Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (Book Analysis): Detailed Summary, Analysis and Reading Guide

By Bright Summaries

Unlock the more straightforward side of Little Women with this concise and insightful summary and analysis!

This engaging summary presents an analysis of Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, which follows the March sisters, Meg, Jo, Amy and Beth as they grow up and strive to overcome that hardships imposed by the family’s poverty and the absence of their beloved father. Their close bond with each other and with their loving mother Marmee, as well as their friendship with Laurie, the lively boy next door, ultimately allows them to find fulfilment and happiness even in the most difficult of circumstances. Little Women remains widely read 150 years after it was first published, and has inspired several film and television adaptations. As well as Little Women and its sequels Little Men and Jo’s Boys, Alcott wrote a number of other novels and short story collections.

Find out everything you need to know about Little Women in a fraction of the time!

This in-depth and informative reading guide brings you:
• A complete plot summary
• Character studies
• Key themes and symbols
• Questions for further reflection

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• Language: English
• Publisher: BrightSummaries.com
• Release date: Mar 28, 2019
• ISBN: 9782808015455

Book preview

AMERICAN WRITER AND POET

Born in Germantown, Pennsylvania in 1832.

Died in Boston, Massachusetts in 1888.

Notable works:

Hospital Sketches (1863), collection of sketches based on letters written during the US Civil War

An Old Fashioned Girl (1870), novel

Work: A Story of Experience (1873), semi-autobiographical novel

Louisa May Alcott was an American novelist and poet, best known for her series of books based around the March family, the first of which was Little Women, published in 1868. She was raised by transcendentalist (a philosophical movement which started in the Eastern US in the 1820s) parents and educated by well-known intellectuals in her father’s alternative educational school. Her family suffered financial hardship and she wrote and worked as a governess to support them. She remained single all her life and was a dedicated feminist and campaigner for the abolition of slavery.

BE COMFORTED, DEAR SOUL

Genre: coming-of-age fiction

Reference edition: Alcott, L. M. (1868) Little Women or, Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy. Boston: Roberts Brothers.

1stedition: December 1868

Themes: women’s roles, duty versus personal growth, the Protestant work ethic, the importance of family

This work was published at a time