Introduction by LITTLE WOMEN
by Paula Danziger
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I don't remember when I first met Jo March in Little Women. I don't remember not knowing her once I could read well.
Here was a character who wanted to write, who had trouble dressing and acting according to convention, who said what she thought.
I identified, big time, with Jo March.
Oh, yes - Louisa May Alcott called the book Little Women, not Little Woman. There were the other sisters - Meg, who always seemed so traditional, so nice, so destined to marry and have children and stay at home and become a good helpmate. (I had no desire to be like Meg.) And there was Amy, so self-involved, so concerned with society. She wanted to be an artist, which is something I identified with - but she wasn't that upset when she wasn't a good enough artist. I would have been upset, big time.
And there was Beth, so good, so sweet, so frail. I never could identify with her... although I did think that she was a very nice person and had such a good heart to help out all those poor, sick people.
I wanted a family like the Marches - a mother whose main concern was her family. (For a while, I even tried calling my mother Marmee - but it never took!) There was a brave, good father (who was away for much of the book) and sisters to confide in and put on plays with. I wanted neighbors like dear, kind, grandfatherly Mr. Lawrence and Laurie, attractive and adoring of Jo.
But I never had that family or those neighbors. What I did have was the book Little Women, and I could visit them whenever I wished. I could read about Jo getting her stories published, about her going to New York City to live, about her meeting different people.
It makes me very happy that others also can and do continue to visit with the Little Women.
Paula Danziger
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