Representation in Little Women

 "Little Women" Is a fil that represents society after the Civil War and the poverty-struck families. The four March sisters try to succeed in a society that's against independent women. Greta Gerwig's film is based on the book "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott. In this post I'll be talking about the representation of the second oldest sibling, Jo March, and the youngest sister, Amy March.

Jo was shown as the rebellious child, and Greta Gerwig, the director, used the technique of othering to represent Jo. The second oldest in the family wanted to be a writer in a world where women only did housekeeping for their husbands. She didn't want to marry, she wanted to be an author and support her family financially. She didn't fit into the stereotypical girl back in the 1800s, she cut most of her hair off to give money to her mom, and dressed simply. She is the stereotypical rebellious middle child who doesn’t dance at parties and would rather play outside. She rejects any affection towards her and thinks love won't last in a marriage (Laurie proposes to Jo), but when she achieves her goal, she doesn’t want to be lonely (Jo wants to be loved). She’s also very ambitious and when her sister, Amy, burnt her book that she was writing, she was persistent hating her until Amy almost drowned because of Jo. When the other sister, Beth, got sick with scarlet fever twice, she paused her dreams, and decided to stay and nurse her sister back to being healthy and the second time Beth got sick, she stayed around even after the funeral to write a memoir about their life in remembrance of Beth.

Amy is the opposite of Jo. She is the epitome of elegance but has a modern view of gender in society, proving her point when she gets to an argument with Laurie about her role in society where she doesn’t own anything, it would her husband’s (marriage is an economic proposition- Amy and Laurie). Since she was young, she had wanted to be a painter in paris, and she achieved that goal. When Beth got sick the first time, she went to live with her rich aunt. And when her aunt took her to Paris to paint and find suitable suitors for her. When she got proposed to, she rejected him because she was in love with Laurie. They get eloped when their coming back for Beth's funeral because nobody had told Amy that she was sick. She’s the stereotypical overlooked bratty spoiled little sister but had a huge character development at the end. Amy is unapologetically herself was overlooked by her older sisters, but she got her happy ending marrying the love of her life that’s also very wealthy. Amy has always felt that the world is against her and society is built for men and not women.