Summary:
The novel Little Women by Louisa May Alcott is a story of love, kindness, and of being grateful of those you love and what you have. The strength of the March family enabled the four sisters to endure the tough, challenging situations that came their way.
The novel Little Women by Louisa May Alcott is a story of love, kindness and of being grateful of those you love and what you have. This is shown throughout the novel by the four young women: Meg (the oldest), Jo, Beth and Amy (the youngest). During the novel these little women face many challenges which is what helps them to grow to be the little wives that they become. However, without the love of their mother and father, they would never really be able to get through these challenges. It Is the strength of the whole family together that was what aided the girls to get through all the tough and challenging situations that came their way.
This story begins at Christmas time with the four March sisters; Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy. The girls are all pretty upset because they had to give up their Christmas presents because their father was away at war, which in turn left the family with just enough money to get by. However, the girls decided to buy their mother a Christmas present even though they knew that they weren't getting anything. They wanted to show her how much they cared for her and really appreciated everything she did for them, and all the hard work that she put forth in order to raise them. Also, they felt so fortunate for their loving family that they decided that there was a more needy family than themselves: the Hummels, so they sent over their Christmas breakfast for them. This just goes to show that even though the family was in dire need of food, they still thought of others before themselves, and were compassionate towards them.
As the story goes on the March sisters; Meg and Jo were invited to a Christmas party by a family friend - Mrs. Gardiner. At the party, the girls meet Laurie and over a course of time they get to become close friends. Once the Christmas holidays are over, the girls had to stop with their fun and games, and get back to work. Meg was a governess, Beth studied at home and helped with the household duties, Jo was a companion for Aunt March and Amy went to school. In between Jo's daily duties, she began to play with Laurie more and more until they eventually became best of friends.
On one cold winter day, Meg and Jo went out to play, but didn't invite Amy. This made her quite upset, and in return for not inviting her to play, Amy burnt one of Jo's books that she had been working on. This made Jo very angry and she stopped talking to Amy. The next day, Jo and Laurie went out skating, and intentionally Jo did not invite Amy. This time Amy went along even though she wasn't invited, and while they were skating Amy fell into the ice, and Laurie dove in and saved her. This brought Jo and Amy a closer together and they promised to never argue again, and forgave each other.
During the summer the girls learnt that all play and no work gets them anywhere and that working together on their daily duties at home makes their lives a lot better, and a lot more efficient. No matter what the girls did, they always managed to keep busy, even if it was sitting outside. One day Laurie followed them into the forest where he saw them taking part in the "Busy Bee Club." This was basically just where the girls sat and kept busy by talking about their dreams, wishes and where they wanted to be in ten years from now. This was when the girls all agreed that in ten years they would all meet up and share their successes.
The March family showed a great deal of strength when in the fall, they received a letter saying that their father had become quite ill, and that someone should be there with him. Mrs. March left and felt that she should be there with him in his time of danger. While Mrs. March was absent, she left the girls in charge of all the house duties, taking care of each other and also brining food over to the Hummels. One day when Beth was bringing the food over for them, the Hummels baby died right in her arms, of scarlet fever. Due to this, Beth soon fell ill, and Amy was sent to live with Aunt March for the time being. Things eventually got worse for Beth and Mrs. March was summoned home.
Fortunately, with time, Beth and her father's health improved and things began to get better for everyone. Mr. Brooke (a good family friend) told the March's abnout his love for Meg. As time went on, Mr. March became a minister, Jo won money for a writing contest, and she was able to send her mother and Beth on a little vacation. Amy became Aunt March's new companion, and Meg and Mr. Brooke got married.
However, due to a love triangle of feelings, Jo chose to move to New York and disappear for a little while until things got settled. During this time in New York, she met a Professor who highly disapproved of her writing, so she decided to stop just for him. Eventually Jo returns back home to help her mother and father take care of Beth, as she is not doing well, and on her death bed. When Jo returns home, Laurie proposed to her, but he was rejected, and he left for France, where Amy was with her Aunt. Ironically enough, Amy and Laurie ran into each other while in France, and had a friendly conversation about how their lives had been and what had been going on in their lives.
Meanwhile, Meg was so preoccupied with being a perfect mother that she barely had time for her husband, and therefore he began to go to his friends houses more and more leaving less time for Meg to spend some alone time with him. This was when she thought about including him in her daily routines and she wanted him to help her out with the children, because this would both give her some free time with him and also it gave him time to spend, and get to know his children.
Although things were now good for Meg, the rest for the March family had to deal with Beth dying. Once she passed away, every one was an emotional mess. Jo wrote a book, and her father published it. Laurie found Amy and was a shoulder for her to cry on and eventually they became close, and fell in love. They got married in France and returned home to surprise their families. Professor Bhaer surprised Jo by showing up at her house and asking her to marry him. Due to financial issues he left and went away to teach and make money so that they could get married. Aunt March died, and in her will it said that her house belonged to Jo, and this is what made it possible for Jo and Mr. Bhaer to get married. Jo became a school house teacher for boys, and she turned half of her house into a school house.
The March family dealt with many different types of emotions, and as the story went on, it is clear to see that without the love of their family they would have a hard time to get through all the tough times. It is the tough times that make you stronger, but you can never get through them alone.
This is the complete article, containing 1,267 words
(approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page).
