by Ann Johnstone

Created on: August 02, 2011   Last Updated: August 03, 2011

‘Little Women’ and its sequels have been loved by generations of readers. The four girls, Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy, represent four entirely different personalities. The responsibility of caring for her three younger siblings weighs heavily on Meg, especially as the story unfolds during the American Civil War when the father is employed on the field as an army chaplain and the mother is busy sending provisions to soldiers and ministering to the poor and sick nearer to home.

Next in line is Jo, a tomboyish young woman who loves reading books in the attic, and dabbling in writing, with a supply of apples to keep hunger at bay. Jo sees no sense in being ladylike, and often feels like the odd one out. She wishes ardently that she had a brother with whom she could do ‘boyish things’ rather than wear long skirts, and generally behave like a genteel young woman.

Quiet, gentle Beth is the second youngest. She is happy to play the piano and remain quietly at home, helping her mother around the house and caring for others, especially the impoverished Hummel family  who live nearby. When Beth nurses the Hummel baby through scarlet fever, she contracts the disease herself and it is thought that she will die. She does have a long convalescence, but never regains her health.

Finally there is Amy, the youngest of the four.  She is only twelve when the story begins. A blonde beauty who is fully aware of her good looks, Amy takes pleasure in playing the part of the perfect lady. Her hair is arranged in golden ringlets. She is passionate about art, loves luxuries, and is adept at getting whatever she wants. As the youngest of the four girls, Amy is inclined to be spoiled and known to have temper tantrums when she does not get what she wants. For a twelve-year-old she is unnaturally concerned about her appearance and the opinions of others. She is overly conscious of what she considers to be her chief flaw: a snub nose. Amy longs to have a perfectly straight nose and tries in vain to accomplish this with the help of a clothes peg.

Another quirk of Amy’s is to use big words, mispronouncing them and using them incorrectly. For the literary Jo, this is appalling. In fact, Jo and Amy, being such complete opposites, often have clashes of temperament. Possibly the most serious of these occurs when Jo refuses to allow Amy to accompany her to the theatre. This throws Amy into such a fit of anger that she burns Jo’s precious

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