My Understanding of Little Women
冯鸿兰 200630451061 06英语2
During this winter vocation, I have read the book “little women” for the second time, which gives me a deep expression and provokes my complicated feelings and emotions.
The book “little women” was written by Louisa May Alcott, a famous American writer. Louisa May Alcott was born in Pennsylvania in 1832, the second of four daughters of the philosopher Bronson Alcott. She was educated at home and went on to become a schoolteacher in Boston. Her first book Flower Fables (which she wrote when she was sixteen) was published when she was twenty-two, but she interrupted her career as a writer to nurse soldiers at a Washington hospital during the civil war. Her most enduring book, Little Women, was published in 1868 and was an instant success. Other books include Little Men and Jos. Boys. Louisa May Alcott died in 1988 at the age of fifty-six.
I am attracted by the book. For one thing, I like the plot, which I believe will charm most of people. This book gives us a vivid description of family life, love and friendship. It has ups and downs, happiness and sufferings, hopes and frustration. For another, I learn something which tells me some virtue and truths. I began to think about life, love, friendship, and so on.
This book tells about March family, a family with four daughters. I like every of them. Meg, the eldest and most beautiful sister, shrugs off her vanity and social ambition, discovering achievement in romantic love. Jo, like a boyish girl, on the other hand, with her contempt of all loving, turns impetuously towards writing for solace. Gentle Beth rejects worldly interests, preferring to devote her life to her family, to the joy of music and to timidly aiding all who suffer in life. Amy, the youngest and most imperfect of the March girls, continually tries to overcome her selfishness and girlish pretensions, though she has a hard task before her. Maybe they are not perfect, but I really like them. Their spirit, courage, and attitudes express me deeply. From them, I not only learn some social customs entertainments, thinking, etc of America, but also learn to be a responsible woman and get rid of my shortcomings.
Frankly speaking, I regard this book as an educational book. I appreciate the teaching way from Mrs. March, who hates to give physical punishment, and tries to be a model of her children. She presents a good teaching way for us and for the society. From the virtues of her daughters, we can see her influence. It is her who helps her second daughter Jo, who always does things in impulse and gets angry easily, get rid of her shortcomings and improve her character. It is on her influence, Beth becomes a lovely, kind-hearted girl. It is also her who helps Amy improve her character and overcome her selfishness. I have to say, if there is no Mr. and Mrs. March, there will not be so cute girls. I remember when Amy and Jo have a fierce quarrel, Mrs. March helps her daughters realize their wrong deeds and imperfect characters and at last become friendly with each other. Through a good teaching way, the four little women have a healthy growth.
I like the March family, like every of them, for they set a good example for us to live and do. Through their growing processes, I see a vivid picture of a happy family, though at last it divides into many small families. Through Meg, the eldest sister, I learn to stick to a principle “wealth ≠ happiness”. Reading this book, you will learn and will be happy with Meg’s change. Meg was a girl with great vanity at first. Her big and beautiful dream was to marry a rich man and lived a rich life. She always wanted to wear beautiful clothes and get appreciation from others. At that time, she sticks to a wrong principle “rich life equals to happiness”. To our comfort, through life and her family’s influence, she changed her view. At last, she married with a not rich but a man with good character. They live a quite happy life. I appreciate Meg’s choice: when we get married, we should choose a partner who loves us deeply and deserves our love. I also learn to manage a family from Meg. As a big sister, she sets a good example for her little sisters. She always helps her mother to manage the family.
Through Jo, I learn to control my temper and stick to my choice. In my impression, Jo always does some wrong things and makes some hasty decisions. She has a boyish character and loves writing. I appreciate her excellent imaginary and her open and easy-going character. She changes greatly during the growing experience. She becomes more mature and can control her temper. At first, she even looked down upon romantic love and believed she herself would not fall in love with everybody. But time changes her. At last, she falls in love with a professor and lives a happy life. I also appreciate her thinking. She knows what she likes and loves. When Mr. Lawrence tells her he loves her, she refuses him, though Mr. Lawrence is a wealthy and good boy, because in her mind she knows that she regards Mr. Lawrence as a friend not a lover. It may frustrate many readers, including me. In fact most of us want Jo to accept Mr. Laurence. But I respect her choice, and from her, I realize that we should make our choice by ourselves and stick to it when it is right.
There is a character I like best－Beth. I think Beth is an angel. Everybody likes her, for she is kind-hearted and considerate. She is ways thinking for others and takes good care for the poor. I am moved by her unselfish spirit. She seldom cares about something, but tries to devote herself to others. She is shy and loves music and so cute and kind-hearted that everybody loves her. When she died, I cried. Such a good girl should not die in such a young age. She brings love, friendship, smile, and happiness for people. When she died, she took nothing away, but left many happy memories for her beloved family and her sisters.
Amy is the youngest sister of March family. At first, I do not like her, for she is so dependent and selfish. But gradually, I become understand her and also appreciate her. She changes remarkably. Through life experience and her family’s teaching, she overcomes her shortcomings and becomes an excellent and charming woman. At last, she gets her happy life, living with Mr. Lawrence.
It seems that every good man and woman get their good lives and have a happy ending. But from this book we also learn that: to have a happy life, we should not only have read just our deeds and action but also we have to adjust our attitudes toward life. From March family, I realize we should keep an optimistic spirit toward life. No matter we are wealthy or not, beautiful or not, we should have a good attitude and grateful heart towards life. Because except money and beautiful appearance, we have many other treasures, such as friendship, love and healthy body. And I also learn to be responsible. When I am angry, I learn to not shout at the people who I am angry with. As we may say something bad to hurt somebody else, and at last we will regret for what we said. From the conflict between Jo and Amy, I realize we should pay attention to this and try to be calm when we are angry.
For this is a beguiling story of happiness and hope, of the joys of companionship, domestic harmony and infinite mother love, we can learn much, not only to improve our characters but also learn to educate others and learn to live peacefully with others. When disaster comes, we should learn to be optimistic and responsible.
The book “little women” deserves our attention, deserves our time and energy. Because it provokes us to think, to think about our ideals and responsibilities, ( From Mr. Lawrence, we know that sometimes we should give up our ideals to bear our burden and become a responsible man.) to think what we want to be and how we should do, to devote ourselves to our country( from Mr. March, we learn that as a solider or citizen, we should be willing to devote ourselves to the country or people.) and try to be selfless (Beth is so a selfless girl that everybody likes her.) and so on. It gives us a good lesson, teaches us how we should do and what we should do. I really appreciate Mrs. March’s teaching ways. It provokes our attention to education, especially family education, which plays an important role in forming our characters. This is a book for guiding our life, our attitudes and our actions. I strongly recommend this book to all of people, including teachers, students, and parents.