Results: Little Women
Published on 01/06/2020
QUESTIONS
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1.
1.
Little Women was written in a very different time (over 150 years ago), but the story is still relevant for today. Louise May Alcott wrote the novel in two parts, the first in 1868, and the second in 1869. The novel has been adapted for film or TV over the last 100 years, starting with a 1917 adaption, time and time again -- in no small part due to the timeless storyline and characters. Did you ever read the novel Little Women?
Yes
36%
794 votes
No
57%
1272 votes
Undecided
7%
156 votes
2.
2.
In the latest adaption of the novel, writer-director Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird) has crafted a Little Women that draws on both the classic novel and the writings of Louisa May Alcott, and unfolds as the author's alter ego, Jo March, reflects back and forth on her fictional life. In Gerwig's take, the beloved story of the March sisters - four young women each determined to live life on her own terms -- is both classic and timely. Have you seen this version or do you plan to?
I have seen it
6%
135 votes
I plan to see it
15%
327 votes
I'll see it when it hits Netflix, TV or DVD
19%
417 votes
No interest
43%
953 votes
Not sure
18%
390 votes
3.
3.
Many women (and even some men) saw themselves in one of the March sisters -- if you have read the book, seen this movie or other adaptions, which March sister (or maybe it was the mother) did you most closely identify with?
Jo March -- The Adventurous One -- Louisa May Alcott was said to base Jo and her authorial inspirations on herself, whose dreams of a career stood in stark contrast to the ideal woman of the 19th century. A lover of reading and writing, with an independent streak, Jo has long been an inspiration to feminists
12%
267 votes
Meg March -- The Traditional One -- The eldest sister, who dreams of marrying and settling into domesticity, Meg fulfilled most expectations for the modern 19th-century woman. In modern times, Meg and her devotion to domesticity might feel boring to many women, but others see her as a pillar of emotional maturity and her marriage to John Brooke as the clearest happily-ever-after of the story.
10%
229 votes
Amy March -- The Selfish One -- Beautiful and vain, she has some artistic talent going for her, but burning your sister's manuscript is pretty unforgivable.
2%
39 votes
Beth March -- The Sweet One -- Kind, shy, piano-obsessed Beth thinks of everyone but herself and constantly makes sacrifices for her family — including the ultimate one. (1868 spoiler alert!) Beth is considered the emotional heart of the narrative.
7%
145 votes
Marmee March -- Mother trying to do her best -- While the March patriarch is away during the Civil War, Marmee struggles to keep things together with her four temperamental, feuding, loving teenage daughters. Based on Alcott's own mother, she's the foundation of morality and love the March sisters return to in times of trouble.
5%
114 votes
None of them
64%
1428 votes
4.
4.
Alcott based the characters of the novel on her own family, and in many ways, she was the character of Jo. Although she was pressured to marry off Jo at the end of the novel (after all it was a different time), Alcott would have preferred to keep her unmarried. Alcott herself was an abolitionist and a feminist and remained unmarried throughout her life. Do you think Alcott should have kept Jo single instead of marrying her off to please her readers?
Yes
15%
336 votes
No, she did the right thing
12%
276 votes
Not sure
26%
583 votes
Not familiar with the story to say
46%
1027 votes
5.
5.
(Spoiler alert) In the new adaption of the novel, the character of Jo more than hints she is gay, as many readers of the novel in recent years have suggested. To account for her "spinsterhood," Alcott once explained, "I am more than half-persuaded that I am a man's soul put by some freak of nature into a woman's body … because I have fallen in love with so many pretty girls and never once the least bit with any man." So, it may appear that Jo was Alcott's way of expressing her sexuality through the character, but marrying her off was not her first choice. Do you think the character of Jo could, indeed, be gay?
Yes, I always thought so
8%
187 votes
Not at all
15%
341 votes
Perhaps
26%
585 votes
Not familiar with the story to say
50%
1109 votes
COMMENTS