A tale of the simplest beauty in life-----Good Wives

                               By Louisa May Alcott

     This is a growing process of four youthful girls, a description of both fear, sorrow and happiness in life when growing mature. This is also a tale of the simplest beauty in life—love, hope, courage and the active attitude towards life.

   Once, there are four young girls in the Match family. Meg, the eldest, is beautiful and elegant, wishes to be a lady. Jo, who is always energetic, wishes ambitiously to be an author. Beth, tender and patient, is shy and timid and always waiting quietly until her help is needed. Though born in the same family, the four sisters have different characteristics and ambitions. In the beginning of the former novel, Little Women, the story begins when they are four innocent young girls. They try their little experiments, take their domestic adventures, help their poor neighbors, and get on well with the neighbor boy Laurie and his grandfather. As other girls of the same age, the Match sisters are all romantic and energetic and are always trying to learn the world with their own eyes, using their own hearts to feel the happiness, sorrow and love in life. So Good Wives tells the story about how the Match girls come into their womanhood and become good wives. Mrs. Match, the mother of the Match sisters’ is still the guide of the girls’ exploration of life. She leads her girls through life by patience and love. As the story goes, and under the guidance of the mother, Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy experience departure, illness and difficulties, grow more mature and fulfill their dreams.

   The novel Good Wives is one of my favorite books which I think it is a must for every girl who is growing into adulthood. That, I guess, may be one of the purpose of writing this book by the author, Louisa May Alcott. But looking through the book, I regard it as one of the greatest novels for people of all ages. It tells us to search the simplest beauty of life by everything happens around us, to be brave when facing difficulties, to love our family, to love our family, to enjoy ourselves while working and to always have hope for life, all of which are often mentioned by our parents and teachers，and finally, to cherish the people we love. Reading this novel, I can smile at their happiness and cry over their sorrow and grow mature with the Match sisters. The lessons given by the girls’ experience are simple. They are gradually revealed by the author in every detail of the adventures of the four sisters’ which should be found out only by chewing patiently.

   Every one who has read Good Wives may be deeply attached to the experience of any one of the four sisters. Each of them is different. Because of their difference in characteristics, they each have their unique experience of love and family life. Meg, is able to learn to share her family life with her husband; Jo, who is always so strong as a man, has successfully turned down Laurie’s proposal for marriage which is not suitable for them both and finally found her true love. And she has also fulfilled her dream, to found a school for poor children. As for Beth, the most kind-hearted and helpful girl of the four, unluckily, she finally dies. But she faces death bravely and ends her life happily. Amy, pretty and lovely, marries Laurie. Through all these, the four girls again experience happiness and sorrow, being together and being apart. On their way of dealing with their own troubles, we must not ignore Mrs. Match, the mother, who gives her help every now and then and loves her girls dearly. Whatever the Match sisters do, Mrs. Match is always watching them, giving her advice, sharing with them in their sorrow and joy. With the love of a mother, she is always ready to be her girls’ confidante, and hopes and trusts that her daughters ‘whether married or single’ will be pride and comfort of Mr. Match and her lives.

   Yes, love and hope, the eternal topic of all time is the faith of the Match family. The four sisters are lucky for they can grow up into a woman in a family full of love and hope. It is love of the family that gives them confidence and independence, hope that gives them courage, both of which influence their lives deeply. And they learn to love their lives as what they are. Though they are poor, they live happily enjoying being together with parents and sisters, and working by their own hands; Under the affect of the Match families, Laurie, the neighbor boy, learns to love his grandfather; Amy, recognizing how much she is beloved and petted at home after she was sent to live with Aunt Match, tries her best to be satisfied with doing right. Owning to love, the Match sisters understand their burdens, try to be little pilgrims. Owning to hope, when dark days come, the sisters can face their travel of life bravely. Trying to love each other and hoping for tomorrow is the faith of their lives.

As I closed the book, I was moved by the strong will, innocence and hope presented by the Match sisters. They give me a new view of the world around me. Life itself is a kind of book without splendid covers. We may spend our whole life exploring it. Sometimes we are ignorance of the simplest and commonest beauty beside us: friendship, love, hope and so on. So we must try our best to be a wise explorer using all our life to search for the beauty. On the way to our success, we may face disasters and difficulties owning to our own shortcomings. Look into our hearts and be calm, use our wisdom to overcome them, stick to our heart for beauty regardless of what other people think. That’s what Good Wives teaches me.

Good Wives gives us active attitude and passion for life. No wonder more than one hundred years after its publication, it is still popular and has been passed from one generation to another. Maybe even Louisa May Alcott, the author, can hardly imagine how popular it is now if she is still alive. Louisa May Alcott herself was born in a poor family for her father, a philosopher, devoted all his life to fulfill his dreams. So Louisa had been a tailor, a teacher, a maid to support her family, all of which influenced her writing career in her later life. In 1868, an editor advised Louisa to write a book for girls. She wrote Little Women according to her memory of her early life. And Good Wives is the book written by Louisa after Little Women. Good Wives turned out to be another great success and touched numberless American families’ hearts. Louisa created the Match family based on her own experience which makes the novel realistic and wonderful. In this novel she continued to tell her readers the stories about the four lovely Match girls. The publication of this book became the turning point of Louisa’s career as a writer.

Good Wives is one of the classical works that never fail. It finds out the simplest beauty in life, teaches us to love our life, and no matter what happens, face it bravely. If say books are the friends of human race, Good Wives is undoubtedly a good friend and a good teacher, who presents everything positive of life to his students. Thanks to it, I can see the world from a new aspect.