Little Woman

[CallingOnAvengingAngels]

Just finished reading Little Woman and Good Wives (inspired by a thread by someone who didn't like Little Woman a few days ago! ) And now I have questions ! : Beth is ..an odd character, no? She's 13 at the start and 19 when she dies. She plays with dolls all the way through as far as I could tell, she's "too shy" to go to school, and she doesn't seem to die of anything - doesn't seem to see a doctor or receive and treatment when she dies. Was she written as a someone we'd now see as developmentally delayed or someone on the autisic spectrum? Also what is Hannah's accent meant to be? Tried to read it as written and can't work out what it is meant to be!

Hannah is Irish according to articles on the book and Wikipedia.

Hannah is german. Imo anyway. None of the evidence points to her being black.
I loved little women and good wives, and dread to think what the new film would make of it.
Alcott had an interesting life with what seems to have been a dreadful father. Perhaps that's why mr March is kept at arms length in the books

I have just re-read all 4 books. So IMO, Beth definitely dies from complications following Scarlet Fever - heart related. There is absolutely nothing that can be done ... Hannah definitely the help but I don't know where from.

For me a really important part of the story is how limited options are for women at this time and how small their social circles are - Amy becomes a companion to her aunt, Jo initially is the companion but Amy takes over the role after beth has scarlet fever, Jo basically scribbles for an income and then goes as domestic help to New York (to get away from Laurie) and Meg i think looks after children but gets married to Laurie's tutor. So it doesn't strike me as odd that Beth stays home, and helps her mother, I often felt there would be an expectation that one of the girls would do this.

Little Women and Good Wives. My favourite books of a life time of reading. Read them as a youngster and then again and again.
Beth was a shy girl who loved home life, her family and kittens. Her love of the piano absorbs her and Mr. Laurence allows her to play his grand piano by making sure servants are absent when she goes over to play. Beth makes him knitted slippers to thank him and he sends her a thank you note saying he had had many pairs of slippers but none that had suited him so well and accompanied the note with a lovely little piano that had belonged to his granddaughter. Beth is so overwhelmed that she dashes over to his house and kisses him. The bond between them is settled and Mr Laurence arranges the doctor for Beth when she is so ill. The memorable instances in these books are many eg Meg overspending on material for a dress and John Brooks depriving himself of a Winter coat to pay for it. Then there is the time he brings home a friend to show off his pretty new wife only to find a distraught Meg in the middle of jam making which won’t set. You can go on and on...sheer, memorable joy.

I'm just back from a visit to Orchard house , Louisa May Alcotts family home and I highly recommend it if you love the books . Concord is beautiful and well worth the visit

I don't endorse this, but I read an interesting theory that Beth was anorexic - based on the way she is often seen avoiding food even before she is ill for the first time.

My thoughts were always TB or 'consumption' based on the impression that Beth gradually wasted away.

I think the reason she remained childlike is that she knew her life as an adult wouldn't last very long, so there was no reason to 'grow up' which in those days would have meant 'coming out' (in the 19th century sense of the phrase) something which would have been difficult for one so painfully shy.

Louisa had a sister who died from a heart condition caused by rheumatic fever - and Beth is based on her but I also think Beth in the books comes across as a very childlike so maybe some learning difficulties too?

based on the way she is often seen avoiding food even before she is ill for the first time.
Often? Apart from them all giving up their special Xmas breakfast to the hummels, were there multiple occasions where she specifically avoided food?

Agreed @ErrolTheDragon she is 'delicate' not anorexic

I can't think of Beth refusing food except perhaps when all the girls are willing to give their food to others in need.

I also don't think she had any particular sense, pre-illness, of her own mortality. She happened to have been spooked by a bad teacher, which hit hard, as she'd been so petted at home. And the parents seem very willing to let their daughters find their own way. Their letting her stay home is likely of a piece with their allowing Jo to romp like a quasi-tomboy.

They had been very well off but if I remember correctly, Mr March had helped a friend in need out (by lending him all his money) and the scheme hadn't worked out so the Marches were left with little, although not destitute.

Mrs March gives the girls some special things when they come of age, relics from their better society days (umbrellas, gloves etc).

Their genteel background is why Meg is friends with Sallie Gardner etc and moves in those circles, even though her financial situation is different they are socially on the same level.

Beth had scarlet fever and recovered, but it permanently weakened her heart which is why she died young. Nowadays, scarlet fever is treatable but those days it was not, like a lot of illnesses.

HappyDays I loved the bit where Amy (I think) wanted to have friends round for a posh lunch with lobster and strawberries but the lobster went wrong and the strawberries were salted instead of sugared by mistake, maybe the lobster for lunch is a bit out of date now but lunches/dinners going wrong is timeless!

Also I was bemused by the pickled limes that were "all the rage" at Amy's school.
Can't imagine wanting to eat a pickled lime!

IIRC it was Jo's attempt at a lunch party.