Here, I would like to clarify something that came up in class earlier
this week, if my memory serves. When I spoke about what I liked about
the book "Little Women" I mentioned how I didn't find the story
preachy or tedious despite its classical structure with a clear moral to
each "chapter." Many people balked at this statement, and perhaps
rightfully so, as I can understand that any story that resembles a fable
structure could be considered inherently preachy, as it extols a single
virtue as a crooning rooster. However, I would argue that this is not
the case, at least not from how I define preachy.
To
me, a story is preachy whenever it sacrifices the story or the
characters for the sake of a lesson, or is blatant about its lesson in
such a manner which defies the story or breaks immersion. I would argue
that, rather than detracting from the story, the moral-based structure
is perfectly fitting to the story, characters, and structure. More often
than not, it is Marmee who ends up delivering our moral of the story,
whether directly or by surrogate; remembering this, it is entirely
within reason, I would say outright in the story's favor, to deliver the
lesson, because this is ultimately the story of the sisters growing
into adults. I can remember that, even into my teenage years and on into
today, my mother trying to help me to overcome my problems, and I'm
sure everyone else can too. It is the role of the parent to impart what
they have learned onto their children so as to perhaps avoid the same
mistakes.
Ultimately, the book is equal parts story for
entertainment and guidebook to proper behavior, a product of its time
for all that means. Though we may not agree with what it teaches now, do
perhaps cut it a measure of slack, for it comes from a far-removed time
from today.
I agree that while some would consider Little Women to be overly “preachy” it is not necessarily as such. After considering the context in which the novel was written, the expectations for structure of the novel, and the audience the book was geared towards, it is quite evident that Little Women is not as preachy as some might think.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, the novel was written during a time when not all children attended school, and therefore, parent were in charge of teaching their children proper morals. Even today, many of the moral lessons that I learned were from my parents. Although it may be true that Alcott was trying to fit a moral lesson into the end of each chapter, it could also reflect the lessons that the March girls are learning as they grow up. During this time period, it may have been the case that for young girls, formal education and skills such as reading and writing were less valued than having strong morals. Therefore, when the context and time period of the novel are considered, Little Women would not seem excessively preachy to the readers of that time.
Furthermore, the structure of the novel is broken down into chapters that often represent significant events for the girls, with the lesson learned at the end of the chapter. Since there is a sense of character development and plot, it can in fact be argued that there is equal amounts of entertainment and moral lessons. It is also important to note that the expectations for the content of young adult fiction novels from the time Little Women to now. Today, most young adult fiction novels are strictly plot based, with less emphasis on a moral lesson. However, changing expectations for young adult novels may explain why we perceive Little Women to be preachy.
Finally, it is important to consider that the novel was mostly written for young girls during the 19th century. The events that occur in Little Women may seem slightly boring compared to the young adult fiction novels we read today, but perhaps they were exciting compared to the lives of young girls during the 19th century. The majority of girls most likely did not interact much with people such as the Hummels or get invited to parties very often. However, the young girls of the 19th century most likely were able to relate to the March girls in some aspects as well. For example, they may have experienced the desire and envy for material items that Meg did, or perhaps they were able to relate to Jo, who was never very lady like. The novel combines the perfect amount of excitement and the March girls are relatable to many of the middle-class girls of the time. Since many girls reading the novel were most likely coming of age soon, it may have been in their best interest to learn these lessons from a book that was enjoyable for them to read. Therefore, since Little Women was written for young girls during the 1800’s, it may have been necessary to include moral lessons.
In conclusion, while Little Women may seem preachy to us, it is more fitting when we consider the time period that it was written in, the expectations for novels during the time, and the young girls that the novel was written for.
I agree with you! Little Women does contain moral “lessons” and obviously hopes that not only the daughters learn the lessons but the readers as well. But I think your definition of preachy is spot-on. The novel does not sacrifices the story or characters for the sake of teaching a lesson. Alcott simply infused her Christian values and society’s values of the time into a story of a mother trying to raise upstanding women. Marmee’s lessons come about in a natural way that does not seem out of character for the girls. For example, when Jo doesn’t forgive Amy for destroying her story, this seems exactly like something we would expect from stubborn Jo. Alcott created the daughters with such distinct characteristics, which inherently set them each up to learn very different lessons.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that any coming-of-age story may seem “preachy”, especially one such as this, that tells of the daughters growing up in a home environment. Note that Marmee is the main character to be “preachy”. This could likely be said about most mothers raising children, especially while they are at home. I also think it’s important that in Part II of the book, Marmee gives fewer direct lessons to her daughters. This is likely due to the fact that Part II begins 3 years after Part I ended. The girls are older now, and it would seem unnatural for them to still receive such blatant lessons from their mother.
I can definitely agree with the point of a "preachy" story sacrificing the characters for the morals of the story.I think many people including myself find the story "preachy" due to the fact of morals rather blatantly being exhibited in the story rather than entirely worked in to the story. Though most children's books teach lessons and some even individual lessons per chapter, similar to Little Women, I can hardly remember a story where the lessons and morals were so blatant. That being said, maybe that is why this book was so popular in its time. Many different morals and lessons are packaged in to one book, giving the reader more lessons for their dollar, and being very obvious these lessons are hard for even the most oblivious young reader to miss. This would make the book very appealing to parents of the time which we have talked about, but the story is also not entirely sacrificed to portraying the morals.
ReplyDeleteAnother point to consider in this novel being considered "preachy" or not is definitely situation and experience. I think at this point in our lives, on the older side to some of young adult readers, this book can come across as "preachy" because we are assumed to already have learned most of these lessons and some non-period specific lessons seem all too obvious to slightly older readers. Another thing to consider is experience. There are definitely religious tones in the novel and to those who are not religious this may come across as more "preachy" than to those who are more religious. I think these ideas can be demonstrated in that as I said in class one of my friends loves this book. I recently found another friend that loves the book as well. These two friends have little in common outside of the fact that they are both religious, though of different religions, and they both have multiple siblings. I also suspect that both friends read this when they were quite a bit younger, and I think all of these circumstances combined lead to a very different reading of the novel than that which some of the class has had.