Reading Log #3 For Novel

Title: Little Women

Author: Louisa M. Alcott

Date Started: 29/10/2000, Date Finished : 14/11/2000

Category of Novel: Children's Classic

Characters:

Jo: Jo is a very tall, thin, and brown fifteen-year-old. She has a decided mouth, a comicla nose, and sharp gray eyes. Her beautiful long hair is her only beauty, and she is very proud of it. She also has the uncomfortable appearance of a girl who was shooting up into a woman and didn't like it. Jo's real name was Josephine, but they call her Jo because she is a tomboy and she doesn't like her name. Jo is the sister of Meg (the eldest) , Beth (the second youngest), and Amy (the youngest).  Jo is a very nice girl who everybody likes, but her surroundings think she has a dreadful temper and she should work on it. Jo responds to the conflicts like a quick thinker. When her father was sick and needed money, she got her hair cut so she could sell it. Jo is very fond of everyone; she got her hair cut so she could sell it. Jo is very fond of everyone; she is not a fussy girl. She loves her Aunt March, because she is a relative, but thinks she is quite mean.

Meg: Meg is a very pretty girl. She has very sofy hair, large eyes, and she looks very mature for a sixteen-year-old. Her real name is Margaret, and Meg is just her nickname. Most people like Meg, because she is pretty and nice. Sometimes they think she is a bit silly, because she tries to be rich too much and she acts older than she is. Meg responds to the conflicts of this novel like a mature and responsible adult; she takes charge quickly. When her mother left to help Meg's father, Meg took care of the house and took care of her sisters like she was their mother. Meg likes her family more than life itself, but she always criticizes the way her sister Jo acts. She does it out of love for her sister, and that clearly shows that she always thinks about them and loves them.

Setting: The setting is in the U.S.A., at the time of the Civil War. It wa in the ninteen hundreds in the past time.

Plot Summary:  The four sisters, Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy live in a house with their mother. They don't live with their father, because he is defending the country in the war. The girls struggle with their lives, because it is a big change from being rich to becoming poor. They met their neighbor for the first time, he is a boy called Laurie, and they all become inseperable friends. One day, Jo, Meg, and Laurie wanted to go to a concert, and Amy wanted to go as well. Jo didn't allow her to come, so Amy got very mad. When Jo came back home she saw her book, which was filled with stories Jo wrote burning in the fire.  Jo felt her soul was on fire, and started ignoring Amy. After a few days, Jo and Laurie went ice skating on a pond, which froze from the cold weather, and Amy followed them. Laurie said that the ice in the middle was thin and it was dangerous to skate there. Amy didn't hear him, so she skated there, and fell in the freezing water. Jo and Laurie saved Amy, and that is when Jo and Amy started talking to each other. Months passed by and everything was going fine, until they found out that their father was very sick. Their mother had to leave. Jo wanted help more than anything in the world, so she got her beautiful hair cut and sold it for twenty-five dolars, and sent it with her mother. She had lost her only beauty. Shortly after their mother's departure, Beth got very sick with the scarlet fever; the girls didn't know what to do. How can they put their once perfect life back together.

Content:

When I heard that " Little Women" was a classic, I thought they just said that because it has been around for a very long time. When I read it I fell in love with it, and found out that it TRULY was a classic! It captured me, it kept me on the tips of my toes and it was amazing! That is how much I enjoyed the story. One of the major themes of this novel are, it doesn't matter if you are rich or poor as you are rich with family and friends. It presented when the girls' father goes to war and they become poor. They think that it is the end of the world, but at the end, they realized that they are rich with family and friends. They realize this after Beth's recovery. Another major theme of this novel is never give up hope. It is presented when Beth gets very sick and they were starting to lose hope as she got sicker and sicker. At the end, they gain hope and then Beth recovers. The characters are very real and entertaining, they show us everyday struggles, and how we can overcome them. The setting is very real and appropriate to the story, the conflicts, and the themes. It is very appropriate to them, because the setting takes place at the time of the civil war, their father went to defend their country, and then they started facing their struggles. The language was very appropriate to the setting, because they used terms that were used in the past. I would say that the language of the story is more for a more mature audience, since it is a bit hard. This novel doesn't remind me of any novels because it was very unique and I didn't read any stories that had the same excitment and orgininality. I would recommend this book to ALL my friends, because I want them to know what to do if they ever pass over these struggles, and I want them to enjoy it. I would read more novels by this author, because I love the way the author expressed the themes of the story in such an appropraite way. I would like to read "Jo's Boys" which is the continuation of "Little Women". The novel was just right because I felt the story was downright. It was perfect! Bravo, Ms. Louisa M. Alcott. It was truly a pleasure to read!

By: Samar Al Ansari

7C