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"Little Women" has a reputation that can get in its own way. People who have not read it often picture something sweet, pious, and a little dusty: a nineteenth-century lesson in how good girls ought to behave. Then they open it, and the first thing they hear is a teenager lying on the floor, complaining.
That is the real book. It is warm, yes, but it is also funny, restless, and honest about how hard it is to be a decent person when you are cold, short of money, and fifteen.
The author and how the book began
Louisa May Alcott was born on November 29, 1832, in Germantown, Pennsylvania, and died in Boston on March 6, 1888, at the age of 55. Her father was the educator Amos Bronson Alcott. She spent part of her childhood in Concord, Massachusetts, and later called three years there the happiest of her life. During the Civil War she served for six weeks as a nurse at the Union Hotel Hospital in Georgetown, Washington, D.C., in 1862 and 1863.
The novel itself began with a suggestion from her publisher. In 1868 Thomas Niles recommended that she write a book about girls that would have wide appeal. The first volume came out on September 30, 1868, from Roberts Brothers, and it was followed by a second volume in April 1869.
Where the story starts
It is Christmas during the American Civil War, in a Massachusetts town. Mr. March is away serving as a chaplain with the Union Army, and his wife, whom the girls call Marmee, is holding the household together. There are four daughters: Meg, sixteen, pretty and a little vain; Jo, fifteen, tall and thin, with sharp gray eyes and long limbs she never knows what to do with; Beth, thirteen, shy and peaceful; and Amy, twelve, who considers herself a most important person. Money is tight, and this year there will be no presents.
The book opens with that grievance:
"Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents," grumbled Jo, lying on the rug.
The sisters take turns listing what they wanted and did not get. Then Beth notices their mother's worn-out slippers warming by the fire, and the conversation turns. Instead of buying anything for themselves with their small savings, they decide to buy something for Marmee. That evening a letter arrives from their father, and it asks something of each of them. It is a small scene, but it sets the key for everything that follows.
Next door lives old Mr. Laurence in his big house, along with his grandson, a boy the sisters know only as "the Laurence boy." Jo finally meets him in the third chapter, in a place neither of them expected to be. What grows out of that meeting, for Jo and for the whole family, is something to discover for yourself.
What makes it worth reading
The first pleasure is the sisters themselves. Alcott does not introduce four perfect girls. She introduces four people with specific, recognizable faults: Meg's worry about looks and nice things, Jo's temper and impatience with being a girl at all, Beth's painful shyness, Amy's vanity. The chapters follow them through ordinary days of work, school, visits, and quarrels, and the drama comes from watching them fail, sulk, apologize, and try again.
The second is Jo. She writes plays for her sisters to perform, she hates the idea of turning into a proper young lady, and early on she says she is "dying to go and fight with Papa." Generations of readers who wanted a bigger life than the one on offer have seen themselves in her.
The third is the book's quiet structure. The sisters grew up acting out John Bunyan's "The Pilgrim's Progress," and the first chapter is called "Playing Pilgrims." Several later chapter titles borrow from Bunyan too. You do not need to know that allegory to enjoy the novel, but once you notice it, you start to see each sister's everyday struggles as a kind of journey.
A tip for new readers: the book is episodic, and many chapters work almost like short stories. If one feels slow, keep going. The next may be one of the book's comic mishaps, and the tone shifts often from chapter to chapter.
Who will enjoy it
"Little Women" suits readers who love family stories, sibling rivalry, and characters who grow slowly and believably. It is a natural choice if you have seen one of its many screen versions and want to know what the original actually says. It also makes a good shared read across generations, because a parent and a teenager will very likely find themselves sympathizing with different sisters.
Read the first chapter, with the four of them arguing by the fire while they wait for their mother to come home, and you will probably want to stay in that shabby, lively parlor for a while.
Sources
- Project Gutenberg, "Little Women by Louisa May Alcott" (eBook #514, full text: opening line, chapters 1-3, the sisters' ages and descriptions in chapter 1, chapter titles) https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/514
- Wikipedia, "Louisa May Alcott" (birth and death dates and places, her father, Concord, six weeks as a nurse at the Union Hotel Hospital in Georgetown in 1862-1863) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisa_May_Alcott
- Wikipedia, "Little Women" (publication dates of both volumes, publisher, Thomas Niles's suggestion, setting) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Women