Love and Sex In Little Women
Niina Niskanen/ Little Women Podcast
Summary:
It might come as a surprise to some people but there are actually quite a few sex
scenes in Louisa May Alcott's Little Women. In this episode, we shall dive into 19th-
century courtship and how Alcott writes about courtship etiquette. Laurie is based on
Alcott's ex and Friedrich to a man she wanted to marry.
You can Listen the Podcast here https://tinyurl.com/3vzyb4uz
Little Women podcast transcript
Season 1
Welcome to a deep dive into the world of Louisa May Alcott. Everything I share in
these video essays is based
on multiple studies made by Alcott scholars. You can find all the links in the
description. To explore the
development of Jo´s and Friedrich´s romantic relationship in the book I am going to
use historian Karen
Lystra´s studies from the 19th-century romantic love and courtship as a comparison.
There are three stages
of 19th-century courtship 1. Love comes in a multitude of reasons 2. Shared looks
enact mutual transactions
of interior lives. This leads to the identification of selves and mutual recognition of
persons.
Jo spends quite a long time in New York, about 8 months. When she sees Friedrich
for the first time she is
immediately attracted to him. She checks him out multiple times during her stay at
Mrs Kirk
When the parlour door opened and shut someone began to humn ”Kennst du das
land” like a big
bumblebee it was dreadfully improper I know, but I couldn´t resist the temptation
and lifting one end of the
curtain before the glass door I peeped in. Professor Bhaer was there and while he
arranged his books, I
took a good look at him. A regular German, rather stout, with brown hair, stumbled
all over his head, bushy
,beard, good nose, the kindest eyes I ever saw, and a splendid big voice that does
one´s ears good after our
sharp or slipshered American gabble. His clothes were rusty, his hands were large,
and he hadn´t a
handsome feature on his face. Except for his beautiful teeth yet I liked him. For he
had a fine head, his linen was
very nice and he looked like a gentleman.
Based on Jo´s first impression of Friedrich she seems to be completely enthralled by
him. This is what Little
Women fan Melodie Ellison has to say about Friedrich´s looks
”I think part of why people act like Friedrich is not attractive is because of the well-
known Louisa May Alcott
quote about intentionally making a funny match for Jo. ”I wouldn´t be at all surprised
if she didn´t quite
mean that. Laurie was conventionally attractive. There are men in our current times,
that fall into the same
category. Men like Zac Efron. For example, if you were to ask me what I think of Zac
Efron I´ll tell you that
he is handsome but I am not personally attracted to him. Like Jo I prefer my men
bearded and a little stout
but most importantly intelligent, hardworking and kind. I think folks who can´t
accept an older less hot
version of a professor fail to understand his and Jo´s relationship. She respected him
and he her, and for her,
that was the ultimate sexiness”.
One of the biggest misconceptions about little women is that Jo is only based on
Louisa. Louisa wrote Jo to
be an idealized version of herself and there are elements in Jo that come from
women who Louisa admired.
I would argue that Louisa´s friend Elizabeth Powell was the true model for the 15-
year-old Jo. Based on the
letter exchange between Elizabeth and Louisa, Elizabeth wasn´t too keen on the idea
of marriage which is
understandable since she was only 16. Elizabeth did fall in love and married 10
years later and it would
seem that she continued being a model for Jo. First for Jo March and then for Jo
, Bhaer. Her life was still
very similar to the book Jo.
Louisa was the complete opposite. Louisa had a huge crush on her father´s best
friend philosopher Waldo
Emerson. Louisa wrote love letters to him but she never sent them and she used to
sit under his window
singing "Migon´s song". Mignon´s song is a song from Goethe´s novel, Wilhelm
Meister´s apprenticeship.
Which was one of Louisa´s favourite books. Emerson was one of the many models
for Friedrich. The main model
was philosopher Henry Thoreau who merited Louisa´s lifelong affection. When Jo
meets Friedrich for the
first time he is singing Mignon´s song.
When Jo writes her letter home she says that the letter is rather ”bhaery” and that
she is always interested
in odd people. We can interpret that Jo is fascinated by Friedrich´s eccentrics and
this is where Jo
finds her kindred spirit because all of her life she has considered herself odd and not
fitting.
One of the reasons why Jo´s and Laurie´s relationship, can never be a relationship
between equals was that
Laurie was looking for a mother figure in Jo, and Friedrich being older and more
mature than Laurie is a
the paradox of that.
”I was in our parlour last evening and Mr Bhaer came in. With some newspapers for
Mrs Kirk, she wasn´t
there, but Minnie who is a little old woman introduced me very prettily.
”This is Mama´s friend Miss March”
”Yes, and she is jolly and we like her lots” added Kitty, who is an ”enfant térrible”.
We both bowed and then we laughed, for the prim introduction and the blunt
addition was a rather
comical contrast.
