Little Women Pretending

First, I will state that this prose was much more enjoyable to read in comparison to “Wide Wide World,” and I felt that the characters were more dynamic in general, the dialogue flowed a great deal smoother and the plot in general seemed more relevant and plausible. It was within the tucked pages at the beginning of the book that I began to think more about how gender identification was explored more thoroughly in this book as opposed to “Wide Wide World.” Although I usually don’t pay particularly close attention to gender and gender roles (yet in this class I have in some cases) I was struck with Jo and her gender identification. Within the first pages of the novel the narrator captures Jo observing her own heels, “in a gentlemanly manner” and later on, “I hate to think I’ve got to grow up, and be Miss March, and wear long gowns, and look as prim as a China aster! It’s bad enough to be a girl, anyway, when I like boys’ games and work and manners! I can’t get over my disappointment in not being a boy; and it’s worse than ever now…” I was a bit surprised with how direct she felt and how much she rejected her gender to the point where even her mannerisms are not of that of a woman, but that of a boy. Again, while Ellen (Wide Wide World) felt frustrated being a girl in the 19th century social life, Jo pushes that concept a bit more by not being able to embrace or identify with becoming a woman. Another element that I felt was particularly interesting was the choice of being called “JO” instead Josephine which only emphasizes how she doesn’t relate to her maturity into womanhood. Again, Jo is the one female character –as opposed to her sisters- who detests dressing up, fussing over her looks, and behaving like a little woman, and at times one feels some tension between Jo’s inability to fully understand her sisters and vise versa. Although I have read the first part of the book I flipped to the back and read the “Afterwards” section written by Nina Auerbach. Immediately Aurbach addresses the gender roles and gender issues. One observation that was most compelling was when Nina said that the book as become a myth almost for the American household and as brought the issue of feminism and gender roles to light. Although I was raised in a French family and have read Little Women for the first time, I must admit that the book was well known and is indeed a book that is passed down from one generation to the next. What’s compelling even more is the comment, “More than a century has passed without breaking this chain of generations. Women’s situations has changed rapidly over the decades, but Marmee’s is one family we all have lived in.” (page 461) This book served as a documentation of women and men and their dynamics in their relationships with each other, and more importantly with their own identities and served as a revolutionary piece for women (some men I assume…) and their place in society and how they relate themselves and their mannerisms through gender. I’ll think about this though and more specifically, the quote above as I continue reading “Little Women,” and I’d like to expand this notion a bit further after reading the whole novel.