Women of March
Author: Manya Ganapathy
Isn’t it such a happy coincidence that the month chosen to celebrate women around the world shares its name with some of the most loved, cherished and lionised women over generations? The March sisters and their story continue to be a favourite among present-day readers. Their tale has been featured as the framework of several movies and TV series adaptations. The story resonates with generations of women, transcending both time and space.
Little Women was undoubtedly one of the most popular works by American writer Louisa May Alcott. It was published in two volumes in the years 1868 and 1869. Written as a semi-autobiography, the novel was heavily based on Alcott’s own childhood, with her characters drawing several traits from members of Alcott’s immediate family. The story follows the lives of the four March sisters, each endowed with a different subset of attributes observable in women. Meg is the reflection of the responsible older daughter–prim, proper and patient–yet brimming with innate childlike desires of pomp and show and the urge to indulge in luxuries beyond her means. Jo, the second daughter, is wild and fiery with passions that were considered boyish and ambitions that were unconventional for a woman of her time. She groans at her inability to take part in the ongoing Civil War, condemns the idea of having to marry a rich man to support her poor family and takes it upon her own shoulders to fend for her dear ones. The third, Beth, is shy and softspoken, a favourite in the family and the neighbourhood. While tending to a poor, sick family, Beth unfortunately contracts and succumbs to scarlet fever, a disease of epidemic status in North America in the 1800s. The youngest of the four, Amy, is cautious of maintaining sophisticated mannerisms and is impatient to grow up into a “lady” in society. As portrayed in Greta Gerwig’s 2019 adaptation of the book, Amy sees marriage as an economic proposition–a means to uplift her family from impoverishment. The opportunities and challenges faced by each sister against the backdrop of the social ideals of 19th-century America and each of their own varied traits form the crux of the novel.
In following the trials and triumphs of the March sisters, and by describing them with compassion and in genuineness, Little Women earns its place as a title that commemorates womanhood. Alcott’s work achieves the eulogization of women in a multitude of ways, besides focusing on her four leading females.
Firstly, the story is set during the tumultuous period of the American Civil War, an event that strongly challenged the previously prevalent Victorian ideals of feminine dignity, respectability and honour. With men away at war, women were forced by testing times to shoulder the unfamiliar responsibilities of running businesses, earning wages and managing estates and plantations. While it stands that many struggled to reconcile with such rapid changes in age-old ideals, the fact remains that the war was a celebration of the rising active participation of women in a historical revolution. Alcott contributes to this reverence through the description of the girls’ Marmee, Mrs March. She is portrayed as the head of her family, looking after her girls and also serving her patriotic duties by participating in war relief and other charitable work, while their father is away at war.. Jo’s character also adds to this celebration as she writes to earn for her family and even goes to the extent of selling her hair, her “one beautiful thing”, in moments of extreme need.
Second, Alcott ensures that the entire plot of the novel moves ahead based only on the decisions made by a woman. Be it Meg’s decision to marry poor Mr Brooke for love as against riches, Jo’s rejection of Laurie’s proposal for marriage despite his riches, Beth’s services to the sickly Hummel family or Amy’s marriage to Laurie, each sister makes her own choices. In making these decisions, the girls are both influenced and criticised yet again by other women, notably Marmee and Aunt Carrol, respectively. By bestowing such power in the hands of her female characters, Alcott emphasises the impact of a woman’s decision, even in a patriarchal society. She chooses to keep her leading ladies accountable for the consequences of their choices rather than leaving them as mute spectators in their own lives.
Another addition to the celebration of womanhood, and perhaps most importantly, is the woman behind the novel herself. Louisa May Alcott was a strong, hard-willed woman, far from the rigid ideals of womanhood that suffocated the 19th-century American society. Glimpses of Alcott’s own character seep through in Jo’s perceptions, decisions and actions. Alcott was considered too boyish for her time, with a zeal for the wild outdoors and an unladylike temper. Alcott shared Jo’s disappointment at her inability to fight in the Civil War; nonetheless, she actively contributed as a Union nurse. Alcott championed women’s rights. She participated in the women’s suffrage movement and later went on to become the first woman to register to vote in her town of Concord. Alcott challenged multiple social norms of her time. She wrote and worked tirelessly to support her family and remained a spinster throughout her life. Upon her sister’s death, she adopted her niece, proving that the gentle and loving traits of a woman could operate in isolation from conformity to societal ideals. She chose to stand by her maiden family and by her profession, paying heed to her priorities over those of society.
What’s truly remarkable about the novel is that it wasn’t written by Alcott as an encomium to womanhood or in defiance of rigid societal norms. Little Women was written by Alcott at the request of her publisher for a “girls’ book” as a means to instil in them respectable moral values. Alcott herself wasn’t too fond of the work and only aimed to provide girls with something lively and simple to read. Yet, as fate may have it, it seems as though Alcott’s progressive ideologies and indifference to societal standards found their way into her novel, furnishing it as a tribute to women.
This month, as we celebrate International Women’s Day, may we remind ourselves of the beauty of womanhood and strive to unshackle our women from unreasonable impositions of society. Let her make choices, fall, rise, learn and grow. Let her be a woman of March!