2.18.25 Little Women 2025 (asynchronous)

TORDA'S SPRING 2025 TEACHING SITE

2.18.25 Little Women 2025 (asynchronous)

2/18/2025

Overview: When we see each other next week, your official reader's notes for Little Women will be due and be used in class. This gives some of you a little extra time to finish reading this long book and some of you a breather since you've already completed the journal.

For this week, I want to begin the work of getting at what makes YA uniquely YA as a genre, and it is worthwhile to begin that work with a text like Little Women because, I would argue, very little has actually changed in how YA stories are actually structured and told.

To demonstrate that point, please consider the characteristics I run through in the PowerPoint video embedded here or on the syllabus, consider, as well, what are the essential elements of the novel (character, plot, theme) and write a synopsis of your updated version of the novel. What has to change? What would not need to change? What could not change because if you did it would not be the story of Little Women. Are there essential aspects of the novel that just will not translate to 2025, thus, making it impossible to bring Little Women into the 21st Century? If that's the case, make that argument.

ONCE YOU'VE POSTED: Please make sure you've read at least half of the posts of your colleagues. In class on the 25th, we'll return to these synopsis to discuss what we learn about the genre and about the idea that LIttle Women just might be the super hero origin story of the genre.

18 Comments

Ryan Juliano

2/18/2025 02:36:50 pm

My updated version of Little Women would remain much the same in terms of story elements and narrative structure I think. There are only a couple major aspects of the novel that I would alter. The first revolves around the story’s meditation on poverty versus wealth. The novel paints a world where many of life’s moral lessons are learned through a person’s class, which is not inherently wrong, as people of different stations do tend to look at the world in different ways. However, there are times throughout the original text where it feels like the story is telling us that we should aim for poverty and that people can only become morally good through poverty. Our intrepid sisters do learn many lessons from their monetary struggles, but they do not need to be admonished or moralized at by their parents so often for wanting a more comfortable existence. Should Amy marry just for money or Jo only write for monetary returns? Of course not. But it is okay for Amy to want a more comfortable life and there is nothing wrong with Jo writing sensationalist stories for a paycheck while she chips away at more meaningful literary work. At the end of the day, family is what matters, but wanting better for your family is not a sin and should not be treated as such. I supposed my new version would ease up on the girls a bit when it comes to the lessons and lectures about the evil temptations of wealth.

My other focus would mostly be on Jo. At the end of the original novel she gets married to an older man because she is lonely. Now, I have nothing against Professor Bhaer, but Jo seems to give up both her independence and her literary dreams to marry him. In the end all of the March sisters, excluding poor Beth, have the same fate: learning to be good wives. Jo is skilled in many of the ‘womanly’ crafts of the 1800s, but she is also a writer and should not have to give that up. In my new version she would become a successful author regardless of whether or not she marries. I would be happy with her being a single artist or a nontraditional wife (for the time) as long as she gets to hold on to her artistic agency. Now that I am writing this I think I would throw some artistic success Amy’s way as well. In Rome she discovers she is not as good of an illustrator as she hoped and resigns to drawing for herself and family as she goes down the path to marriage. I would let her be the artist she believed she could be. My version would let the March sisters have their artistic cake and eat it too.

It would seem that at the end of the day my updated version of Little Women would call for the Marches to be more than just wives by the story’s conclusion. There is nothing wrong with being a wife or a homemaker, which Meg works very hard at, but the March girls need not be solely defined by who their husbands are.

