Throughout my
reading of Little Women, I have noticed that much emphasis is placed on
the sisters’ becoming honorable wives. However, Mrs. March encourages her
daughters to marry only when the marriage will suit them, and never to marry solely
for money. Mrs. March believes “to be chosen by a good man is the best and
sweetest thing which can happen to a woman,” (97) and supports her daughters in
their marriages to men who bring the best characteristics out of her daughters’
personalities.
Mrs. March fully
supported Meg’s marriage to John Brooke, even though Aunt March threatened to
rescind Meg’s inheritance if she married John. Despite her earlier threats, Aunt
March advises John to see that he deserves his wife after Meg’s wedding (253). This
line in the novel emphasizes that, while women were expected to be honorable
wives, husbands were expected to cherish the women they married.
Similarly, while
Mrs. March loved Laurie like a son, she disapproved of his and Jo’s getting married
because she did not believe they were fit for marriage. When Laurie married Amy
instead, Mrs. March was content because she believed Laurie’s and Amy’s personalities
were better suited to each other than Laurie’s and Jo’s. After her marriage to
Laurie, Amy refers to Mrs. March’s guidance by claiming “women should never
marry for money,” (457) even though she had planned to marry Fred Vaughn for
his money earlier in the novel.
Jo’s marriage
to Professor Bhaer enthralled Mrs. March because Jo had been adamant in her
refusal to marry until the final fourth of the novel. After Beth’s death, Jo begins
to feel very lonely and begins pining after true love. Mrs. March asks Jo
whether she would accept Laurie if he were to ask for her hand now, and Jo
implies that she would because she “[cared] more to be loved” rather than
because she actually loved Laurie more (437). Mrs. March notices Jo’s feelings
toward Professor Bhaer the moment he enters the March home and encourages her marriage
to him.
Because she has
experienced a loving marriage, Mrs. March only accepts marriages borne of love
for her daughters. Although the only daughter that wished to marry for money
was Amy, the others struggle with finding a man who can provide for them and love
them as Mr. March has done for Mrs. March. In a sense, this aspect of Little
Women stresses that people must look for love within those they truly
understand and look to the relationships of others for guidance.
I agree with your evaluation of Mrs. March. I think she serves as a guide and often a foreshadower in the novel. Most of the March sisters' mistakes come from refusing their mother's advice, but they must endure these experiences to see the real value in her guidance. Throughout the novel, whenever her daughters use her instructions, it always solves their problems. When Meg begins to have trouble in her marriage after focusing all her attentions on her newborns, Mrs. March informs her that the issue can be solved by Meg changing her habits, instead of blaming John. Using this suggestion, Meg improves her marriage, her own self, and the raising of her children (Alcott 399). As for foreshadowing, Mrs. March always seems to know how things will work out. She advises Amy not to throw an extravagant picnic for her friends from her art class, and when she does anyway, it ends with only one girl attending and a disappointed Amy. Recommending that Jo not marry Laurie as she does not see them as a match, Jo finds her love in Professor Bhaer and Laurie finds love in Amy. Overall, if Mrs. March advises against an event, it fails for the daughter that refuses her guidance, but if she suggests a different option, it seems to help everyone.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with your view of Mrs. March. Throughout the novel, Mrs. March plays the role as the very wise mother that seems to know what is best in every situation. While this ability might appear to be unrealistic, in the context of the novel it is actually very fathomable that Mrs. Mach has this capability. There are several times in which Mrs. March provides one of her daughters with advice and supports her advice by recalling how she was once in a very similar situation. When Meg goes to Mrs. March about her marriage issues, Mrs. March’s advice is based upon her experiences that she herself had with Mr. March when they were first married (Alcott 392). Similarly, when Jo talks with her mother about her temper and hasty words, Mrs. March admits that she too has dealt with this problem and draws upon her own experiences to provide perfect advice (Alcott 79). In terms of her marriage advice, Mrs. March also bases it upon her own experience having married Mr. March. When talking to Jo about Meg marrying John, Mrs. March says, “If rank and money come with love and virtue, also, I should accept them gratefully, and enjoy your good fortune; but I know, by experience, how much genuine happiness can be had in a plain little house, where the daily bread is earned, and some privations give sweetness to the few pleasures…” (Alcott 204). Mrs. March knows that if her girls marry men in which they do truly love, they will have all the happiness they need, and anything else they provide will just make the marriage that much more pleasant.
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