I'm a match to Beth March from Little Women (2024)

FAQs

What does Beth March represent? ›

Beth resembles an old-fashioned heroine like those in the novels of the nineteenth-century English author Charles Dickens. Beth is a good person, but she is also a shade too angelic to survive in Alcott's more realistic fictional world. With Beth's death, Alcott lets an old type of heroine die off.

The recovery, though near miraculous, is incomplete, and Beth later dies from lingering complications of her scarlet fever at the age of nineteen. Despite her youth, Beth faces her impending death with equanimity that, were this not placid Beth March, might be startling.

Amy March : I have been second to Jo my whole life in everything and I will not be the person you settle for just because you cannot have her. I won't do it, not when, not when I've spent my entire life loving you. Amy March : I'm making a mould of my foot for Laurie to remind him I have nice feet.

Beth is no exception; she is based on Alcott's second-youngest sister, Lizzie. Lizzie, like Beth, was stricken with scarlet fever. (During this initial illness, her family—vegans and believers in alternative medicine—did not send for a doctor.)

Because she helped the Hummels and got scarlet fever from their baby and scarlet fever is what ultimately kills her. The total inner peace that Beth displayed is also what made her an angel on Earth. Even though Beth was so morally pure and innocent she didn't live her full life. She died at age 23 in her mom's arms.

While Laurie might have initially thought he wanted to spend his life with Jo, he did grow to love Amy, leaving fans of the book and the movie adaptation debating who his perfect match was for years. Little Women (1994) is available to stream on PlutoTV while Little Women (2019) is available to stream on Starz.

Though it's never clearly specified, Laurie was born the same year as Jo, making him the same age as her, obviously — 15 at the start of the story. At age 22 he proposes to Jo, which she turns down, and he later heads off to Europe. There, he meets Amy and one year later proposes to her (which she accepts) at age 23.

In the books, Jo never likes Laurie romantically and his romantic interest only makes Jo feel uncomfortable. Not only does their dynamics change because Jo doesn´t want to fit into the traditional female role of the time but because Laurie fits into the traditional 19th-century male role almost too well.

After Mrs March leaves for Washington, Beth appears at the window every morning to smile good-bye to her sisters in her mother's place to comfort them. Her sisters also come to treat her as a confidant.

What is scarlet fever in Beth March? ›

People reading the book from a medical point of view have speculated that Beth was left, after her bout with scarlet fever, with severe rheumatic heart disease, and that though the book doesn't explicitly make the connection, her frailty and progressive weakness were in fact related to the group A strep that caused her ...

I know that Meg was 16 when the book started and she was 21 when she married him. I would say he would've been at least 10 years older. What connects John and Meg in Little Women?

Beth March : It's like the tide going out. It goes out slowly, but it can't be stopped.

Amy married Laurie for wealth and status (and love, because contrary to popular depictions, Amy march is capable of love and complicated and so, so human); Laurie married Amy because 1) she actually desires him the way Jo doesn't; and 2) she 'disciplines' him into a better person.

Amy also asks Marmee if she may wear the turquoise ring that Aunt March has now given her. She wants to wear it to remind herself not to be selfish, and Marmee approves of this plan.

Beth's crippling shyness is actively portrayed as her “burden,” just like Jo's temper or Meg and Amy's vanity and materialism. She struggles with it. Her parents have homeschooled her because her anxiety made the classroom unbearable for her – no conduct book has ever encouraged that!

Meg represents the conventional and good; she is similar to her mother, for whom she was named.

While nurturing her artistic dreams, Amy strives to embody selfless virtues of generosity, maturity, and kindness. Personality... artistic, ambitious, and self-centered. As the youngest child in a big family, Amy is a little bit spoiled.

There's a scene in the book where Jo sees Beth admiring Laurie. Beth is actually just envying Laurie's vitality because she's sick, but Jo thinks Beth is in love. Does Jo refuse Laurie to protect her favorite sister's feelings?