The Theme Of True Happiness In Little Women

True Happiness in Little Women In the beginning of Little Women, Meg, Amy, and Jo all had dreams of how their lives would play out. At the conclusion of the book none of those dreams had come true, yet each girl was happier with her life then she would have been with her imagined castle. Meg fancied a life of riches and luxury. Jo's ideal “castle in the air” was to be a famous author and own a stable of fine horses. Amy wished to be a famous artist and live in Rome. These dreams may have been enjoyable, but they were fanciful. The girls grew over the course of the story and moved away from their childhood wishes but still held on to their castles for some time. When the March girls finally let go of their childhood wishes they realized that they had overlooked the greatest happiness of all which is to love and to be loved. Meg's dream was to be so rich that she would always wear the finest clothes and never have to do any work because she had so many servants. While this was not a polar opposite to her real life, Meg did seem to base her castle off of avoiding the things that troubled her.

Jo's “castle in the air” was to be a famous writer and own a stable of fine horses. Jo tried for a long time to start her career and many times it seemed as though she would succeed. In the end, however, the pressure of the publishers made it impossible to stay true to her own style of writing that she enjoyed best. Mr. Bhaer helped her recognize this and kept her from being led too far astray, which made him a good partner for her. He kept her from making rash decisions, and she brought levity to his life. Although Jo continued writing, she now found happiness in writing for her family and friends without worrying about adding an uncomfortable amount of drama to her stories to please the publishers. Therefore, Jo is happier because she can stay true to herself and has her loved ones around