Megan Johnson

2/18/2025 03:09:35 pm

Little Women is many young reader’s favorites for a clear reason; it feels like a realistic depiction of family life. Rereading this novel over my February vacation has created such a sense of nostalgia for my youth. While I read, I mulled over the many reasons as to why this novel became so popular and beloved. The celebration of sisterhood is a tried and true element of the novel, along with the real “melodramas” of life (illness, death, poverty, and heartache). Each of these melodramas could translate quite well into a 21st century adaptation of the novel. (However, I would like to make the quick note that perhaps this updated novel very well may not be well-received; could the salacious love triangle or the heartbreaking death of young Beth outlive “book banning” culture?). For my updated version of the novel, the first thing I would scrap would be the unrealistic overly-obedient attitudes of the March girls; the time period of this novel, along with the many allusions to the sacred domestic sphere, comes off too moralizing at times. (Even for how much I love this novel!). This easy relationship between parent and child, I believe, would be much less believable for a 21st century reader. My plot descriptions would feature a more realistic, and at times, trying relationship between parent and child. I would keep the general structure of the March family; there would be two parents, four sisters, and Aunt March; I would also keep Laurie & his grandfather in the story. The dynamic between these characters produces an exciting and variable plot for young readers. The varied relationships that form around this core group I believe is essential to reflect the core goodness of Little Women. This group achieves what is set out in our notes: short episodic glimpse into the “real” lives of characters that can be followed and understood by all readers. What I like best about Little Women is that the March family always seems to consider and to accept all the people they encounter, whether it is their sickly, impoverished neighbors or Jo’s older German gentleman caller, Professor Bhaer. My 2025 March family would be the Morrison family: Jeremiah, Megan, Maddy, Jo, Brenna, and Anna. While I updated all the family names, I couldn’t bear to get rid of “Jo” as I like how it is an ambiguous name for ‘tomboy’ Jo. I would like to change the parent dynamic to be a divorced/co-parenting model; the father in Little Women is not entirely present, especially in the first half of the novel. Having the girls spend some time at their father’s and at their mother’s can explain why the father is not always present in the story (instead of being away at war). Young readers can likely relate to this plot device, as young readers in Alcott’s time would have related to having male family members in the war. Generally, I would focus the familial conflicts around anxiety around money; I believe this device in the original makes the family feel more believable and accessible. My Morrison family would be anxious about money because the father would have lost his job in the 2008 financial crisis; Jeremiah Morrison was collateral damage in the subprime mortgage crisis, leading to his divorce with Megan Morrison and the financial ruin of his family. The novel would take place in 2016 and would show how Megan had been taking care of her four daughters in the 3 Bed, 1.5 Bath townhome she is renting in Providence, RI. Daughters such as Maddy and Jo would be applying for college, anxious to find a school that would provide enough financial aid that would not ruin their mother’s finances or submerge the girls in too much student debt. The girls currently attend a private school, LaSalle Academy, thanks to the generous donation of tuition funds by their father’s aunt; she is a single, wealthy woman who lives in the East Side of Providence (money city!) and never had children; as a result, she takes care of her nephew’s children as she hates to see how much Megan struggles to make ends meet. Anxiety revolving money and social status are certainly at the forefront of the original text; I believe an updated version could feature anxiety revolving money, but college acceptance and attendance would be a more realistic anxiety for young readers than marriage and becoming “cultured.” I think keeping Brenna as a sickly character is essential for introducing hardship to the novel; I would say that Beth having some like ulcerative colitis would be a useful, and still upsetting plot device as chapters could feature all the unfortunate medical testing that happens with UC along with the general ennui of chronic illness. Beth may not die, as modern medicine is obviously better than in the 1800s, but Beth would live with her mother and be less capable than her sisters. Beth’s internal thoughts and anxieties revolving her illness wou

Megan Johnson

2/18/2025 03:12:29 pm

would be more prominent than it is in the original novel. Finally, Anna would be in middle school at the beginning of the novel, and be worried about how she could fit in with her peers in terms of her belongings, whether it be Ugg boots or the newest iPhone. Her artistic ability will eventually land her with a scholarship to RISD, much to the dismay of Jo, who wished to get into Brown for her writing. When it comes to Laurie, I would keep him as the neighbor who lives with his grandfather; however I would make both Laurie and Jo gay characters. I would make them trusted advisors of one another; they stay close throughout life as they understand each other and as they both struggle to come out in a school that is private and filled with religious peers. I would eliminate the Laurie-Jo-Amy love triangle because I still can’t make sense of it all these years later; why on earth does Laurie “settle” because he can’t have Jo? Why does Amy accept the fact that she is second? It’s a frustrating, maddening plot device, but it’s one that readers always think about. While I wouldn’t redo the same plot device, I might have Laurie come out to Anna before Jo; this betrayal would still produce similar questions in readers and create the same amount of “melodrama” that Little Women features throughout the novel. Finally, incorporating more differences beyond the socioeconomic status of characters would present a more realistic depiction of life for young readers.

Gabrielle Sleeper

2/18/2025 03:26:02 pm

In thinking about how to update Little Women, the character that I would most like to focus on is Beth. To me, Beth feels like such a superficial character. She’s this lovely, hardworking girl who everyone adores, but that’s about it. All the other characters have very clear faults and interests, but not Beth. Nearly everything about her character revolves around her taking care of others, from the Hummels to her cats, to her dolls. Even when the girls decide to take a week off and do absolutely no work, Beth can’t help but do some work.
Beth’s main fault is that she is too selfless. She gives so much to others, that she neglects herself. In a modern retelling of this story, I’d like to make that far more clear. When Beth gets sick after taking care of the Hummels, the clear lesson in the original text is that Beth’s sisters are selfish and lazy, and that Beth would not have gotten sick if they had lightened her load. In a retelling, I’d change this to be a result of Beth being too stubborn to ask for help. As a result, she gets sick (perhaps with COVID) and is left with an invisible disability. I would take the focus off of the rest of her family coming to terms with her death, and instead focus far more on Beth’s internal struggles. I would turn Beth’s story into one where she has to learn how to ask for help. The lesson here, as YA literature (especially in the case of Little Women) so often has a lesson, would be in learning that being a little selfish is healthy. Asking for help does not make you a burden. Additionally, I would put a focus on Beth’s struggle to find ways to accommodate her disability. Her story becomes one of learning how to make the world accessible and accepting for her.
This arc could also focus on Marmee and her struggles with how to best support Beth. Something about this novel that does not feel much in line with current YA literature is how often the adults in the story are correct. In current YA, the adults (or the government in general) are so often at the heart of the conflict. It’s the adults that are incompetent and messing everything up, and so the teens are left to fix their messes. Beth’s story seems like a good place to allow for the adults to be wrong. Perhaps Marmee struggles with allowing Beth to take care of herself. Perhaps she becomes a little overbearing and overprotective after seeing Beth fall ill. Maybe she takes it upon herself to “fix” Beth, when Beth does not want to be seen as broken.
I’m not sure how Beth’s story would end. Part of me deeply wants to let her live. I want to have her be a positive example of learning to navigate the world while disabled. At the same time, this feels disingenuous to the original story. Beth dies. It feels wrong to change this. What does not feel wrong, however, is centering Beth’s perspective in how she comes to terms with this death. As a young, dying girl, Beth should be allowed to feel, well, anything. Currently, her purpose is to comfort her family, to insist that she is ready for what will happen. Ultimately, her story coming full circle would have to include her allowing herself to be selfish, to feel all those messy emotions, and to learn to accept all of them as part of herself

