It instructs women to be self-effacing, to be courteous to men, to relinquish their ambitions for work and focus on domestic chores. In fact, it conforms to nineteenth-century patriarchal ideology in many ways. It was as if she had decoded a secret message which Alcott had inscribed into her novel.Įssentially, the novel itself is nowhere close to being radical or progressive compared to some other famous works written by women during that time, the most famous being perhaps “Jane Eyre” and “Wuthering Heights”.

It amazed me how Greta Gerwig blended aspects of Louisa May Alcott’s own life with the novel to create her own unique narrative, making it into something timely for the modern audience while still being progressive and, well, portraying a reality more glaringly realistic than the novel was ever capable of. The multiple-endings technique seems way too metafictional for a nineteenth-century sentimental, moralistic novel.Īnyway, the ending of Gerwig’s movie intrigued me enough to pick up the actual novel and read it, and since then my respect for Gerwig’s version has only increased. Sure, one might find that in postmodernist novels like John Fowles’ “The French Lieutenant’s Woman” (great book, by the way), but not Louisa May Alcott. The multiple-endings technique seems way too metafictional for a nineteenth-century sentimental, moralistic novel. I did not imagine Louisa May Alcott had it in her to include two endings in her book: the “expected” one being the conventional happy ending, where Jo marries and set up a school with Professor Bhaer, and they live happily ever after the “real” one being that Jo remains an unmarried woman and publishes her book independently. The ending (SPOILER ALERT) was especially intriguing. I was so impressed by Greta Gerwig’s “Little Women” that after the trip to the cinema, I decided to take a detour and walk my friend home just so we could discuss it. But no, I never got round to reading it, until after I saw Gerwig’s movie version. As an English literature student, it’s definitely one of the “I assume you’ve already read this, so we’re not even going to include it on the reading list” books, alongside “Pride and Prejudice”, “Jane Eyre” and “Lolita”. It’s one of those books that unashamedly flaunts its cover rather than hide amidst a queue of book spines turned towards the roving eyes of impatient customers.

One keeps seeing it on the Recommended shelves of Waterstones. Obviously, I had heard of “Little Women” before watching Gerwig’s 2019 adaptation. One of the movies I recently watched which really captured my imagination was Greta Gerwig’s “Little Women”.

Little women men