Poor Beth

I hate to devote a whole blog post to something as morbid as the death of our favorite little paragon of goodness, but I think that it'll be interesting to see how each sister deals with the impending death and then what Beth probably symbolizes for them, or what they inherit from her, because if there is any symbolic sort of unreal character, it is Beth.
Jo is the most closely associated with Beth, both physically and emotionally. She has the hardest time letting Beth go, and initially tries to deny that she's dieing (a perfectly rational response). I think that Beth sort of represents Jo's inner child, her unwillingness to grow up. Jo has mastered her temper, and has bloomed into a sort of more mild version of herself, but at this point she is still in possession of quite a Peter Pan complex when it comes to taking on responsibility or eventually getting married. Jo inherits Beth's responsibilities in a literal way (in that she takes care of the parents now) and she sort of does Beth's growing up for her, in the process growing up for herself, taking on what would have been Beth's adult role.
Meg is coming into her own as a parent as Beth is dieing, and I think that she inherits Beth's innate lovingness and motherliness as a kind of augmentation to her own budding parenting skills. It is mentioned in the book that the children visit Auntie Beth every day, and I can't help but imagine that the girl who so carefully cared for her dolls just as carefully lavished love on her niece and nephew. There is no doubt that this effected both the mother and the children, and perhaps Beth's young death also gave Meg a sense of the fragile gift that she has in her kids.
Amy inherits Beth's true selflessness. This selflessness is what allows her to become the full picture of the graceful and responsible woman her mother always wished she would be. It is after Beth's death that Amy turns her mind to real charitable thinking. Also it is Beth's death, and her wasting illness, that brings Laurie to Amy in Europe when he might have otherwise been too proud to see her. This is probably why they name their daughter Beth, and why they cherish her so despite her infirmity.
And of course to Beth her death is merely the next step in her life, the passage to the celestial city well at hand. Although Beth's death is a tragic event, there wasn't really anywhere for her character to grow to. Beth was the perfect picture of goodness and feminine grace even as a small girl and so she didn't need to become a woman.
I don't know if I like the fact that the book ends pretty neatly. I don't know if Marmee's birthday party was really required for the end of the book, and it wraps things up so much that I can't speculate like I would really like to.