Little Women

By Louisa May Alcott
Published 1862

 

 

 

 

 

Strangely and completely by accident, I’ve gone straight from a book written for boys; full of adventures, the outdoors and fun to one written for girls; full of manners, gloves and sewing.

I think Little Women can only be read bearing in mind the confines of its time.  Books for children were written with a strong didactic and moralistic tone and with a strict gender divide.  This story, written for girls, follows four sisters growing up in a conventional patriarchal society their destined roles to become young ladies and make good marriages.  But within these parameters this is a story of four individuals following their own paths and finding some independence albeit within the domestic sphere.