Devon Melo

2/18/2025 03:56:47 pm

I can’t believe I have never read Little Women until now. Here are my thoughts for a potential rewrite:

I would set this piece in the 2000s, but not directly say when in New England. Meg would stick under the maternal, womanly figure who I enjoyed while reading Little Women. She would still have twins, but with more updated names, like Sophia and Sam. Meg’s aesthetic in her home is the “beige mom,” and she embraces that to her core. No bright red or blue Fisher-Price toys. Marmee and Hannah trade off three times a week while the twins are young to help Meg while her husband is working his 9-5 job. He ends up getting let go, but quickly finds something else that's entry level to help them get by. Meg’s common mistakes made while navigating financial spending and insecurities around her man’s job would be validated after meeting with her weekly mom’s club she attends. Jo’s archetype/personality wouldn’t entirely change for me. Her efficiency, confidence, and ability to speak her mind would grant her many successes in life, the first being a compelling college essay that got her into her top school of choice to attend college in the Fall. I wouldn’t have her marry anyone at the of the novel, unless truly it's a girl. Writing her as a gay character feels more authentic. Side note: I am unsure if she should still open a school or continue her pursuits for writing/directing. Amy. She travels and learned a second language while abroad (maybe German or French?) She gets engaged with Laurie. I wish I had more to say about her haha, but she continues to get in the same sisterly bickering fights with Jo (she burns her manuscript after Jo doesn’t bring her to see the Jonas Brothers). Beth is a true selfless introvert to her core! I understand more after listening to the presentation about the tragedy aspect to this novel and Beth's death. However, I always felt frustrated with her death in the film adaptations I've seen, so in mine I want her to live. She is staying alive in my version and bringing representation to homebodies. Beth is not misunderstood by me, I get her. Beth are engrossed with reading and writing, binge-watching media, and crocheting mini stuffed animals for your sisters, friends (both from school and the internet) and mom. She attends a local community/state college and obtains her bachelors. Beth finds a hybrid job where she can work both remote and in person, a town over from her. Beth teaches piano part-time. Beth is able to grow up and live a full life. She struggles with taking time for herself, and her exhaustion from helping others is heavily focused in the rewrite. I would make the tragedy aspect of the novel, their father, Mr. March dying instead. This would be established upon his return in the novel, and have a profound impact on the family. He was absent in the first portion of the novel because the parents were perhaps divorced/ he moved away or he was serving in Iraq/Afghanistan and came back. His death is not directly stated other than “sudden” and due to intense PTSD from being a soldier. This could open up a larger conversation surrounding mental health amongst adults/adolescents/loss of a parent and so forth. The emotional impact of this loss would be explored in the novel to showcase the thoughts/feelings of the sisters more.

Marisa Silk

2/18/2025 04:05:48 pm

Overall, Little Women stands as a young adult novel due to its elements like the coming of age narrative structure and moral instruction that leaves it to be a successful 2025 adaptation. I believe Little Women could be similar to how Shakespeare’s plays are adapted into common teen dramas like Mean Girls, 10 Things I Hate About You, She’s the Man, and more. Specifically, I think the plot and characters can be adapted and restructured into a more modern tale that still has all the same YA elements. This could be done in a movie or novel format.

The essential elements that should not be taken away include the characters. The dynamic of the March sisters allows the reader and audience a window into different personalities and internal / external struggles. The use of the third person omniscient narrator should also stay because it grants a close perspective into all the characters, especially when each chapter shifts to focus on the different sisters. I also think having Laurie and his grandfather needs to remain because it displays how those who are not blood can still remain your family (essentially the “found family” trope). It may be interesting if there was a gender reversal of the neighbors grandmother and granddaughter in a 21st century adaptation. By having a granddaughter, it could bring an LBGTQ+ representation to the story, where this possible neighbor enters a relationship with Jo or Amy’s characters.

There needs to still be a major, genuine tragedy, but I don’t think it necessarily has to be Beth. I believe Marmee’s character is the moral center of the novel who instructs the March daughters with her lessons and philosophies. Would the death of their mother leave the same effect? I believe a modern, realistic story would reflect the 21st century moving away as the sisters go on their own paths in life (college, relationships, etc.). The sisters could have a falling out, which causes them to never return home, and to lose the “sister community” they had growing up. With the death of their mother, they return home to Beth who stayed by their mother’s side and saw the end of her life. This could also initiate a loss of innocence that triggers the girls from childhood / “new adult-hood” to proper adulthood. I agree that there needs to be a big emotional climax where the girls lose their innocence to trigger their coming of age maturity and moral reflection. However, it may be another character’s death that does it for them.

As they all return home, they have to face the major and minor tribulations of losing a parent in the 21st century. Mrs. March can be a single mother who raises her daughters on her own. I think Mr. March’s character only grants a backdrop for the war, so eliminating his character in a modern context would not change the essential elements of the original story. A father that leaves them, instigating their economic decline may be the starting point of the story, and the mother protects and tries to uphold their childhood innocence at all costs. With their center gone, it could lead to the girls understanding grief, while also learning who they are in spite of losing a parent.

