Little Women: My Childhood Role Model and Adult Dream
Looking back, discovering Little Women by Louisa May Alcott feels like destiny. I mean how big is the chance a kid from a small town in Indonesia managed to be familiar with an American classic?
I was fortunate enough to have some fellow bookworms as close friends back in elementary school. In one of our usual book exchanges, Little Women came to me as a South Korean-style comic. Books like Why? Series come in this format.
Little Women told the story of four March sisters — Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy — and the details of their growing up during and after the Civil War. With their father off fighting the war, and them facing hardships and constraints of poverty and social expectations. Meg, the eldest is feminine and well-mannered. Jo is opinionated and a tomboy who loves literature. Beth is shy and musical, whose dream is as simple as always be with her family. Amy is being the artsy sister who just like every youngest kid, sometimes behaves in a vain and spoiled way. My small brain did not get much from it except the fact that they are struggling financially and are a supportive family, despite how diverse the sisters are.
The comic was not as imaginative and complex as the original book as it was written to be easily read by kids under 12 years old, but somehow the aura of the March Sisters still strongly affects me. I believed it was mostly because of Jo. She is exactly like who I was. A tomboy girl, a sharp-tongued, engrossed in stories all the time and wants to be an independent woman so much. We also have the same dream of pursuing a literary career. She became my childhood fictional role model alongside Belle.
That was all my memory of the book. I spent the next seven years never thinking about it. Until one day, I heard there was going to be a new movie adaptation of Little Women. It did not help at all when I learned who was going to direct and play all the characters, they are all also people I admire as a film lover.
I finally read the original book while waiting for the film to come out. Gosh, how I regret not reading it way earlier. One of the many things I love about that book is how Alcott — even in the era and social condition when the story was published, gives life to the female characters. How women can be so different from one another in terms of appearance, characteristics, and dreams yet all just as strong and valuable.
I watched the film with my sister. We cried so much the whole movie that it's funny to remember. The theatre was half-filled with people having a movie date and being lovey-dovey with each other, while my sister and I were busy hiding our ugly crying faces and sucking our snot.
It was too much for me to see THE Jo March with a face and voice in front of my eyes. She was as real as ever being the person I used to admire and turns out still is one. It was exciting but also scary. I was watching someone so much like me but also someone I want to be. Jo’s love of literature reminds me of myself. I thank Greta Gerwig, the director for focusing on that aspect of her. The pain, joy, and fight Jo go through chasing her dream of being a writer feel so close to my heart. I found empowerment in seeing Jo do things I am scared of, facing it even when in the end it turns out bleak. So between sobs, I kind of made a vow with myself about my future life goals. One that has always been in the back of my mind but always too afraid to admit.
That was my ‘emotional attachment’ to Little Women. One that I feel thankful for experiencing.
Author’s note
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