Hello all the Little Women fans. 

Today´s comment I came across on Tumblr and it reminded me of Little Women. ​

These generic tropes, or the lack them 100% apply to Laurie in Little Women films. The answer why Jo rejects Laurie, is in the novel, but the films never give you an answer, because they always erase Laurie´s character arc. Not too long ago I had a discussion with someone who said that they always start as Jo and Laurie shippers when they watch the films and then they end up cheering Jo and Friedrich, but they never understand why Jo rejects Laurie and that there must be something that the films intentionally leave out. 

When you erase Laurie´s erase character arc, at the same you actually end up erasing Jo´s arch, Amy´s arc and Friedrich´s arc, because they are all intertwined. If you want to find the roots of TeamBhaer versus TeamLaurie debate the answer is Laurie´s missing character arc. In the 19th century when Little Women appeared, Laurie was extremely popular character. I noticed after the #metoo campaign in the literary blogs that I visited there began to be more nuanced conversations about Laurie and the way he treated Jo and how different it was to the way he treated Amy. It is sad that it is only now after over 100 years of the publication of Little Women, people are finally waking up to discuss about Laurie and the leeway his character has been given in the past.  Louisa always included educational messages to her works. She wrote Laurie to be an example of a character who can turn their life around. Back in the days Little Women was not only read by young women, but young men as well and Louisa wanted to have positive influence on them. In Louisa´s novels there are similar characters like Laurie who are always looking for a female guidance. Some of them, like Charlie in Rose in Bloom, expect the woman to do the work and save them from themselves. When this does not happen and the woman refuses they surrend themselves to their own demons. When Laurie wants to be with Jo, he is on that same path, but it is actually Jo´s rejection and desire to have Amy´s approval that forces him to either choose to man up or go down with the toxic self-centerdness.  

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This is Small umbrella in the rain The Little Women Podcast - Why Jo and Laurie don´t end up together (what the films leave out) 

Most distressing part in the adaptations from 1933 to 2019 is the complete lack of Laurie´s character arc and not showing him as a full person. In the book before Laurie moves to Concord he has been tossed around in Europe from one boarding school to another and then he moves to live with his grandfather and they have to build their relationship from the scratch. Older Mr.Lawrence had rejected the marriage of Laurie´s parents so since the beginning Laurie feels unwanted and this is why he becomes so attached to the Marches. He even calls Marmee his mother and that is why he is clinging on to Jo so much. Because of Jo´s idealization towards the masculine Laurie thought he could do anything and she would always forgive him. Hannah describes Laurie as a weathercock. He is a character with constant mood changes. He can be sensitive but he also has high temper. Which has never been shown in the films. He can be very inconsiderate towards other people´s feelings (same way as Jo) like during the time when he forged those letters and hurt Meg. Times when Laurie is sweet and caring are the times when he puts other people before him. Like during Beth´s illness and when he went to cheer up Amy when she was staying at aunt March. 
​
There are times when Laurie is vain like a peacock. He likes nice clothes and keeping up good appearance which is something that Jo at times makes fun off. He can be funny but also very immature. He wants to break free from his grandfather´s obey dance but he is afraid to do that. Laurie is an orphan. Relationship with his grandfather is complicated. For older Mr Lawrence Laurie resembles both of the children he lost and this is why he doesn´t want to hear music because of the painful memories and I suppose self-blame. It is only with his encounters with Beth these wounds start to heal. Laurie doesn´t like school. He wants to go to Italy and be a composer and to re-connect with his roots, this is aspect of him that is hardly ever included in the adaptations. Laurie´s Italian roots are connected to his love for music, his temper and his brown skin. ​

​Only adaptations where Laurie actually plays the piano are series from the 70s and 2017 mini-series. What it comes to the movies it is Mr. Bhaer who is actually much more musical and Fritz does sing and plays music in the books. But it is strange that there are only couple adaptations where Laurie actually plays piano and after all Laurie is a composer. So far all film versions have had their focus on romanticizing Jo and Laurie instead of giving him a full-personality. They follow the Hollywood narrative that the only reason why Laurie exists is to be pretty and to be in love with Jo and he doesn´t have any other aspirations or inspirations outside that. ​The plot of the novel is unconventional because it flips the conventional romance trope, but when the adaptations try to do this while erasing Laurie´s arc they actually follow the conventional romance trope, and not the unconventional story that Louisa wrote.

