Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

A BOOK REVIEW OF LITTLE WOMEN

BYALCOTT’S CHILDREN

CLASS: IX SECTION: ASUBMITTED TO: SHASANK KU. PRADHAN. A PROJECT FOR PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF

FA-1(ENGLISH).

D.A.V. PUBLIC SCHOOL, POKHARIPUT.

NAME ROLL NUMBER

1. Salony Das. 2

2. Subhrajeet Praharaj. 5

3. Omprakash Nanda. 14

4. Mimansha Subhadarshini. 28

5. Pratyusha Mohapatra. 32

6. Sindhu Soumya. 45

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We the group members of Alcott’s Children convey our deep thanks to our English teacher Shasank sir for providing his helping hand for bringing out this project successfully. We would also like to thank our group members for cooperation.

CONTENT

1. GENERAL INFORMATION

2. INTRODUCTION

3. ABOUT THE AUTHOR

4. THEME

5. SUMMARY

6. CHARACTERS

7. SETTING

8. CONFLICT AND RESOLUTION

9. OUR VIEWS

10. RATING

GENERAL INFORMATION

1. TITLE: Little Women.

2. GENRE: Fiction, Romantic.

3. AUTHOR: Louisa May Alcott.

4. PUBLISHER: Robert Brothers.

5. YEAR OF EDITION: 1868(Little Women) 1869(Good Wives).

6. PRICE: 4.22 Euros

7. PAGE: 422

INTRODUCTION

The novel published in two parts. The first part include 1-24 chapters named as Little Women. The second part include 25-47 chapters and named as Good Wives. Little Women is Semi Autobiographical where as the Good Wives is not much realistic. The second part was written very quickly on the request of the fans to Louisa May Alcott.

Louisa May Alcott (November 29, 1832 – March 6, 1888) was an American novelist best known as author of the novel Little Women and its sequels Little Men and Jo's Boys. Raised by her transcendentalist parents, Abigail May and Amos Bronson Alcott in New England, she grew up among many of the well-known intellectuals of the day such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Henry David Thoreau.

Early in her career, she sometimes used the pen name A. M. Barnard. With her pen name Louisa wrote novels for young adults in juvenile hall. Published in 1868, Little Women is set in the Alcott family home, Orchard House, in Concord Massachusetts and is loosely based on Alcott's childhood experiences with her three sisters. The novel was very well received and is still a popular children's novel today. Alcott was an abolitionist and a feminist. She died in Boston.

THEME

WOMEN AND FEMINITY: Little Womenconsiders the place of women in society by presenting the portraits of several very different but equally praiseworthy women. As we read the novel, we experience their different interpretations of femininity, and we see a range of different possibilities for integrating women into society.

THEME

LOVE: Love is everywhere in Little Women, a novel about four marriageable sisters and their various friends. Often it is romantic love, either reciprocated or unrequited. But there are many other kinds of love that sustain the characters, and it's even suggested that they could substitute for romantic love if necessary.

THEME

AMBITION: Most of the characters in Little Women are ambitious – either they want to get rich, or they want to be famous, or they just want to see the world and have a good time. As they mature, each must learn to subordinate ambition to duty, or to shift his or her ambitions in different directions.

SUMMARY

The novel begins with the Christmas party. In a nuclear family of six members. Mr. March and Mrs. March and their daughters- Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy. Mr. March is serving as a Chaplain in the Civil war. Mrs. March and her daughters are living in the poverty. The novel deals with the problems that the daughters face to earn for their family.

SUMMARY

As the girls grow older, each faces her own personal demons and moral challenges. Jo, our beloved protagonist, must tame her tomboyish ways and learn to be more ladylike while pursuing her ambition to be a great writer. Meg, the oldest, must put aside her love of wealth and finery in order to follow her heart. Beth, the shy one, must conquer her bashfulness, while Amy, the youngest, has to sacrifice her aristocratic pride. The girls are guided in their personal growth by their mother, "Marmee," and by their religious faith.

SUMMARY

The second part begins… Meg falls in love with John Brooke. Meg and John marry and their house is quickly populated by twins- Daisy and Demi. Laurie reveals to Jo that he has fallen in love with her, but she declares that she cannot care for him in the same way. Jo goes to New York as the governess for a family friend, Mrs. Kirke, experiencing the big city and trying her hand as a professional writer. Meanwhile, Amy travels through Europe with her wealthy Aunt Carroll and cousin Flo, nurturing her artistic talent. Separately, Laurie goes to Europe accompanied by his grandfather. He pursues his passion for music and tries to forget Jo.

SUMMARY

While in New York, Jo meets German expatriate Professor Bhaer, whose intellect and strong moral nature spark her interest. Across the Atlantic, Laurie and Amy discover that they lack the genius to be great artists, but that they make an excellent romantic pairing. When Beth, who has never been strong, dies young as suffering from Scarlet Fever.

SUMMARY

In the end, Jo and Bhaer marry. They start a boarding school for the boys. Laurie and Amy marry and live in the neighbourhood. Meg and John had a good settlement. The story ends with the Birthday Party of Mrs. March…

Therefore it was all a happy ending.

CHARACTERS

Jo March:- When we first meet Jo March, she's a tomboyish, hot-tempered, geeky fifteen-year-old girl. She loves activity and can't bear to be left on the sidelines; it drives her crazy that she can't go and fight in the Civil War alongside her father, who has volunteered as a chaplain. Jo also loves literature, both reading and writing it. She composes plays for her sisters to perform and writes stories that she eventually gets published.

CHARACTERS

Meg March:- Meg, short for Margaret, is the oldest and (until Amy grows up) the prettiest of the four March sisters. She's also the most typical of the sisters – we think of her as everything that you might expect a nineteenth-century American girl from a good family to be. Meg loves luxury, nice things, dainty food, and good society.

CHARACTERS

Beth March:- Beth is one of those children in a novel who is so good and sweet and perfect that you just know she's going to die. The only thing that really surprises us is that she survives her first bout of scarlet fever and doesn't die until the second half of the novel. Beth's only earthly love is music. She adores playing the piano and singing, and the only material thing that she wants is a nicer piano, since her family's is old and out of tune.

CHARACTERS

Amy March:- Amy is the March sister that most readers love to hate. She's the youngest of the family and she fits the stereotype of the spoiled youngest child. Amy's vanity begins with her appearance – she's a pretty child and turns into a beautiful, stately woman, with lovely golden hair and blue eyes. Amy's anxiety about her nose, however, is just the beginning of her obsession with all things upper-class. Amy's great ambition is to be a gentlewoman.

CHARACTERS

Other characters were Marmee (Mrs. March), Father (Mr. March), Laurie, Professor Bhaer, John Brooke, Daisy and Demi Brooke, Aunt March, Mr. Laurence, Hannah, The Hummels, The Moffats, Sallie Gardiner,The Vaughns, Aunt Carrol, and Florence

SETTING

The setting of the story is not mentioned in the novel. As it is a semi autobiographical novel it seems that the story took place in Cornord, New England. The first part of story begins with a Christmas evening and ends with other Christmas evening. The second part comes after four years and continues till six years.

CONFLICT AND RESOLUTION

The novel has many conflicts and many solution but the main conflict here is about the daughters managing their home. At that time women were not given any importance. But the way they manage is appreciable.

OUR VIEWS ON BOOK

The book is very nice and one feels enjoyable to read. But the story would have better if Beth would stay alive. And Laurie would have married Jo.

RATING