The Feminine Response to Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women

Illustration © Rebecca Green from The Folio Society edition of Little Women

“I am angry nearly every day of my life Jo, but I have learned not to show it, and I still hope to learn not to feel it” ; Marmee says to Jo in Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women. This well-worn quote demonstrates very clearly the burgeoning frustrations with gender roles in Civil War America. It was a focal point of Greta Gerwig’s 2019 film adaptation, in line with the notably feminist narrative she chose to portray - this article will take her lead, reading Little Women as a manifestation of changing female identity at its time of publication.

Gender structures shifted considerably during the American Civil War, highlighting the ideals of Victorian America that were prevalent in the late 19th century. With men notably absent from the domestic-familial sphere, women took on roles previously considered ‘masculine’ tasks (such as financially supporting their families). The war provided moments of flexibility in a society that was otherwise restrictive in terms of its gender conventions. Little Women was published at a time where female authorship was newly considered a dutiful source of income, and the novel is thus a reflection of the material and historical conditions of Alcott’s world. Jo’s struggle to help her family financially by selling her writing perhaps mirrors the conflicting problems that women faced in the 19th century economy.

Jo March expresses explicitly her frustrations of being a girl throughout the novel. She is constantly being told the likes of, ‘you are old enough to leave off your boyish tricks, and to behave better’. The persistent comparison to Jo acting “boyish” rather than feminine, or her exclamations of how she wished she were a boy instead, only highlight the significant contrast between gender identities in Alcott’s world. Furthermore, Jo sells her hair to help her family, stating that having her hair cut felt like having ‘an arm or a leg off’. The loss of her hair is symbolic; she sacrifices what is characteristic of the “feminine” in place of a “masculine” task. The evolving notion of female identity is clear as Jo does not hesitate to take up tasks deemed “masculine”. However, Alcott implies the pressure of pre-existing gendered identities – as she ultimately leaves Jo’s marital status somewhat ambiguous, despite the fact that Jo detests marriage throughout the story.

Where the March girls covet freedom of creativity, expression and art, they liken these to childish activities that must be given up once they marry. Alcott thus associates marriage and the domestic sphere as the entrapment of the woman. Further, Laurie is the primary and most significant male figure in the novel, and in the March girls’ lives. He enacts a feminine masculinity, or the “feminine role” in relation to the March girls. With them he is freed from the confines of his masculine identity (quite literally, as he is depicted as being confined in the house next door), just as Jo frees her inner boy when she is with him. Jo and Laurie’s friendship embody the prevalent gender inversion as a result of the war.

The March girls’ natural affinity to their creativity is ultimately undermined by ideals of 19th century womanhood that must be fulfilled instead. Alcott expresses this ideal femininity as a trap – Beth embodies the ideal femininity but dies. This can be seen to represent the traditional notion of the female identity on its way to death itself. Amy, Meg and Jo ultimately give up their creative outlets and succumb to the ideals in place for them. Although Jo constantly challenges the genre of womanhood established by her society, Alcott’s narrative still implies that women cannot take on anything outside what is prescribed to them without sacrificing her femininity.

Little Women certainly provides a rich reading of changing female identity prompted by the Civil War. Alcott persistently questions traditional notions of courtship and the idea of a truly equal marriage. The struggle of defining the female identity as an independent concept appears in Alcott’s reality and leaks into her narrative of the novel. She presents the discovery of the female identity as a war in itself, a war that can never be won. This is symbolised by the March girls who ultimately allow themselves to fall into the Victorian roles of wives. In Little Women, the emerging notion of a new female identity is present, regardless of if they are given the opportunity to flourish.