It is when Laurie goes to college the gender expectations of the time start to have more bigger impact to Jo´s and Laurie´s behavior. Laurie is not very interested from his studies. He goes to college simply to please his grandfather. Laurie is more of a party-boy in college. That is not necessarily a character flaw. Quite many young people go to college to do just that still today. In college Laurie smokes, drinks, plays pool, flirts with girls, gets into fights (never shown in any adaptations) and Jo criticizes him for doing these things. Jo doesn´t want to do any of these things but she wishes she could have the liberty to do whatever she wants without being judged by the society. Jo was very aware of the unfairness of the situation. In the books Jo never likes Laurie romantically and his romantic interest only makes Jo feel uncomfortable. Not only does their dynamics change because Jo doesn´t want to fit into the traditional female role of the time but because Laurie fits into the traditional 19th century male role almost too well. Their relationship in their youth worked when there was more space for gender fluidly but it starts to fall apart when they are called to conform more. When Laurie develops a crush on Jo he breaks that brotherly bond and that shatters Jo´s ideas of masculinity the way she has come to know it. It has never been showed in movies. The closest example of this the way it is described in the books is the song Astonishing from Little Women musical. 

Because of the copyrights I can not include clips from the musical, I´m not going to sing either but I will read you the lyrics.

Who is he?
Who is he with his marry me?
With his ring and his marry me,
the nerve, the gall.

This is not,
Not what was meant to be.
How could he ruin it all
With those two words?

I thought I knew him
Thought that he knew me
When did it change?
What did I miss?

A kiss,
When I thought all along,
That we were meant to find frontiers,
How could I be so wrong?

And I need,
How I need my sisters here
If I can't share my dreams
What were they for?

I thought our promise
That we would never change and never part.
I thought together,
We'd amaze the world.
How can I live my dreams or even start when everything has come apart.

I thought home was all I'd ever want
My attic all I'd ever need.
Now nothing feels the way it was before
And I don't know how to proceed.
I only know I'm meant for something more
I've got to know if I can be
Astonishing

There's a life
That I am meant to lead
A life like nothing I have known
I can feel it
And it's far from here
I've got to find it on my own

Even now I feel it's heat upon my skin.
A life of passion that pulls me from within,
A life that I am making to begin.
There must be somewhere I can be
Astonishing
Astonishing

I'll find my way
I'll find it far away
I'll find it in unexpected and unknown
I'll find my life in my own way
Today

Here I go
There's no turning back
My great adventure has begun.
I may be small
But I've got giant plans
To shine as brightly as the sun.

I will blaze until I find my time and place
I will be fearless,
Surrendering modesty and grace
I will not disapear without a trace
I'll shout and start a riot
Be anything but quiet
Christopher Columbus
I'll be Astonishing
Astonishing
Astonishing

This is by far the closest what happens in the novel. It´s like what my one of my friend´s said "That Laurie was horny does not justify his actions". Jo felt really uncomfortable by Laurie´s advances. In the novel, Jo is also frustrated staying at home and she wants to go to New York, mainly to gather new experiences but also try her wings and become more independent. 

Because of the open narrative of Greta Gerwig´s film, which completely erases Jo´s arch and growth process, there are people now who say that, Jo just wanted to stay at home with her family and never grow up. Louisa May Alcott´s own name suggestion for Little Women part 2 was "Leaving the nest". Little Women is a coming of age novel, so it´s all about Jo maturing from a girl into a woman. Jo leaves home, because she wants to grow and leave childhood behind.  Greta Gerwig also said that Laurie "want´s Jo to step up into the adult world". Seriously, what is this book that she has read? in the novel, Jo is really frustrated Laurie´s immature behavior, and she often criticizes it, and it actually makes Laurie feel quite uncomfortable. 

