All About Amy (Little Women Essay)

Join me on a journey to study Amy March and her real-life inspiration May Alcott Nieriker. The misconceptions about Jo´s insecurities and especially about her looks. Society likes to put two characters against one another but is this true to reality? Find out that and more in the Little Women podcast.

People often praise Jo for being a tomboy and how she rejects femininity, but Jo´s idealization of the masculine has very toxic elements. Amy is a character who is more governed by her brain, whereas Jo is in fact governed by her emotions, which is considered a feminine trait. In the novel, Jo struggles to show her feelings because she considers that weak and "feminine". When their father is wounded in the war she shouts to her sisters not to cry. A couple of years later Laurie says that she doesn't show emotions and calls her out about it. Because Jo tries to shut down an important human part of herself, simply because she considers it feminine, is actually something that slowly eats her inside and contributes to her loneliness. This is why the umbrella chapter is so important because Friedrich says to Jo that it is okay to be vulnerable.

Amy does the opposite. She considers rational marriage with Fred Vaughn because it allows her to secure her family´s financial future. When Laurie reminds Amy that she is her mother´s daughter, and she simultaneously inspires Laurie to become a productive member of society, Amy allows herself to listen to her heart and her own feelings and allowing herself to become more open and it is this inner work that the couples do in Little Women, that makes these relationships work.

Unfortunately, the adaptations rarely pay any attention to this. There are people who have not read the novel, have only seen the films, and don´t understand why the couples end up together. This is because the adaptations, never bother to show what actually happens between these people in the novel.