Like just about every little girl, I read Little Women and completely related to Jo. I recently saw the Broadway musical version and still completely related to Jo.Book, movie versions and musical all have a scene toward the end that touches me in so many ways. As Jo shares an umbrella with Professor Bhaer, he clumsily proposes. Since this is post Civil War era, he apologizes for being a poor immigrant without much in the way of earthly possessions, "nothing to offer" our Jo. Nothing, that is, except the ability to appreciate, understand and completely accept one of the prickliest, most complex and enduring heroines in American literature. Naturally she accepts and together they run Plumfield, a school for boys, in the house Aunt March left her. (So ultimately, while Jo may have lost each and every battle with Aunt March, she wins the war: Aunt March eventually does care for the less fortunate, even if it's posthumously. How very Jo!)
Oh, I adore that scene under the umbrella! A completely spectacular woman finds a man who loves her, who encourages and helps her with her writing, who wants her to be his equal and achieve every wonderful goal she's set her sites on.
I still believe. None of my relationships worked out, but, for the most part, I spent time with some really lovely men. I just wish one of them had turned out to be my professor.
I'm probably the only person who read it as a little girl and didn't relate to anyone and never bothered to finish the book.
ReplyDeleteLOVED the book and of course LOVED Jo! I must have read it a dozen times as a girl. I bet the Broadway musical was phenomenal.
ReplyDeleteI would never settle for anything less than an egalitarian relationship. I'd rather be alone.
Oh, blog serendipity strikes again.. I bought the Winona Ryder Little Women DVD today... if you've read any of my blog you'll see Jo March was one of the characters I wanted to be growing up... and I too am waiting for my professor.. particularly if he looks like Gabriel Byrne!
ReplyDeleteThe 3 movie versions each have strong points. In the Ryder version, I really liked Susan Sarandon's Marmee. She seemed more dimensional than the other Mrs. Marches. (And Gabriel Byrne, of course!) In the original version, that was Hepburn as Jo. Amazing. And in the Technicolor MGM verision, there's a blonde Liz Taylor as Amy, beautiful, spoiled and convincing.
ReplyDeleteAnd Pam, the actress who played Jo on Broadway also sings for Barbie in the Mattel videos. Between Jo March and Barbie, I bet she's going to influence more girls than any other woman of her generation!