The elements of poverty can still be used with the girls adjusting to this with going to school, and having to work to help the family. Similar minor tribulations can be written into the story from Little Women like bullying, relationship troubles, and societal upheavals. I believe courtship and engagements can be translated to early modern dating and relationships easily. However, the idea of “moral improvement” may be more difficult to come across, leading to a more modern adaptation to address the fluid nature of gender and sexuality with background figures that still uphold some of the traditional values that are still around today.

Megan LeBlanc

2/18/2025 04:14:41 pm

A 2025 rendition of Little Women would, I think, maintain much of the spirit of the original without being a direct copy. The overall message of finding your way in the world around you as you grow and change will always be relevant, though I think the trials and tribulations young people face will, naturally, change over time.

I like the idea of keeping the characters the same, including their personalities, so the synopsis of my updated Little Women would be as follows:

Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy live with their mother - their parents are divorced, and Marmee encourages the girls to have as much of a positive relationship with him as they can. However, the relationship between the girls and their father will remain strained at best, and he will let them down repeatedly - this will serve as a foundational lesson for the girls, teaching them that you cannot change someone just because you love them and that you must protect yourself while offering that love to those who may not always deserve it. Meg would try to be the ‘adult’ and protect Beth and Amy from the truth about their father’s unreliability, Jo would struggle with her anger towards him but would do her best to keep those feelings to herself, and Beth and Amy both would be largely unaware of their father’s shortcomings until they are old enough to confront this on their own. This plot point would be relatable to modern young adults who deal with unreliable parents, and the girls’ reactions would mirror a variety of valid responses to this type of disappointment.

The family wouldn’t be extremely poor, but would be lower middle class: their home is stable but not very pretty, with a lot of DIY projects in various states of completion. The girls and their mother work on updating and fixing what they can with their small budget, and learn to make do otherwise. Their mother works two jobs and spends most of her money on upkeep for the home, while Meg and Jo would work after school and on weekends, using their money to buy other things that their mother couldn’t comfortably afford, like new clothes and school supplies for all four girls. Meg and Jo taking care of Beth and Amy mirrors the modern conversations on the ‘parentification’ of children - while Marmee does not take for granted that Meg and Jo act as mini-parents to Beth and Amy, perhaps 2025 Marmee does. As Gabby points out in her discussion post, modern YA often shows adults in the wrong and the children are left to be better from their mistakes. In 2025 Little Women, the lessons the girls learn from Marmee and other adults come through not because they are pointed out to the girls from the adults, but rather the girls see what they do not want to become.

I would keep Laurie and Mr. Laurence as their neighbors, but I would show more of the relationship between Mr. Laurence and Marmee. Perhaps she works for him and through their relationship they realize their own shortcomings with raising the children and help to make one another better - this would show modern YA readers that adults are not flat, unchanging characters.

Meg, being a senior in high school, would be dreaming of bigger and better for her life and would want to move away to a big city. She would apply to colleges in Boston, and she would ultimately get accepted to a big university on a scholarship. While she is there, she will meet someone and begin a relationship. Ultimately, she will stay in the big city and build her life with her partner, but she will stay close enough to home that she can visit as she pleases. This distance between her and her family allows her to blossom on her own, but she is not so far away that she is terribly homesick or left out of what is happening, and her family is still able to come to her wedding, meet her children, and be an active part of her life. Readers would see a way out of an uncomfortable home situation through leaving and having the room to spread your wings.

Jo and Laurie would remain best friends, and while a selfish part of me wanted them to fall in love in the original, I think in my remake I would keep them as best friends. There is not a lot of representation of boys and girls simply being friends and seeing Jo and Laurie as just that would be nice. I imagine Laurie would go off to some prestigious university a few hours from home, but Jo would take classes at the local community college until she decided what she wanted to do with her life. I agree with Ryan that Jo’s storyline seems like it results in complacency, so I would have her remain career-focused to show young readers that it is a viable option - they don’t have to get married or have children to be fulfilled. I would see Jo make a ton of friends and have a great time with a close social group, take time to visit her sisters and their children, and spend her energy writing. I think it’s important to have at least one sister so fully enveloped in p

Megan LeBlanc

2/18/2025 04:15:40 pm

platonic love rather than settling down to be a wife and mother, and Jo is already so against the grain that seeing her as a grown up tomboy (or even as a queer character, as Megan makes her!) would be so important to those readers who can relate to Jo, but don’t often see those same characters in other literature.

The absolute tragedy of Beth’s death was so impactful to Little Women that I struggle with how to modernize that storyline. I have a lot of different ideas about what an updated Little Women could look like for Beth, but I honestly (and sadly) think it may be necessary to keep her death as part of the story. I think Beth’s storyline including struggles with mental health would fit in with the character’s personality quite well - she is already quite anxious in the original novel, and translating this into anxiety/depression wouldn’t be too far off. I’m so sorry to say this, but I think the most impactful and relevant way for Beth’s storyline to come to modern fruition would be for her struggles to result in either a suicide attempt or successful suicide. Mental health is a struggle for so many young people today that I think showing a character die of suicide to the genuine and deep dismay of her family would be devastating and cause them to think about their own impact on those around them. This is obviously a very sensitive topic, so it would need to be done carefully, but I do think it would be the best way to make Beth’s story modern.

