imagine if you were dying and your sister wrote you a poem expressing all your wonderful qualities. It's adorable.

On another side note, I finally figured out what Alcott meant when she titled the book, "Little Women." From the beginning of the book to the end, it was a span of nine years in which the reader watched the March sisters go from adolescents to "little women." Each sister takes a different path, and each learns something from their respective journey. For example, Meg learns to share her mother's belief that love can triumph over poverty, Jo learns about the struggles of being a female writer in the real world and Amy learns the wealth acquired from traveling. The title is a reference to how the girls morph into adults in the story, and how the reader watches it unfold. (Kind of sad I didn't put that together earlier, but oh well)

Continuing along the same thing of money not bringing you happiness, Alcott did a nice job of saying this when Meg said, "Wealth is certainly a most desirable thing, but poverty has its sunny side, and one of the sweet uses of adversity is the genuine satisfaction which comes from hearty work of head or hand.." (264). I like this line, for they are saying to find satisfaction in the things that one does have, and while it is okay to want something else, you should still appreciate the situation in which you're in.

But on the contrary, Amy presents a rebellious side to this message when she explains her reasoning for settling for Fred saying, "One of us must marry well; Meg didn't, Jo won't, Beth can't yet, so I shall, and make everything cozy all around" (311). Despite her saying this, and not having the purest intentions, it's kind of funny how she ended up marrying Laurie for good intentions, and he just happened to be wealthy too. Basically, Alcott's message to her reader was saying to be content with everything that one has.

I would most definitely recommend this book to girls who like classics and would enjoy a well-written story. It took a little bit of time to get into, but the author made it so the characters were relatable and as the reader, I found myself getting really upset at certain things.Despite it being a good book and a fantastic plot, there were a lot of parts where I found myself going back and re-reading a page because I didn't understand what the author said the first time. However, I understood after the second time. Considering that, I will probably end up reading this book again and it will be interesting to see what things I pick up on the second time that I completely missed the first. But as for right now, I'm moving on to another book!