The general perception is that books with strong female
protagonists are few and far between, and even then, the readership is limited.
So what if you have a book with four female leads? Yes, that’s Little Women for
you!
Written by Louisa May Alcott, Little Women is the story of
the four March sisters, who live with their mother while their father is away
at war. Even though there are four leads, there seems to be a great many female
characters in the book, and very few men among them! If you ask me, it only
makes the story much more interesting!
The main character is Jo, the tomboyish second sister, who
is based on the author herself. The other sisters are – Meg, the eldest, prettiest
and a homebody of sorts; Beth, the sickly sister who is also the calmest and
most loving; Amy, the youngest and spoilt sister. Among them all, Jo seems to
be the one most people can relate to, since her character is the most ‘human’
one, with flaws that you and I share. The sisters’ lives revolve around their
mother, Marmee, who is a kind, compassionate woman, always helping those in
need.
Of late, many readers seem to think that this book is no
longer relevant. It’s true that the book is from a time when a young girl’s
main job was to find good marriageable prospects – it was seen as a major
achievement! But look deeper and it goes to show how life isn’t really that
simple – Meg’s life shows that people really need to put in the effort to make
a marriage work; Jo writes for money, and makes no pretences about it being for
art’s sake; Amy gets jealous of the other rich girls who have everything they
want. Beth seems to be the only exception, and is almost saintly in her speech
and behavior, probably due to her frequent illnesses.
I feel that the author is really trying to show that women
do want more than being married; they want to make a life of their own, with
their own unique talents. There’s also a lot of focus on being dignified and
helpful despite not having much money, and the sisters are also shown to get
frustrated because of this at times. All in all, any woman would feel like she’s
a mix of all the four sisters and having all their various characteristics –
truly multi dimensional!
2 comments
Well it would seem that this book is only about getting married but let's be honest doesn't every girl want to get married? And what's wrong with that? Marriage and a career are not mutually exclusive.
ReplyDeleteWhat I liked is that although marriage is a central theme, it isn't considered the be-all and end-all of a woman's life. And the sisters prefer to marry for love rather than money, so that's saying something!
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