Finally, I think Amy’s storyline should be as close to cliche as possible. Amy will go to an art school near Laurie’s college, paid for in part by scholarship, and they fall in love after a meet cute at a coffee shop nearby - Amy works there, but Laurie doesn’t realize until he is ordering coffee. When Laurie graduates and goes home, he and Amy decide to leave their college fling as just a fling. Amy has to come home soon after without finishing her degree, after her scholarship money runs out and she is unable to continue her schooling. She and Laurie will rekindle their romance, with Jo and Marmee’s blessing, and they will settle down into a comfortable life together.

The overarching anxiety of money should still be a prevalent theme, and the girls should still find ways of making do with what they have rather than comparing themselves to others and being jealous of what their peers have. Marmee and Mr. Laurence should learn to grow and become better supporters for their children, showing that even adults can change for the better.

Devon

2/25/2025 02:59:20 pm

I love your addition to updating Beth's character here, Megan!

Diane Gentile

2/18/2025 05:02:17 pm

I don't know if it's simply because I loved the novel Little Women when I was a child and appreciate it for the story it tells, as well as how it is told, but it is honestly hard for me to really imagine or accept the idea of modernizing this novel. I do believe there are too many aspects of Little Women that are essential to the novel and would be difficult to modernize without losing what makes the story special and impactful.

I believe there are some stories that are special and timeless, in part, because they do take place in a specific time. I believe the time period-specific issues facing Jo, Meg, Beth, and Amy play a crucial role in how the characters develop, the plot unfolds, and the lessons are taught. The issues are, of course, in many ways out-dated and aren’t the exact issues that currently face the young adults reading it today. However, I almost believe that is what makes the novel timeless. Jo’s life, and the things she faces, aren’t things that young adult readers will face today. However, we can each make connections to her journey, her relationships, and her struggles in a way that is meaningful for us in our own modern life. My connections may be different from your connections but we are all able to find ourselves in the characters and say what OUR modern version of their problems are.

I remember reading Little Women and discussing it with my grandmother and mother who both read it when they were my then age of 13 or 14. We were reading the same book but because we were reading it during our time as “little women,” our experience reading it and thoughts about it were different. My grandmother faced much more similar expectations to Jo’s as a young woman (and funny enough left college to marry my Papa and never became the school teacher she wanted to be because he wasn’t willing to wait) than my mother did. However, my mother still faced much more pressure to marry young and have children than I have faced.

The experiences, and expectations, of young women are always changing. I can understand a desire to modernize stories to allow young women to connect to them more. However, I appreciate Little Women for presenting what life WAS like and allowing the reader to make their own personal connections and think about how the issues may be different or similar in their lives today. Modernizing this book would take away that experience for readers and reduce the impact the novel has.

One of the biggest and most important events in Little Women is the death of Beth. I believe this event would be difficult to modernize in a way that would keep the same impact. Of course, a modern version could have Beth diagnosed with cancer or perhaps pass away in an accident, during an act of violence, or taking her own life. However, I believe modernizing this in any of these ways would then change the role her death plays in the book (on both the other characters and the reader). Her illness and death are somehow so awful and life-changing yet so simple and uneventful, if that makes sense. I think any modern death that could be written for Beth would take away from that and would require Jo to process and deal with it in a very different way.

In thinking about this question, and the idea of modernizing the book, I am forced to think about the 2019 film version of Little Women directed by Greta Gerwig. The movie restructured the timeline of events, which was enjoyable, but the ending was changed. Jo doesn’t get married in the end but instead just writes about the character she based on herself doing so to please her editor. I bring this up because, despite thinking the movie was well done in a lot of ways, the change to the ending bothered me when I left the theater.

It IS devastating in several ways for the reader that Jo decided to marry and have children despite not wanting that. However, I think that’s the point. It shows us the reality for so many women before us and pushes us, as the reader, to think about what we want for our own lives and how sad it would be to go against that or settle for something different because of what people around us want. I think it provides a good reminder to young women about how far we’ve come and that lesson would be lost if we modernized and changed the ending.

Sadie Petta

2/18/2025 06:01:16 pm

I had a difficult time modernizing it, because I agree, so many women can relate to the story from all generations. This was my first time reading the book and I was enthralled by it. One of the things I loved so much about it was the fact that it was set so long ago. While there were obvious drawbacks to the time period (lack of equal rights and proper medicine), the way the girls speak and dedicate their time is charming to me. We live in such a fast-paced society today, that there is something so nice about the lives the girls have in the book.

