- Part Two was originally published as its own volume, titled Good Wives. Know what would be a good trick? For J.K. Rowling to go into her publisher's office and say, "Hey, I'm going to write a follow-up to Harry Potter that focuses on Ginny and Hermione. It's still for children. I'm thinking of calling it Good Wives." What a terrible, terrible name for a children's book about strong female characters! It's no wonder the whole thing is just called Little Women these days.
- Once again, I have to remind myself that it's not that weird that Laurie's college buddies of 19 or 20 would be attracted to Amy, who is all of fifteen. She's not far from marriageable age (and really, when I was fifteen, I totally felt like it would have been reasonable for one of the college-aged counselors at the summer camp where I worked to go out with me. I mean, it wouldn't have been. But a hundred and thirty years earlier and we'd have been in business, for sure.)
- It's funny that I should encounter this bit about Laurie's gadget mania just now: I'm reading At Home: A Short History of Private Life by Bill Bryson, and he mentions that around this time, servants were scarce in America, which fueled the invention of "helpful" items that were usually anything but (like the knife-cleaner that Laurie gives to Meg, which promptly ruins all her knives!)
- The temperance movement started to gather steam in the 1830s, when Americans were consuming startlingly large amounts of alcohol on a regular basis. When Meg attends that party in part one and Laurie catches her drinking champagne, he reminds her that her family are "temperance people"; in other words, they are against the consumption of alcohol for moral reasons. (However, it was common to use small amounts for medicinal reasons, which is why Mr. March puts some away for Beth.) This is why no alcohol is served at the wedding, and why Meg uses her powers of bridal persuasion to make Laurie promise to give up drinking.
- I think it's interesting to note that at this point, Louisa May Alcott knew full well what her fans wanted for her characters. As far as I can tell, every girl in late-19th-century New England shipped the heck out of Jo and Laurie. We see evidence of Laurie's continuing affections pretty close to the beginning of the second book, so clearly Alcott hasn't forgotten.
Final Thoughts:
I will always love this wedding; while I'm not totally sold on Meg and John's relationship at the time of their engagement, by this time they've clearly gotten to know each other very well and this is just about the sweetest imaginable wedding scene. Also, I would totally read Sallie Gardiner/Moffat's story.
Question for readers:
After three years, are these characters where you'd expect them to be? What strikes you as particularly fitting or especially strange?
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