​Laurie´s behaviour becomes more obsessive and as a result Jo travels to New York to work as a governess and there she meets Friedrich. The movies have swapped the timeline so that Jo travels to New York after she has rejected Laurie´s proposal when in the book proposal happens after Jo has returned to Concord. When Jo meets Friedrich in New York he is not only her sexual awakening but Friedrich´s masculinity it collapses the male-female binary Jo knows. When Jo meets Friedrich the narrator says that for the first time Jo did not compare a man to Laurie. Up until to that point Laurie has been her ideal of masculinity but those old models have failed her miserably and then she meets a man who provides her a new definition of masculinity. Which does not demand Jo to change or to be traditionally feminine. Which is what Laurie´s model of masculinity did.

Lot of the relationship between Jo and Laurie was based on mutually reinforcing ideas of toxic masculinity. Eventually this turned out against both of them. In Jo´s case it made her to loose the trip to Europe and in Laurie´s case it brought out his temper and more possessive behavior. The best example why Jo rejected Laurie´s proposal and why she did fell in love with Friedrich is to examine the two proposals. When Laurie proposes to Jo he says he loves her because Jo has always been so good to him. He doesn´t love her because of her personality or her ambitions. Jo had a tendency to mother Laurie and we can probably explain this with the fact that the young men who were inspirations for Laurie´s character were much younger than Louisa. Being maternal figure was something that came naturally to Jo. In away March´s adopted Laurie to be part of their family unit. That Jo sees Laurie as her brother makes perfect sense and sisters often become pseudo-mother figures to their brothers. In movies we only see Laurie´s pain but we never see the pressure he puts on Jo or how uncomfortable his actions make her feel. When we read the book and see Laurie´s character through the movie´s lens it perpetuates the idea that the controlling behavior he has in the books doesn´t matter and it is a sign of love. Yet the book Laurie is not in love with Jo. He is in love with the idea of love. Laurie´s story and his character arc in Little Women it is not about Amy or Jo. It´s a story how Laurie becomes a man. ​

I´v tried to show it you but you wouldn´t let me. Now I am going to make you hear and give me an answer for I can´t go on any longer. 

"But girls are so queer you never know what they mean. They say no when they mean yes, and drive a man out of his wits just for the fun of it"'

Laurie seems to be thinking that Jo would fall in love with him because that is what girls do. Laurie has said similar things as a teen ager. Things like "someday I´ll get you Jo" which is quite a possessive thing for a 15 year old boy to say and it highlights how much the two have fed each others with harmful stereotypes about gender roles.  Now that they are adults Jo feels the need to leave this toxic cycle. Not just because of her own sake but also Laurie´s sake and it is toxic because up until to that point Laurie has been told what to do by Jo, John Brooke or by his grandfather. Laurie wants to keep the status quo of their relationship so that he does not need to grow and take the responsibility of himself or his own actions. Laurie was not used to making decisions. Marrying Jo is an easy escape of his life remaining the same rather than different as it is meant to be. This type of chase is not something that Jo likes or enjoys. It makes her feel incredibly uncomfortable. 

Most adaptations have also chosen the easy escape by not showing the slow and painful work of the personal transformation that Laurie does go through in the books. If we now take a look at the narrative of the second book. There are no glimpses inside to Laurie´s head  where he would be thinking about Jo or dreaming about future with her. When Jo leaves New York we do get a glimpse inside Friedrich´s mind and he does admit to himself that he is indeed in love with her and he wonders what life with Jo would be like. Laurie´s actions in most part of the second book don´t make any sense because Laurie´s mind is a complete mess.

Almost like the lack of Laurie´s inner thoughts the book is telling us that Laurie hasn´t thought things through. This is another contrast between Laurie´s shallow idealized dreaminess and Friedrich´s deeply grounded reality (@this-thrown-out-gentleman). 

Jo is honest with Laurie. She sees that if she would marry him their arguments would escalate to violence. Laurie´s relationship to Jo is more codependent. 