Sadie Petta

2/18/2025 05:57:18 pm

I wrote in my reader’s notes that Little Women is a story that can transcend time. There are few things I would change, mainly focusing on the role of women. The expectations and rules for women in the 1860s are very different from those of 2025 (for now), and I think the updated story should embody that.
I would write Meg similarly, as her love for fashion and pretty things can be relatable for some young women. It’s her vice, but she doesn’t let it get the best of her. However, I would write Meg to grow up and work in the fashion industry, possibly as a designer (even a local one for those in her town). She would still marry John Brooke and have her two children, but she would also do work that she’s passionate about and that is related to interests from her childhood, showing young women that they can do anything they set their mind to. Also, Meg worries about being poor, so by marrying a poor John Brooke, but finding a way to make the money she always dreamed of on her own would strengthen her character.
As a character, Jo embodies the modern woman. I would not change much about her, except for her marriage at the end. Even Alcott did not want to marry Jo off, but felt pressured to, so that is the main thing I would change about her story in a 2025 version. I don’t think it would take anything away from who Jo is and still inspire young women to be outspoken, courageous, and steadfast. Something I considered while reading Little Women was the possibility of Jo being gay. I’m not sure if I would write her in 2025 as a gay woman, but I think it would make sense for her. At the same time, I think there is something empowering about a woman who doesn’t spend any time thinking about men or marriage, but also isn’t gay. Either way, Jo would have a more empowering ending than she gets in the original version. If she was gay, I think it would make the heartbreak easier for Laurie, and the two would be able to remain very close.
Beth wouldn’t die in my version. I know I know, her death is a large part of the book, but I don’t think it was necessary for the transformation of the other sisters. They were all on their own way and Beth’s death brought them all together, but they would still grow to be excellent people even without her death. I think Beth would get sick for a while, but survive, and grow to become a nurse. There would be fear of her death, which would bring the sisters close together, but she would ultimately survive. Her character was selfless and I think the 2025 version would stay the same. I like to think that she could go to college in Boston, paid for by Mr. Laurence, where she majors in nursing and minors in music. This could open a storyline about poverty where Beth wishes to go to school, but cannot afford it, a common experience for many individuals. Mr. Laurence’s money would not be as relatable to the audience, but would make sense in their story.
Amy wouldn’t marry Laurie. When Amy and Laurie marry in the original version, it is very rushed and I still believe it is a result of Laurie’s heartbreak (sorry Amy, I see you as Laurie’s rebound). Even in the original version, Amy grows to be a strong woman, especially shown in the scene where she calls Laurie out for his laziness. She would eventually marry, but it would be in her 30s, rather than so young. She would remain in Europe and become a famous painter and marry another artist who she meets there. Without the pressure of marrying young and rich to support her family, Amy could make money in her own way and send some to the rest of her family in America.

Caitlin Kelly

2/18/2025 06:00:23 pm

I think I need to begin this response with stating that Little Women is one of the seminal books of my life. It was gifted to me by my aunt when I was (I think) in fifth grade and remains one of those books in my own personal canon of ‘perfect’ novels. So, it is hard for me to think about how I would change this novel-I suppose in my head, why fix what isn’t broken?

That being said, from a critical point of view, I can find room for improvement. Rereading Little Women as an adult, when putting the nostalgia I feel for the novel aside, the idea that I continuously came back to was the fact that none of the sisters really went through that much ‘life experience.’ Today, it is considered healthy to experience new places, people, jobs, and adventures before you truly figure out who you are, where you want to end up, and the person you want to be. In Little Women, we don’t really see this type of growth. Meg marries the first man she really has no type of feelings for. Jo ends up settling for a life she says continuously she doesn’t really want. Beth really is a static (though obviously beloved) character from start to finish. The challenges the sisters encounter (aside from Beth’s death) are easily resolved in a chapter or two. Yes, they learn from their experiences, but I don’t think they experience life the same way young women do today, nor are they really encouraged to find themselves outside of societal expectations. I think to modernize this novel, I would like to see the girls struggle a little more for the end goal of figuring out who they truly are, especially considering how important this facet of young adult literature has become today.

For example, I love Marlee’s character, and I love reading the parts of the novel where she interacts with the girls. However, what teenage girl hasn’t had arguments with her mom, or guardian, as part of growing up? Marmee is such a voice of wisdom, but I don’t know how realistic the relationship portrayal is between her and her daughters. For this novel to truly be modernized to a current audience, I think it would be more relatable for the youth of today to see a bit more struggle in this part of the novel.

Gus Haflin

2/18/2025 06:20:34 pm

"Updating" a story such as Little Women is a dream of many creatives, directors, and producers. As I don't count myself among these groups, I will do my best to re-envision some of the problems likely to face each character in a 2025 version of the story.

[Setting]: The setting varies by year because in 2025, families can move quite easily and suddenly. Due to Mr. March's profession, the family is required to move with frequency. Before the start of the story, they lived in San Diego for five years, and will frequently mention how lovely it was to live there. They will then move to Tennessee--sorry for generalizing rather than choosing a specific place in this state I know not much about--for two years before heading to Cape Elizabeth, Maine, where the family will live for just two years but in four different houses. The family will love this location so much that they will keep the house they end up in, even after they move, renting it out. A job opportunity will the Marches to Chapel Hill, NC, where both Marmee and Mr. March will work at Duke Medicine. Finally, akin to the separation between family and father in Little Women, Mr. March will take a job in Boston and live there for two years before the gravity of his career will bring his family north, as opposed to him returning south.

These changes reflect the mobility of the 21st-century family who have job and career prospects. The didactic and episodic nature pertaining to each character changes from a central concern about poverty to a more existential crisis that accompanies knowledge and learning: what can be done in the face of greedy interests, an increasingly hostile and changing climate without regulation of human behavior, and the fragmentation of American collective consciousness as seen in rampant polarization?

[Marmee]: Marmee is a Nutritionist and an expert in her field who has chosen to focus equally on her children and her career, leading to the creation of a home-based practice in which she sees clients both in-person and virtually. Interacting with these clients has a significant impact on the girls, who are exposed to a whole host of people from an early age.

