Member-only story
Little Women
The story that continues to redefine self, love and life
December 2018 was when I first got to know that Louisa May Alcott’s timeless novel ‘Little Women’ was being made into a movie. Little Women is not the only the first novel I read, but also the first novel that made me cry. The year 2000, aged 10, I wept in bed one afternoon, holding my copy of Little Women, as the March sisters mourn the loss of their youngest one, Beth. It had been years since I had last read the book, so when news of the film came out, I was overjoyed.
Little Women is the coming-of-age story of the March sisters — Meg, Jo, Amy and Beth, in 19th-century America. Jo and Meg are the breadwinners of the family, Amy’s in school, Beth stays at home, and their mother ‘Marmee’ is the light of their lives. The story revolves around the lives of these women and how they make their way into adulthood.
The power of the novel lies in the journey each character takes, similar to journeys women continue making today.
Each woman in the book recognises and accepts her idea of independence and happiness, on her own. For Jo, that is fighting a society which considers “love that is all that a woman is fit for”. And under the arch of Jo’s storyline, other characters find their…
