Little Women By Louisa May Alcott: Character Analysis

Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott focuses on four sisters; Jo, Meg, Beth, and Amy March that are a part of a very poor, humble family. While their father is off at war, they are left with their loving mother at home encouraging them to be a better person and the better version of themselves. As all four girls go through love and loss, they discover that they are truly brave and courageous. One very important major event was when the March sisters struggle to improve their various flaws as they grow into adults. Jo dreams of becoming a great writer and does not want to become a conventional adult woman. I would tell my friend that this book can make you very sentimental and it can make you think that even when people tell you that you cannot

Jo March displays good and bad traits in equal measure, which makes Jo a very unusual character in the novel. Jo’s bad traits, her rebelliousness, anger, and outspoken ways, do not make her unappealing, instead they suggest her humanity and her attitude towards everything. Jo is a very optimistic character in the novel. She wants to have the character traits as a male by working and getting and actual study in college which is a masculine trait. In the novel, Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott, it states, “I want to do something splendid before I go into my castle, something heroic or wonderful.” This shows that Jo has plans to actually get somewhere in life. She wants to accomplish something good in life before something happens to

Jo, during the book, did not want to be referred or compared to a female. In her own personal thoughts, she was frustrated in female and male expectations. She wanted to be able to earn a living, for example a job made specifically for men. There were also times where Laurie didn’t want to be a man. He wanted to pursue music which was a feminine pursuit not a masculine pursuit. Jo and Laurie both wanted to do opposite of what they were supposed to do but being in the 19th century American society, there had to be specific jobs and tasks for each gender type. In the novel, Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott, it states, “How silly!” said Jo. “Let him be a musician if he wants to, and not plague his life out sending him to college, when he hates to go.” (pg. 53) This strongly demonstrated that like Jo, she wanted to back up the idea of Laurie having a musical ability that was for women, not