Laurie wants to keep the status quo of their toxic relationship and it is toxic because up until to that point Laurie had been used to do by Jo, John Brooke or his grandfather. He wasn´t used to making decisions (@renee561) 

When Jo rejects Laurie  we should be on Jo´s side. Yet in 90% of Little Women adaptions Laurie´s character arc is missing. He doesn´t have a temper (or character arc) in 1933, 1949, 1994, 2018 and 2019 films. Series from 1950 and 2017. Little Women musical and or in Japanese anime. ​

​Trying to threat someone you say you love is never a good idea. Instead of seeing any fault in his own actions Laurie blames it on someone else and he wants Jo to feel guilty for rejecting him. Then he guilt trips her even more by saying that she will marry someone and that she will be a silly woman by going back on her word of never marrying. Jo has a brilliant response but Laurie doesn´t want to hear it. ​

​Then Laurie threatens to go to the devil and behaves like a 19th century brat boy. Laurie´s proposal has been traditionally abridged or the dialogue has been changed. In the adaptations it has been portrayed to be a romantic scene when in the books it is a conflict. Little Women is often a misunderstood book because it does something very unique and powerful. Laurie´s proposal was never about Jo. It was all about him ​

​It is still all about him and he still wants Jo to feel guilty. Thank god for the grandfather (this is good parenting). Six moths  later Amy meets Laurie in Europe and they have not met for four years. Amy finds him changed and different. She scolds him and his attitude but it comes from a good place because Amy knows that Laurie has potential to make most of his life and when she carefully asks what happened between him and Jo...

​Still all about him. Not about Jo. 
​
Amy´s lecture did Laurie good though of course he did not own it until long afterwards. Men seldom do for when women are the advisers. The lords of the creation wont take the advice until they have persuaded themselves that it is just what they intended to do. Then they act upon it and if it succeeds they give the weaker vessel half the credit of it. If it fails they generously give her the whole. Little Women chapter 41. 
​
Amy´s words start to effect on Laurie yet in his mind Laurie thinks that Amy´s advice was unnecessary and that he had always meant to do something. Laurie´s biggest flaws are his pride and vanity but also his lack of ability to put himself to another person´s position and this is why his growth process is slow and painful. Still at this point Laurie doesn´t see women as individuals. He sees himself above them. In Vienna he starts to compose and opera which would harrow Jo´s soul and melt her heart. Once again it´s all about him but the opera doesn´t go that well. He wants to capture his romantic passion and all things that come to mind are Jo´s oddities, faults and freaks. 

It is easy to ignore the stories of the male characters in Little Women, because the four sisters are under a microscope. From the little that we know from Laurie´s background it would seem that when he was a child he was tossed from one boarding school to another and he did not have any stable parental figures or that he never spent enough time in one place to be able to establish such relationships. Quite early in the novel Laurie admits to Jo that he feels envious of the sisters bond to their mother.

Laurie´s and Jo´s relationship is characterised by childhood innocence. Jo represents the nurturing feminine presence Laurie was craving to have in his life at the same time Laurie is a brothernal figure for Jo who compliments her views on non-conformity (Ajedisith)

Jo and the March family become a refuge of stability to Laurie. It is only when he moves to Concord at the age of 15 for the first time he is surrounded by people who stick long enough to put boundaries and try to raise him. More than often Laurie was frustrated by Jo´s lectures but at the same he was depending on them. ​

​Little Women is a semi-biographical novel. We can trace Laurie´s actions to Louisa. Same way as Laurie Louisa´s childhood was unstable and turbulent and the family moved very often. When Louisa was young she had a big crush to the family friend and next door neighbour philosopher Waldo Emmerson. Emmerson was also one of the many men who were inspirations to Friedrich´s character. More than often Emmerson saved Alcott´s from troubles and he became a symbol of stability for Louisa same way as Jo is for Laurie. Louisa became obsessed with German female writer and social activist Bettina von Armin and her book Goethes Briefwechsel mit einem Kinde (Goethe´s correspondence with a child). Which included love letters Bettina wrote to the poet Goethe.

