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"Little Women". To read or not to read?

37 replies

Sgtmajormummy · 31/03/2015 22:17

I am an avid reader aloud of books to my kids. I enjoy it and for them it's the only way to end the day. DS had a triumphant finale with The Amber Spyglass at the age of 11, but still leaves his door open to have a sneaky listen to what his sister (9) gets.
I made a choice to read her books with positive female characters, so we've had Tom's Midnight Garden and Anne of Green Gables recently, both of which she understood and enjoyed. However, with Little Women I feel I'm dripping poison into her ears!
I am outraged at the obsession with forbearance and preparing yourself to be a dutiful wife, honouring housewifely skills and modesty and eschewing worldly pleasures. Not to mention the heavy handed Papist baiting!
Not even the character of Jo (which saved the book for me in the early 70s) can raise it to being acceptable for emancipated girls growing up in the 21st century.
So, people of MN, should "Little Women" be left on the shelf, and if so, in favour of what?

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OinkBalloon · 04/04/2015 23:23

I love Little Women and some of the sequels. So did dd when she read it aged 10. Yes, some of the attitudes are very dated, but that's going to be the case in all of the classics. Nonetheless, there are many excellent values in it, too, such as perseverance and compassion.

If you're not happy with the outdated attitudes, use them as a springboard for discussion.

HappydaysArehere · 04/04/2015 23:18

I love this book with a passion and Good Wives. Please don't deny it to your daughter just because it seems dated.

beatricequimby · 04/04/2015 22:39

Glad you finished it with her. My dd is a similar age and enjoyed it. Also What Katey did which you could crticise for similar reasons. I loved the girls and thought Jo was interesting and complex. Surely reading these books gives girls an understanding of how constricted women's lives were which they eed to know to understand the point of feminism.

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Sgtmajormummy · 04/04/2015 22:23

Well, we've finished it and I can see it's struck a few chords with DD.

She asked me what job I would have liked to do if I hadn't become a Wink. I then asked her and she said "A writer." Previously it had always been a farmer. Good job she didn't say a dutiful housewife, eh?...

She was very involved in Meg's engagement and the idea of a pretty but poor girl having more chances than an ugly poor one. Interesting, since DD is not the class beauty but is one of the strongest academically. We'll come back to that, I'm sure...

So, looking at the book in a benevolent mood (sorry for the outburst on Thursday) I would say "Presence of a Responsible Adult" needed, but a thought-provoking read, even at 9 years old.

I think I've just answered my own question!

Thanks to all for views and suggestions. Smile

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Sgtmajormummy · 03/04/2015 08:58

"Purchase" is the word he used! Befuddled brain in the mornings.

Talking about clear memories, I'm often taken by surprise at kids' razor sharp recall and wonder how much of what we say goes in deep.

A little story here: DS tells me I span a tale for him about golfballs going down the hole into a chute and out to sea, like a giant snooker table. He believed it for years and I have NO RECALL!

So yes, reading aloud does go straight to the emotional memory, and we need to realise it.

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AliceDoesntLiveHereAnymore · 03/04/2015 08:38

My 8yo is reading the Time Hunters series at the moment as he loves history. I liked Little Women at his age but preferred Jack and Jill (also an Alcott book). I don't think my ds1 would enjoy it though. Dd did at that age but she also was into babysitters club books and goosebumps books (90s). She then jumped straight into more weighty books around 11 or 12. If you aren't happy with how characters are portrayed in the books perhaps it is an opportunity to open up discussion with her about it?

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Sgtmajormummy · 03/04/2015 08:08

BitOfFun I enjoyed the Podcast. It addressed many of the things we've been going over here, but I often got: "IN SPITE of what she wrote, she had a very inspiring life." , and when the presenter asked: "Isn't it in danger of losing its (relevance/applicability/can't remember the word)...?" I saw the scroll bar reaching the end of the line and went Shock! Thanks anyway! Long live Radio 4!

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Ubik1 · 02/04/2015 22:23

And yy to Enid Blyton. I cringe reading it now but loved her as a child.

Ubik1 · 02/04/2015 22:22

I don't think reading Little Women is going to have a significant effect on your daughter's world view.

For me as a child it was refreshing to read a novel with so many female characters. And it's a very different world view - Jo is a reasonably complex character, she rejects Laurie but later regrets her decision after Beth dies. Yet she later works as a governess and finds a sort of unconventional love in the end. Their world is one of self sacrifice, duty and piety - very different to modern values.

BitOfFun · 02/04/2015 22:07

It's certainly not compulsory to read it. Perhaps when she is older she will understand the context more?

I have to say that I read it as a child, identified far more with Jo than the others, and still somehow found myself a feminist from a young age. I also read Enid Blyton and emerged fairly unscathed. I think we tend to take what we need from our stories and disregard the rest.