[Mr. March]: Mr. March is a military doctor whose career efforts take his family across the country. His central struggle will be expressing his emotions without the aid of alcohol or personal disaster as catalyzing forces.

[Meg]: Meg grew up seeing her mother’s balance for family and nutrition and followed suit. She studied nutrition and works for a multi-national company interested in helping people find their ideal diets by testing individual inflammation reactions to different foods. Unfortunately, life in Boston is very expensive in 2025, and she lives in a 1.5-bedroom apartment with her boyfriend, a career photographer. She desperately wants a dog.

[Jo]: Jo is a jock who, while a little misanthropic, knows how to collaborate with others. Her biggest challenge is no longer communication but a struggle with confidence, representing how US culture consistently devalues women’s sports.

[Beth]: Beth is a memory for the March family; in the twenty-first century, talking about miscarriages is increasingly common. Beth was one such child, and each of the sisters say they have “three sisters” when they’re asked.

[Amy]: Amy decides that although she loves her family dearly, distance makes the heart grow fonder. She moves from Boston to Houston, TX and works three jobs because she likes to be busy. She is gracious and is the most comfortable with herself of the sisters.

[Laurie]: Laurie is portrayed as a gaggle of three boys whose family originates from New Zealand. Rather than containing Laurie’s refinement, each of the boys represents different vices that can damage relationships (alcohol and drug abuse, monetary greed, emotional abuse). They are important to each of the sisters, who learn to navigate their relationships based on the closeness they have with these boys, who ultimately outgrow their abusive behaviors to become respectable.

Emily Graham

2/19/2025 08:05:19 am

I have always been scared by the idea of sisters because I didn’t grow up with them and the dynamics I do see scare me. Little Women felt like a real and heartwarming depiction of what it means to grow up with sisters. I think at its core, that is what the story is, and if you were to alter their relationship in any way it would become untrue. I definitely agree with what others have discussed regarding the strong religious and moral undertone of the story but I took that to be a product of its time. We discussed how YA today still typically has a call to action for its young readers and Little Women does as well, it is just influenced by the religion they are brought up in. With religion having much less prevalence today, I don’t think a modern novel would be as preachy, but I am sure parents would still be trying to help their children in how they should go about their way in the world with a similar moral education. Last night I watched the Greta Gerwig film since I finished the book and was pleasantly surprised by what I saw. It definitely seemed like a love letter to the text and she took care in using what she found to be the most important scenes and dialogue to be included and stuck quite devoutly to the source material. This is why I was so surprised to see her interpretation of Jo not getting married and simply marrying her heroine off because it was what was necessary to publish and she blurs the lines between Jo and Alcott. This bothered me a little at first but the more time I considered it, the more I respected the decision. In an interview, Gerwig stated that she wanted to give an ending that Alcott would have wanted and I appreciated that perspective. It reminded me of a lot of the liberties they took in filming Anne with an E, based on the Anne of Green Gables series. A lot of risks were taken, but they were to pay tribute to the risks that were taken in the original text which are no longer considered progressive in today’s society. You keep the spirit of the original text and author alive. I think this also ties into Mrs. March leaving her estate to Jo because regardless of how they interacted, I think she respected and even maybe saw some of herself in Jo. Regardless, she seems to respect women who don’t marry foolishly without thought of the business aspect of the contract.
I also find others’ conversations about their class interesting because very early Meg states how she hates being poor. Since I just reread Harry Potter, it reminded me of a line where Ron Weasely said something very similar. Both families hold so much love but grapple with a very real problem from a young age that can make a person very bitter if they can’t rely on strong moral character. Seeing the film also brought a new perspective of what their home—which looks very lovely and well-furnished looks compared to the Laurence or Mrs. March mansion. I think it is important to remember that the Marches are poor in comparison to the exorbitant amount of wealth the came from and are surrounded by, but still give their Christmas morning breakfast to poor Mrs. Hummel and her family who are starving. I wouldn’t argue that class has less dictation on your experience in today’s America, but that they way you go about climbing the socioeconomic ladder has changed greatly, especially for girls. Jo would actually have an easier time today by putting herself through school and becoming an accomplished writer that could support her family than Amy who focused on climbing the ladder through marriage, which is still possible, but is no longer the only option and there is much more nuance to how assets work coming into a relationship now.
Beth's illness, curable in today's society, would also need to be reworked. What could you suffer from, that you could survive, but still have it led to an "early" death? These things just don't really happen anymore unless they are cancer or another terminal illness, but still, those are typically fast. I think she would have to suffer from some sort of chronic illness or pain.

Kaitlynn Davis

2/19/2025 12:29:10 pm

In a 2025 rendition of Modern Contemporary Little Women, there are few changes I would make:
- Firstly, I don't think the ideals set in Little Women are outdated. It showcases the time it was written, but is also surprisingly progressive in its perspective of women's ability and autonomy. Neither parents ever diminish the girls for their interests and always encourage them to go after them.
- While I think every woman getting married in the end (except Beth) makes for a neat comfortable bow, I also think that it isn't a bad thing to get married. None of the women are pressured or forced to get married, so I think I wouldn't see fault in that. Finding happiness in different ways, even if that way is marriage, I think that the marriages are all unique to each of the girls and showcases both their ambitions and affections.
- Certainly in an updated version I might adjust Jo's age gap with Freddy, but probably not by much. I think the fact that there is a small age gap is kind of important to their relationship in the books, but the 25 to 40 is a big jump.
- Though a modern setting might be imposed, I think that the traditional values that the book brings are part of its charm. Similar to the retelling of Romeo and Juliette, I think the fact that the "little women" find themselves in a world that has strict gender systems is important. We are a far way away from gender equality, but assuming that it has never existed and never toying with the idea of it doesn't help the cause of Feminists.

