Little Women

by Louisa May Alcott

Reviewed by Michael Hu

Fall 2016

REVIEW: Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

ISBN#: 978-0-14-240876-6

THE STORY:

Amy, Beth, Jo, and Meg are four sisters that live with their mother while their father is at war. The family has lost lots of their money and because of this, the girls struggle greatly to take care of themselves. The sisters become close friends with Theodore Laurence, a rich neighbor, also referred to as “Laurie.” Father returns after long years at war and begins to see the
relationship between Meg and John Brooke, Laurie’s tutor. The strong relationships between the family
members is affected when Meg marries John and starts a new family in another house. For the girls, this is very difficult as they have never lived without Meg before. Situations get even more scattered when Beth suddenly passes away from the scarlet fever that permanently weakened her body. The house is only occupied by Amy, Jo, and their parents and they feel very lonely. Laurie, seeing the chance, declares his love for Jo, but Jo does not approve of the love and decides to leave for New York so that Laurie does not grow too fond of her. At New York, Jo meets a man named Professor Bhaer and they become very close friends. As Jo returns from a long trip to New York, Laurie still has not gotten over Jo and she has no choice but to utterly destroy Laurie’s heart and reject him. Over time, Laurie’s heartache heals, and he thinks that perhaps Jo is not right for him. Throughout the story, each character learns from their mistakes and mature greatly with the help of their guardians, friends, children, and their religions. (266)

MY OPINION:

As I read the first few chapters, I was intimidated by the use of strong vocabulary words and figurative language used by the author. This was easily solved by searching up the confusing words and phrases on the internet. I was absolutely blown away on the extremely well written sentences that were all filled with embellishments. Throughout the story, there were loads of poems that were beautifully written. This story does not have any explicit language, and I feel that this book can be enjoyed by people of any age. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this story and learn more about what life was like during the Civil War. There were countless numbers of strengths that this story had. I enjoyed the use of figurative language and the characters in the story very much. I also liked the ending of the story as it was a happy ending, and all of the characters seemed satisfied in the way their lives were going. The only weakness that this story had was the fact that the vocabulary was very difficult and it required me to use the internet to search up many of the words. If I were to rate this book one to ten, I would rate it a nine. Therefore, I would absolutely read this book again in the future. (219)

STUDY QUESTIONS AND VOCABULARY:

FIRST SECTION

1. What are the girls most excited for?

1a. The girls are most excited for letters from their father, who is at war. (p. 13)

2. What do the girls do in their free time?

2a. They make plays and perform them. (p. 26)

3. What does Mr. Laurence give Beth as a present?

3a. Mr. Laurence gave Beth his piano. (p. 96)

4. What favor does Meg wish for Laurie to do for her?

4a. The favor that Meg wishes for Laurie to do for her is to not tell her family about the dress that her friends dressed her up in during the party. (p. 145)

5. What is Jo’s “secret” that she tells Laurie?

5a. Jo’s secret was that she left two books with a newspaper man to try to sell. (p. 238)

chrysanthemum (24)

minx (54)

reprimals (61)

betokening (71)

demoiselles (108)

MIDDLE SECTION

1. What fever did Beth get?

1a. Beth got the scarlet fever from the Hummels’. (p. 278)

2. What is the big surprise on Christmas Day?

2a. Mr. March came home early and surprised the family. (p. 345)

3. Who does Meg marry?

3a. Meg marries Laurie’s tutor, John Brooke. (p. 400)

4. Why does Jo like reformers?

4a. Jo likes reformers because she thinks the world would never get on without them. (p. 467)

5. Who does Aunt Carrol choose to go abroad with her?

5a. Aunt Carrol chooses Amy to go abroad with her. (p. 485)

interferingest (p. 294)

philander (p. 355)

conflagration (p. 401)

imbecile (p. 455)

brusque (p. 461)

LAST SECTION

1.  Where does Jo travel to and why?

1a. Jo travels to New York because Laurie is getting too fond of her and she does not like him anything more than just a friend. (p. 521)

2. Why does not Jo write any more sensational stories?

2a. Jo does not write any more sensational stories because she thinks that the money does not pay for her share of the sensation. (p. 565)

3. What happens to Beth and when?

3a. Beth passes away during spring because of the scarlet fever that had permanently damaged her health. (p. 663)

4. What is Mrs. March afraid of that would be difficult for Jo to rejoice over?

4a. Mrs. March is afraid that the engagement of Amy and Laurie would be difficult for Jo to rejoice over. (p. 690)

5. Why does Jo want the big Plumfield house that Aunt March lived in before she passed away?

5a. Jo wants the Plumfield house so that she can make a boarding school there. (p. 763)

riotous (p. 538)

pinafores (p. 550)

superannuated (p. 584)

pertubed (p. 657)

imerceptibly (p. 706)