why should people read "little women" by louisa may alcott?

Question

i have to write a paper and argue a point, but i can't think of a point! It has to deal with the book "Little Women", why should it have to be read in schools, why should it be banned, ans so forth..any ideas?!?!

Answer 1

I can't think of any reason why it would be or should be banned. I can't think of anything remotely offensive to anyone being in that book. So I would go with another topic.

I didn't read Little Women until college, although I started it two or three times in high school. To tell the truth, I think I would have preferred reading Little Women to some of the other classics we were forced into reading in high school. But I guess that isn't a specific enough reason (It would be better to read Little Women than 'Scarlet Letter' (for example) over here)...to argue why it should be read in schools.

I guess one could explore how women's roles are depicted in the novel. How various traits are thought to be good or bad. How certain choices are more respectable than others. How society influenced the sisters decisions in their personal lives. How society demanded or required them to make sacrifices for the sake of the home, or for the sake of a man, etc. It does provide insight into how women were represented in the home at the time it was written. One could also argue that both Jo (Josephine) March and Louisa May Alcott were stepping out of the norm a bit in having careers in writing. Not that women authors weren't unheard of--there were examples of women writers both in America and England...just that it wasn't necessarily on the "to-do" list of what mothers trained up daughters to become. Education--particularly secondary education, writing, careers, etc. just weren't on the list.

Answer 2

Maybe kids should read it to see how a family sticks together while the father is away at war. It is possible for a family to surivive while the head of the house is away.

You could also say that it shows how females are interested in more things than cute males to chase after. While the little women effentually had romance, they were feminists in many ways. They were well edcuated and respected themselves. Jo, the main character, was not very feminine at all really. She was very adventurous and went against what society thought a woman should be and do. She wrote stories even though women were seldom published, and if they were, they usually had to have a male pen name so that readers would take them seriously.
Little Women as you probably know, was based on the true story of Alcott's family.

Answer 3

I read Little Women when I was a kid. I liked it then because we'd also seen a serial on TV based on it. I read the Mayor of Casterbridge later when I was in college. We first did Hardy in school with Far From the Madding Crowd and he's a favourite author of mine. And the Mayor of Casterbridge is wonderful. Reminds you of Les Miserables in a few ways.

Answer 4

It is a great book. I don't think schools should have to teach one book over the other...but I like this book because it really explains it is a great historic novel giving you an idea of the feminine voice.

You see the cult of domesticity vs high culture, vs adoration and loyalty, vs wanting more than to be a wife in all those sisters.

It's an important book.

Answer 5

It shouldn't be baned at all. It is a well written book told about a family of women from a woman's perspective....almost unheard of during the time it was written. Look into the history of the book and the time it was written as well as the author. That might give you more ideas.

Answer 6

It is a classic. THat is why it should be read. Kinda of like Gone with the Wind. Not exactly the most apropriate but it is such a classic, and made such an impact that it should be read in schools.

Answer 7

It talks about four sisters who never gave up and stayed as a family through one of the hardest times in US history. They never gave up even through deaths and loss and hurt. I guess people should read it because it talks about how a family should be today.

Answer 8

Have you read it? You'd have an opinion, I'd think, if you had.