For MY version of little women:
It's not going to be contemporary, because fantasy is the big hot thing right now. So Fantasy version little women because I said so. (I’m sorry Dr. Torda, but as you did not specify the subgenre of YA I’m using this to my advantage).
This angle allows me to keep some of the more traditional aspects of the novel, such as women’s place in the home, but bring it in a YA medium that is more easily digestible.
All the girls would be lower class workers in this fictional fantasy-scape. Maybe there is some great magical fantasy war that's happening that their father is on the front lines in. If this were a TRUE fantasy novel both the parents would be dead, but I’ll allow Marmee to live for now. Their father on the other hand is not going to get the same treatment. The beginning of the novel he gets axed.
Their house burns in a giant fire caused by evil magic shenanigans. Their father’s father was besties with Papa Laurence, so they moved to live in his big fancy house where they met Laurie. Their mother still wants them to uphold their values despite the change in their life, so she keeps them at it despite the subtle change in status.
All the domestic stuff is relatively similar.
Meg marries a low class worker. Amy marries Laurie.
Beth still dies, I’m not sparing her either, but instead of the scarlet fever what if she dies because of some strange magical sickness.
And my most inspired change is that instead of a regular writer, Jo is a SPELL writer. Maybe during Beth’s downfall she was trying to come up with something to heal her sister but she ultimately fails.
Plus, what if her husband was actually a super cool wizard? Huh?
Anyway, this is my version of little women, which is not at all melodramatic.

Catarina Morrissette

2/24/2025 09:40:42 am

I think the novel, Little Women, can most definitely be brought into the 21st century and translated into 2025. However, there are somethings that would need to change to make it relevant, while also having some other aspects of the novel that just will not translate into 2025. The first major change I would make is the view on women, the fact that the women are strictly the homemakers is something that is not brought into the 21st century. Many women today want to be seen as independent. However, when Meg’s mother gives her the advice that she should allow her husband, Mr. Brooke, to help with the children, that should stay in the book. That was good advice and something that should be brought into 2025. Another thing that has to change is the fact that women need to be escorted, and cannot be traveling alone, again not a 21st century thing.

To continue, I would also change Jo’s character, I feel as if she forces herself to fall in love with Professor Bhaer because she is lonely. She even says that had Teddy/ Laurie asked her again for her hand she might have said yes. Loneliness is a real thing in the 21st century and showing young adults how to cope with it is important. I would try to create those coping mechanisms in my 2025 version, rather than just ship the character off to marriage. Furthermore, in my version of Little Women, the girls wouldn’t all be married, each one would have a different scenario that may align with what a young adult may be going through in the 21st century. This will make it so that the target audience is expanded, reaching more young minds. There are many morals throughout the novel that should stay, the power of family and the strong connection that they have is one. However, that’s great and all, until of course you don’t have that. Although the novel is saying that you don’t need to have the same blood line to be considered family. It’s who you hold dear to you. For example, the Marsh family took in Laurie, like a brother. I also think the story was saying that you can be happy in poverty, but money certainly makes things easier, and this moral should stay in the book. The girls are comfortable where they are at in life, but they see that money does help, this is a real scenario in a young adult’s life in today’s day in age. A young adult is just starting out and if they don’t come from money, just like the Marsh family, they can connect with them, seeing that you don’t need a lot of money to live comfortably. Lastly, as much as I would like to take the whole book and translate it into our generation, that is not quite possible. For example, the chapter on Amy’s limes would not translate into the 21st century. However, changing in into another object, possibly like a cellphone, would make it more relevant.

Taylor McKinney

2/25/2025 08:48:30 am

In a modern 2025 re-telling of Little Women, I think it would take place in 2010(ish), the family lost their money in the great stock market crash of 2008 and still hasn't recovered from it. Their father would still be a part of the Army, perhaps somewhere in Afghanistan, but ultimately got a bad investment suggestion from a friend resulting in the families poverty.

As for the girls,
Beth: She'll still die, but instead of scarlet fever, it will be cancer and the lack of affordability further driving the family into poverty, considering this would be pre-ACA, the cost of treatment would be paralyzing. Of course they still try, but ultimately it is unsuccessful and she dies from some form of cancer.

Amy and Meg: I wouldn't change too much for either of them, perhaps Meg meets her husband at college, but they'll both continue their projected paths relatively unchanged. Amy of course would still end up with Laurie. While I wanted him to end up with Jo, I truly don't hate him with Amy.

Jo: Oh Jo, I don't think I would change her to be a lesbian, but I think she would be asexual, or frankly, I would be interested to see if she transitioned. I understand that would change the entire premise of the book, but she wouldn't have to settle for a life that she never wanted if she were a man, admittedly she would have an entirely different set of challenges if she were to transition FtM. In either situation, I would not see her settle down and get married, especially not to an older gentleman. I would love to see Jo embrace independence and accept her life as a strong independent person.

2.18.25 Little Women 2025 (asynchronous)

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