My 15 impressions from Little Women, the book

I hate book synopsis so I won’t bore you with that, that you can just Google. For the last couple of months I have been involved in Little Women. I tried to stretch it but I had to finish it in the end, but I got to say- best read 2016 for me. And if you are a woman between five and 105 years old and haven’t read it, look for it.

1. On trusting in God

The more you love and trust him, the nearer you will feel to him, and the less you will depend on human power and wisdom. His love and care never tire or change, can never be taken from you, but may be the source of lifelong peace, happiness and strength. Believe this heartily and go to God with all your little cares, and hopes, and sins, and sorrows as freely and confidingly as you come to me- Mrs March.

2. On marriage worthiness and why poverty is not a determent to sincere companionship

Better to be happy old maids than happy wives or unmaidenly girls, running about to find husbands.

“Don’t be troubled Meg, poverty seldom daunts a sincere lover. Some of the best and most honored women I know were poor girls, but so love worthy that they were not allowed to be old maids. Leave these things to time. Make this home happy, so that you may be fit for homes of your own, if they are offered you, and contented here if they are not. One thing remember my girls, mother  is always ready to be your confidant, father to be your friend, and both of use hope and trust that our daughters, whether married or single, will be the pride and comfort of our lives.(Just like that, no pressure, Mrs March, bless you woman.)

- How could I ask you to gif up so much for a poor old fellow, who has no fortune but a little learning?-The Professor

I'm glad you are poor. I couldn't bear a rich husband, said Jo decidedly, adding in a softer tone, Don't fear poverty. I've known it long enough to lose my dread and be happy working for those I love, and don't call yourself old forty is the prime of life. I couldn't help loving you if you were seventy!  -Joe
 (Reading too many English books might make a girl start to think that if “you are not worth 1000 pounds a year,” you may never get a husband)

3. Why Sublime Innocence brings me more satisfaction than all articles I ever wrote for pay.

Jo’s eyes sparkled, for it is always pleasant to be believed in, and a friend’s praise is always better than a dozen newspaper puffs.

4. On enjoying the present

Never mind what happened just after that, for the full hearts overflowed, washing away the bitterness of the past and leaving only the sweetness of the present.

5. The boys we love(d)

Being only a glorious human boy of course he frolicked and flirted, grew dandified, aquatic, sentimental or gymnastic, as college fashions ordained, hazed and was hazed, talked slang and more than once came perilously near suspension and expulsion.

6. The men that intrigue us

He had a great appetite, and shoveled in his dinner in a manner which would have horrified ‘her ladyship’. I didn’t mind, for I like to see folks eat with a relish as Hannah says, and the poor man must have a needed a deal of food after teaching idiots all day.

7. On love

It is so beautiful to be loved as Laurie loves me. He is sentimental, doesn’t say much about it, but I see and feel in all he says and does, and makes me so happy and so humble and I don’t seem to be the same girl I was. I never knew how good and generous and tender e was until now, for he lets me read his heart, and I find it full of noble impulses and hopes and purposes, and I am so proud to know it.-Amy

8. Accidentally in love

 Jo’s was nearly ready for the bag(her heart)

Not a boy’s impatient shake, but a man’s hand reached up to pick it, gently from the burr, and find the kernel sound and sweet. If she suspected this, she would have shut up tight, and been more prickly than ever, fortunately she wasn’t thinking about herself, so when the time came, down she dropped.

(this passage reminded me of what Rhett Butler said to Scarlet, in Gone with the wind. “You need to be kissed, not by the unsure groping of a boy or the lackluster kisses of an old man…….”  something like that, not verbatim but the idea is the same, Jo, needed someone full grown in  their emotions to be able to help her discover her own.)

9. That awkward age

I’m NOT! And if turning up my hair makes me one (a young lady), I will wear it in two tails till I’m twenty,’ Cried Jo, pulling off her net, and shaking down a chestnut mane. ‘I hate to think I’ve got to grow up and be Miss March, and wear long gowns, and look as prim as China Aster! It’s bad enough to be a girl, anyway, when I like boy’s games and work and manners!  I can’t get over my disappointment in not being a boy…..and  I can only stay home and knit lie a poky old woman!’

10. Being frustrated doesn’t stop you from doing the things you gotta do.

And she knitted like an old maid. (Next time you see me I will have finished one stanza of my Kiondo, the one I will start weaving when feeling frustrated.)

11. On Hard work

“Yes, I wanted you to see how the comfort of all depends on each doing her share faithfully…

Take up your little burdens again, for though they seem heavy to sometimes, they are good for us, and lighten as we learn to carry them. Work is wholesome, and there is plenty for everyone. It keeps us from ennui and mischief, is good for health and spirits, and gives us a sense of power and independence better than money and fashions.-Marmee

12. On being imperfect and why we won’t all go to heaven

It is highly virtuous to say we’ll be good, but we can’t do it all at once, and it takes a long pull, a strong pull and a pull all together before some of us even get our feet set in the right way.

13. Why we all need a break at times, and why Jos need a superhero by their side

But you see, Jo wasn’t a heroine, she was only a struggling human girl like hundreds of others.

14. What a woman’s age defines

“You may be a little older in years, but I am ever so much older in feeling, Teddy. Women always are, and this last year has been a hard one that I feel forty.

15. On Talent

There is not much danger that real talent or goodness will be overlooked long, even if it is, the consciousness of possessing and using it well should satisfy one, and the great charm of all power is modesty.

My cute bookmark

Little women has been a great experience. I should have read it when I was 10. But oh well, I’ll pretend I am 15 and starting over.

Jo was my favorite character, she was a writer and her impetuosity is something I can relate to. Now I need another book to keep me from reading Mark Manson And Wanja Kavengi until 2a.m and sleepwalking the next day.