Bettina represents herself as a lover. A role that is traditionally seen as more masculine (Kundera). Bettina was in love with the idea of love.  Love as an emotion. Not as a love relation. In her letters she does not ask his opinions or share ideas with him. 
​
"I turned myself into Bettina and made Emmerson my Goethe" - LMA

Laurie is not in love with Jo. He is in love with the idea of love. It is about putting up on a role and a narcissistic one for that when it hurts other people. Which is exactly what happened between Jo and Laurie and Bettina and Goethe. Let´s call Laurie´s behavior with it´s actual name, harrassment. When Louisa was an adult she did tell Emmerson how she had built this romantic fairytale scenario in her head. Emmerson himself had been completely unaware of it. Nevertheless they had very strong friendship throughout their lives (Reisen). 

There is the famous Little Women passage to adulthood ritual. It basically means that a reader who has read the book as a child and romanticized Jo and Laurie and quite possibly watched the 1994 film more than once, reads the book as an adult and finds out that Laurie was very childish and he and Jo were very ill-matched and they move on to root Jo and Fritz or Amy and Laurie or both. We can also see it as a metaphor how a person develops a mildly delusional obsession over another. Especially young people can think that their life only has a meaning when they find a partner who´s only reason for existing is them but it is not healthy and not love. When you truly love someone you love them for what they truly are. Not the way you want to see yourself with them. In Little Women Laurie himself is the one character who goes through the Little Women passage of adulthood ritual. It is not until he goes through the process of self-growth and begins to see the women in his life as what they really are, he is truly able to love someone. ​

​Friedrich´s proposal is complete opposite. He wants to tell her how he feels about her and let her decide. After Jo has left New York they have been writing letters to each others and when he comes to see Jo in Concord he hopes to see signs of love from Jo and when he reveals to her that he has gotten a job and he is going to the west Jo´s walls go down. 
He gives Jo all the power and control and he lets her know that everything what she feels and thinks is important for him and he wants to make sure that she returns to his feelings and that their lives and goals work together. He is not even making a marriage proposal. He is asking if she could love him. In comparison to Laurie Friedrich´s screen portrayals are always closer to the books, even if most of his parts are left out because he is less romanticized character. He also acknowledges his flaws same way as Jo does. In terms of Friedrich´s narrative Little Women is also about identity but in his case it is not about forming identity but when he falls in love with Jo he reshapes his already existing identity. 

​Louisa was a great admirer of German writer and poet Goethe. Lot of research has been made on Goethe´s influence on Louisa´s writings. For example long fatal love chase has many parallels with Goethe´s faust. But less research has been done between Goethe´s writings and Little Women. Goethe was one of Louisa´s favorite authors and she credited him to be the one author who has taught her the most about creating and understand characters. Her copy of Wilhelm Meister´s Apprenticeship was given to her by Waldo Emmerson (and Louisa filled it with scribbles and personal observations). In Little Women Friedrich gives Jo copy of Shakespeare´s work and through that Jo learns how much more there is to find out about storytelling. Fritz also encourages Jo to study people around her so that she becomes better at developing and creating characters. Goethe was one of the biggest inspirations for Friedrich´s character. 

Trigger warning there will be mentions of suicides.

What it comes to Laurie´s character arc there are lots of themes that come straight from Goethe´s writings. Goethe´s first financially successful novel (and first German international best-seller) The sorrows of young Werther is a semi-biographical novel. Both protagonist young Werther and Goethe himself grew up privileged same way as Laurie. Werther´s love interest Charlotte is marrying another worthy man Albert. Werther makes Charlotte the only sole purpose of his living. He is not only miserable. He is proud of his misery. In fact he endorses it (Kirch). As a result he commits a suicide. What kills Werther is not being disappointed in love. It has nothing to do with Charlotte. What kills him is the toxic self-centeredness. What is common with Werther and Laurie is that they are both extremely sensitive. Same way as Little Women the sorrows of young Werther has often been misread. Some readers endorsed and glamorised Werther´s suicide and when the book became vastly popular it started a wave of suicides of young people in Germany who tried to emulate the tragic end of their romantic hero. 