Like their creator, Jo and Friedrich share their love for children. Already in the first
novel, Jo escaped the
female society and ran out to play with boys. In New York, Jo is more interested in
Niina Niskanen/ Little Women Podcast
Summary:
It might come as a surprise to some people but there are actually quite a few sex
scenes in Louisa May Alcott's Little Women. In this episode, we shall dive into 19th-
century courtship and how Alcott writes about courtship etiquette. Laurie is based on
Alcott's ex and Friedrich to a man she wanted to marry.
You can Listen the Podcast here https://tinyurl.com/3vzyb4uz
Little Women podcast transcript
Season 1
Welcome to a deep dive into the world of Louisa May Alcott. Everything I share in
these video essays is based
on multiple studies made by Alcott scholars. You can find all the links in the
description. To explore the
development of Jo´s and Friedrich´s romantic relationship in the book I am going to
use historian Karen
Lystra´s studies from the 19th-century romantic love and courtship as a comparison.
There are three stages
of 19th-century courtship 1. Love comes in a multitude of reasons 2. Shared looks
enact mutual transactions
of interior lives. This leads to the identification of selves and mutual recognition of
persons.
Jo spends quite a long time in New York, about 8 months. When she sees Friedrich
for the first time she is
immediately attracted to him. She checks him out multiple times during her stay at
Mrs Kirk
When the parlour door opened and shut someone began to humn ”Kennst du das
land” like a big
bumblebee it was dreadfully improper I know, but I couldn´t resist the temptation
and lifting one end of the
curtain before the glass door I peeped in. Professor Bhaer was there and while he
arranged his books, I
took a good look at him. A regular German, rather stout, with brown hair, stumbled
all over his head, bushy
,beard, good nose, the kindest eyes I ever saw, and a splendid big voice that does
one´s ears good after our
sharp or slipshered American gabble. His clothes were rusty, his hands were large,
and he hadn´t a
handsome feature on his face. Except for his beautiful teeth yet I liked him. For he
had a fine head, his linen was
very nice and he looked like a gentleman.
Based on Jo´s first impression of Friedrich she seems to be completely enthralled by
him. This is what Little
Women fan Melodie Ellison has to say about Friedrich´s looks
”I think part of why people act like Friedrich is not attractive is because of the well-
known Louisa May Alcott
quote about intentionally making a funny match for Jo. ”I wouldn´t be at all surprised
if she didn´t quite
mean that. Laurie was conventionally attractive. There are men in our current times,
that fall into the same
category. Men like Zac Efron. For example, if you were to ask me what I think of Zac
Efron I´ll tell you that
he is handsome but I am not personally attracted to him. Like Jo I prefer my men
bearded and a little stout
but most importantly intelligent, hardworking and kind. I think folks who can´t
accept an older less hot
version of a professor fail to understand his and Jo´s relationship. She respected him
and he her, and for her,
that was the ultimate sexiness”.
One of the biggest misconceptions about little women is that Jo is only based on
Louisa. Louisa wrote Jo to
be an idealized version of herself and there are elements in Jo that come from
women who Louisa admired.
I would argue that Louisa´s friend Elizabeth Powell was the true model for the 15-
year-old Jo. Based on the
letter exchange between Elizabeth and Louisa, Elizabeth wasn´t too keen on the idea
of marriage which is
understandable since she was only 16. Elizabeth did fall in love and married 10
years later and it would
seem that she continued being a model for Jo. First for Jo March and then for Jo
, Bhaer. Her life was still
very similar to the book Jo.
Louisa was the complete opposite. Louisa had a huge crush on her father´s best
friend philosopher Waldo
Emerson. Louisa wrote love letters to him but she never sent them and she used to
sit under his window
singing "Migon´s song". Mignon´s song is a song from Goethe´s novel, Wilhelm
Meister´s apprenticeship.
Which was one of Louisa´s favourite books. Emerson was one of the many models
for Friedrich. The main model
was philosopher Henry Thoreau who merited Louisa´s lifelong affection. When Jo
meets Friedrich for the
first time he is singing Mignon´s song.
When Jo writes her letter home she says that the letter is rather ”bhaery” and that
she is always interested
in odd people. We can interpret that Jo is fascinated by Friedrich´s eccentrics and
this is where Jo
finds her kindred spirit because all of her life she has considered herself odd and not
fitting.
One of the reasons why Jo´s and Laurie´s relationship, can never be a relationship
between equals was that
Laurie was looking for a mother figure in Jo, and Friedrich being older and more
mature than Laurie is a
the paradox of that.
”I was in our parlour last evening and Mr Bhaer came in. With some newspapers for
Mrs Kirk, she wasn´t
there, but Minnie who is a little old woman introduced me very prettily.
”This is Mama´s friend Miss March”
”Yes, and she is jolly and we like her lots” added Kitty, who is an ”enfant térrible”.
We both bowed and then we laughed, for the prim introduction and the blunt
addition was a rather
comical contrast.
Like their creator, Jo and Friedrich share their love for children. Already in the first
novel, Jo escaped the
female society and ran out to play with boys. In New York, Jo is more interested in
