In the novel Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, the four March sisters’ lives are explored through their character growth by the lessons they learn from everyday occurrences. One of the most prominent lessons for the sisters is learning how to be selfless. While they may be different from one another, they similarly struggle to let go of their selfish ideologies and pursuits. Ultimately, it is interesting to see how their lives change through time and through the issues they face as little women. That being said, it is very prevalently seen through the oldest and the youngest sisters, Meg and Amy.
For Meg, being seen as an excellent role model for her younger siblings and an acceptable young woman in front of society is her goal. Being part of a society filled with rich, materialistic ideas clouds her judgment to think of the more respectable qualities she should have for herself. She admits to her flaw early on in the book by saying, “I think too much of my looks, and hate to work, but won’t any more, if I can help it.” (Alcott 9) She struggles through wanting to fit in by having all the nice things her more wealthy friends have, but she needs to understand that she herself is fortunate enough to have the life that she has already. Her family who loves and cares for her, the ability to have a maid and a warm bed to sleep in at night are just some of the simple things that can actually be very important to remember.
Amy, though she is the youngest of the sisters, has flaws of her own. “One of her weaknesses was a desire to move in “our best society,” without being quite sure what the best really was.” (Alcott 257) Even when Amy attended school, she fawned to have the attention and respect of her classmates by bringing a treat that was forbidden in the classroom. Even though she gets in trouble for this and says she has learned her lesson from trying to pursue her selfishness, she still finds herself struggling again three years later. When attempting to invite her other art friends over, she finds herself trying to purchase all the things she knows are too expensive for her, yet are things that her friends are used to having themselves. She tries so hard to fit into that group of society, but it is only when things do not turn out the way she hoped is when she learns the lesson to not try to become something that she is not.
Overall, the two sisters grow significantly throughout the book. While they may stumble through life in gaining a hard grasp on what is important in the beginning, they eventually realize the importance of being selfless, the cons of being selfish, and how it allows them to become better little women.
I completely agree with your statement that perhaps the most prominent theme among the lessons embedded within the novel is learning to be selfless, while straying away from their initially selfish motives. Each of the March sisters each have their own specific instances within the novel that they learn this moral lesson through their own personal experiences.
ReplyDeleteWhile you talk mostly about Meg and Amy, I think an interesting character that learns this lesson is Jo. Throughout the novel, she struggles with selfishness and selflessness, and I found that she often does selfish things for selfless reasons. For example, Jo “rashly took a plunge into the frothy sea of sensationalist literature” (348). While she selfishly writes these stories she is ashamed of in order to make more money, she is doing it in order to have money to send Beth to the seashore. This is an interesting situation because while this would usually be a selfish motive, she is actually writing these stories for selfless reasons. On top of this, she still learns her lesson because after talking with Mr. Bhaer, she burns the stories since she is overcome with guilt over what she has done (356). Despite her intentions, she still learns to stay true to herself while doing what she thinks is right. Overall, the novel brings up important moral dilemmas and allows each of the March sisters to learn for themselves what it means to be truly selfless.