Original poster
Sgtmajormummy · 02/04/2015 22:00

I'm just concerned that, yes, we've come a long way in 150 years but we ARE in danger of going backwards for some things.

Girls are so conscious of their appearance from an early age that any non-conformity is pounced on. Is it Barbie, MTV or photoshop to blame? Sounds like the 1800s to me.

There are a great number of successful women forging careers and holding their own in what is still a man's world, but there are many who are judged as successful because of who they've married and had children by (the WAG phenomenon).

The sisterhood I still believe in (and one of the reasons I joined MN) is so often lacking and women antagonise one another in social and work situations over the few resources available to them (Queen Bees and Wendies). Not much progress then.

Now, I don't count myself as a militant feminist, but I do want my children of both sexes to avoid damaging stereotypes, and that's the gripe I had with this book.

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ragged · 02/04/2015 21:35

Some of the Dick King Smith books might do?

GotToBeInItToWinIt · 02/04/2015 20:29

I absolutely love Little Women, one of my favourite books. I don't see any issues with it being read to a 9/10 year old as a piece of historical literature. It's completely clear that it's 'of it's time'. I read it on my own at about the same age and managed to remain a feminist!

jazzandh · 02/04/2015 20:21

Well Alcott was a feminist of her times and Little Women was fairly autobiographical.

I thought Jo pushed against her upbringing in a positive way - but the family values in it are strong.

I think it is a good historical book for girls and can be read on lots of levels.

BitOfFun · 02/04/2015 20:04

Have a listen to this podcast about Louisa May Alcott- it's fascinating, and certainly serves to put her work into context.

Original poster
Sgtmajormummy · 02/04/2015 19:59

What's the quote, ragged? "It's not often you find a true friend and a good writer. And Charlotte was (sob) both."
I'll be so sad when the day comes and DD says she wants to read to herself. It's been a privilege...

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ragged · 02/04/2015 19:26

Laura Ingalls Wilder books would be better.
Modern books... EB White books would be great and not too dated.

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Sgtmajormummy · 02/04/2015 17:53

I'm trying to find a Newberry prize winning book from the 60s about a high priestess (a bit like The Giver but female). Last time I looked on Amazon it was out of print and now that book of "tasters" has gone to the jumble sale. Does anyone else have suggestions for modern books? I found the Mighty Girl website had good ideas but Tuck Everlasting will have to wait a while...

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Takver · 02/04/2015 15:02

Personally, I think Little Women is fine, in the sense that even to a 9 y/o it will read as a piece of history. I'm assuming of course that most of the books she reads are contemporary and have more appropriate role models!

I actually think it's very useful for girls - well boys too - to be aware of how things have changed.

A book that you might really enjoy reading with your dd is 'A London Child of the 1870s'. It's the autobiography of Molly Hughes, and it's a lovely read - her life as a middle class girl brought up in the Victorian era. Her family were very liberal for their time, but even so her brothers get sent off to school while she is taught at home then goes to a very rubbish girls day school. (She does eventually arrange for herself a place at the North London Collegiate School and goes on to one of the first women's colleges.)

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Sgtmajormummy · 01/04/2015 20:06

So, the jury is still out on this one...
We've got Beth with scarlet fever tonight and I have to steel myself. DD was already horrified at the dead canary mutely imploring for food and water (snort!) in a previous chapter.

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AmeliaPeabody · 01/04/2015 18:19

*than

AmeliaPeabody · 01/04/2015 18:18

Yes, Jo is often far worse that Marmee with the sermons Grin

BadPoet · 01/04/2015 17:00

My dd hasn't read it (yet) but I wouldn't stop her. I remember reading somewhere that LMA thought all the moralising a bit tedious but her publisher wanted her to put it in? Although I'd take Marmee's sermons in LW any day over Jo ( Jo !) saying in one of the later books that girls are best learning housewifely skills like sewing and being a good influence on the rambunctious boys Angry.

AmeliaPeabody · 01/04/2015 11:17

The only redeeming character for me was Amy. It is very much of its time, and I found it more palatable as a younger girl, finding more fault as I grew older. Being of it's time it's heavy on the moralising, though I found it tame by comparison to similar books of the period, books like Elsie Dinsmore!

I'd read it to her.

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Sgtmajormummy · 01/04/2015 11:05

Yes, 9 is a bit young and that's why I'm reading it to her. We stop and have a little chat about the background and if we'd do the same thing today. But these books are still being sold and handed over to young girls without a second thought (there are Geronimo Stilton versions, too).

We all know our kids are influenced by what they read and I wonder how much the 4 books affected ME (I have a part-time volunteering interest in enabling teenage boys...maybe that's where it comes from Hmm).

Sanity Percy Jackson is on my wishlist, thanks!

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