Little Women
One of the most recent books I have read is Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. When I informed any female of this I instantly received a very surprised respect and then would be told how it was one of their favourite novels. Why is this and why has the book had such wide appeal through so many years?
Well my theory is that it combines good characters with an almost idealised family existence. The reason that it appeals for me is two-fold. First the book comprises of good characters who you slowly see grow and mature. This is always good as you feel like you get to know them really well and in a way ‘grow with them’ (yes, I’m aware how gay that sentence just made me sound). Second, its all very warm and cuddly. No matter what happens the family all love and value each other. It doesn’t matter who messes up or which of the girls makes a dick of themselves inevitably they’ll all forgive each other, reaffirm their love for one another and learn an important life lesson. My theory is that deep down we all long for that. To be universally loved and valued despite all our crap and mistakes. Perhaps the story has been so successful cos the reader would like to live in that sort of a world? Maybe.
The thing is, Little Women and the following Good Wives (which I also read) shows the values and differences of a very different time to our own. I couldn’t help but feel that had the book been set today and written by a modern author; Meg would sleep around and get pregnant whilst at school, Jo would be a lesbian with a chip on her shoulder, Beth would be a self harmer who listens to ‘The Cure’ whilst writing depressing poetry and Amy would be up herself and all about the latest thing. Perhaps this shows my cynicism, but personally I found it nice that the characters weren’t like this and seemed very innocent and naïve.
But all of this probably reflects more realistically how things were at the time of Alcott’s writing. The book definitely does contain a lot of Christian moral messages, particularly ones regarding sanctification and how the girls learn from their mistakes and grow. So overall a very ‘ahhh isn’t that nice’ kind of book full of illustrations ideal for sermons and such. Already I’ve used illustrations from it twice when teaching. This gave me an impressed nod from women and a pitying nod of the head from the men. Perhaps the lesson here is tell the ladies and reap the benefit but don’t tell then men: they will think you don’t have a penis.
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