Throughout Louis May Alcott’s Little Women, the characters of Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy all must learn many lessons to overcome their flaws and become virtuous. Early on in the novel, in chapter 13, each of the four sisters reveals their deepest ambitions, their ‘Castles in the air’. Over the course of the next decade, each of the sisters tries their hand at achieving their ambitions, each of the sisters finding a different outcome and learning more about what they need as opposed to what they want. These pursuits also incorporate the theme of humility throughout the novel, a virtue that each sister must learn.
Meg reveals in chapter 13 that her castle in the air is to have ‘a lovely house, full of all sorts of luxurious things’ (144). Her wish is to be wealthy, and manage a large house with many servants so she never has to work again. As she experiences more of the wealthy life has to offer, however, she finds it is not what she hoped for. She falls in love and marries a poor man, and in the end, lives in a small house with no servant at all. For Meg, what she wanted, her deepest ambition was not suited to what she truly needed, as it was built upon unrealistic expectations.
Amy’s situation is very similar to Meg’s. She reveals her ambition is to travel, paint, and ‘be the best artist in the whole world’ (144). As she grows and finally gets the chance to travel and learn her trade, she realizes she has talent, but not the 'genius'. She concedes to becoming a teacher of artists better than her. Amy’s ambition is suited to her personality, for she does not have the ‘genius’ for it. However, this failed ambition leads her to achieve what she needs- humility.
Jo’s ambition is unique, as she also wishes to become successful- to ‘write books and get rich and famous’- but is more driven to achieve her goals. However, Jo struggles to balance her duties to her family with her passion for writing, and though she gets critical acclaim for her stories she writes after Beth’s death, she has yet to achieve greatness, though she still holds out a modest hope.
Beth’s ambition is as simple as her character. She wishes to stay home and care for her family. This is both suited to her personality and incredibly achievable, and it’s all she manages to do before kicking the bucket. As Beth begins the novel as the most humble of her sisters, she has the most reasonable ambition and achieves it before going to the real castle in the air.
These pursuits help to illuminate for each sister what she needs, and how that differs from what she wants. It also helps to teach each girl something about humility. These experiences all help the sisters’ efforts to live out happy lives as they grow from children to women.
These "castles in the air" for each girl is a very good way of going about analyzing this novel. It allows for the reader to see the growth or sometime lack thereof for each of the girls. Meg does indeed desire luxury and wealth early in the novel and falls in love with a man that does not have that. Yet, they are still very happy together and work through their fights like any other good couple would. Meg abandoned her, what some may call young and immature fantasy, by doing what she felt was right. The one March sister that I may disagree with her growth during this novel is Amy.
ReplyDeleteI know a lot has been made about Amy in our class discussions, mostly because she is such a polarizing character. In the beginning she comes off as conceited, bratty, and craving of wealth. But the reader cannot really blame her for she is the youngest and her eldest sister craved wealth for a long time as well. The difference comes in to play as the girls grow older. Meg sees her fault and does her best to correct them, but Amy only corrects her faults to appear better for others. During the trip to Europe with Aunt March, Amy writes home about Fred Vaughn and how "I cant help it if people like me; I don't try to make them..."(318). She comes off as spoiled even when she is attempting to be genuine. Therein lies the difference between Amy and the other March sisters. She goes on to talk about how she is not in love with Fred but very much likes him, so she would say yes to his hand in marriage. Once again Amy is chasing wealth. Even down the line when you feel she has grown into what seems like a better person, she is still settling down with Laurie who has money. Of course the reader doesn't believe this to be the only reason for their marriage, but with Amy's past, it is hard to not have it in the front of our minds.