"The children took especial interest in the love-story, and when poor Laurie was so obstinately refused by Jo, “they wept aloud, and refused to be comforted,” and in some instances were actually made ill by grief and excitement" (Cheney)

References to Goethe continue in Laurie´s proposal. After being rejected Laurie threats to take his life and puts enormous pressure on Jo. Same way as with the sorrows of young Werther a great deal of Little Women fans, especially younger ones, find these worrying threats passionate and romantic. Goethe´s book was widely misunderstood since he meant it as criticism and warning example towards life-consuming self-absorption.
"When I re-read the novel in my early twenties, I still technically thought Jo should have ended up with Laurie, but I started to feel uncomfortable about feeling that way. Wasn’t it weird, I thought, to feel that way when the character of Jo so explicitly rejected his proposal? Wasn’t it a bit like telling a dear friend she should date someone she wasn’t crazy about just because he had feelings for her and is *such a good guy*? I dismissed this though because a) death of the author, non-canonical pairings are a-ok, etc. and b) I have a moderate grasp on reality and I do recognize Jo is a fictional character, not my friend. But re-reading Little Women this month, I realized with mounting alarm that as a potential romantic partner for Jo, Laurie isn’t a good guy; he is, in fact, a Nice Guy™. […] The story of Laurie and Jo is not, as I had previously remembered, one of Jo *seeming* like she loves Laurie and making an out-of-left-field decision. It is very much in the field! Jo consistently indicates that she does not have feelings for Laurie, does not want him to flirt with her, and tries to prevent him from doing so every time he flirts with her. And he ignores her, again and again. But wait, there’s more! When Jo realizes that her very consistent attempts to communicate her disinterest are not working, she decides to move to New York for adventure and also to get away from Laurie. […] There may be some who would accuse me of selective reading. After all, Laurie isn’t a terrible person! […] To which I say: yes, but all of this can be true *and Laurie can simultaneously still be a terrible potential partner for Jo*. […] What I realized re-reading Little Women as a grown-ass adult is this: making Jo and Laurie perfect for each other wouldn’t just require a different ending, it would require an entirely different book. So, it’s been over twenty years in the making, but better late than never: Louisa May Alcott, I’m sorry. You were right.”
​
Maddie Rodgriguez, ‘Laurie Isn’t a Good Guy, He’s a Nice Guy™’ (bookriot.com)

​Proof in the pudding:

As Goethe, when he had a joy or a grief, put it into a song, so Laurie resolved to embalm his love sorrow in music, and to compose a Requiem which should harrow up Jo's soul and melt the heart of every hearer. 

Little Women, chapter 41

​"It's genius simmering, perhaps. I'll let it simmer, and see what comes of it," he said, with a secret suspicion all the while that it wasn't genius, but something far more common. Whatever it was, it simmered to some purpose, for he grew more and more discontented with his desultory life, began to long for some real and earnest work to go at, soul and body, and finally came to the wise conclusion that everyone who loved music was not a composer. Returning from one of Mozart's grand operas, splendidly performed at the Royal Theatre, he looked over his own, played a few of the best parts, sat staring at the busts of Mendelssohn, Beethoven, and bach, who stared benignly back again. Then suddenly he tore up his music sheets, one by one, and as the last fluttered out of his hand, he said soberly to himself...
​
"She is right! Talent isn't genius, and you can't make it so. That music has taken the vanity out of my as Rome took it out of her, and I won't be a humbug any longer. Now what shall I do?"

The purest form of love is to love the full-reality of the other person.

She did not hear him cross the courtyard beyond, nor see him pause in the archway that led from the subterranean path into the garden. He stood a minute looking at her with new eyes, seeing what no one had ever seen before, the tender side of Amy's character. Everything about her mutely suggested love and sorrow, the blotted letters in her lap, the black ribbon that tied up her hair, the womanly pain and patience in her face, even the little ebony cross at her throat seemed pathetic to Laurie, for he had given it to her, and she wore it as her only ornament. If he had any doubts about the reception she would give him, they were set at rest the minute she looked up and saw him, for dropping everything, she ran to him, exclaiming in a tone of unmistakable love and longing...
​
Is it possible that anyone who has not been happy with the books have been looking both Laurie and Friedrich from completely wrong perspective?

"Throughout his many works, Goethe stresses love as the foundation of relationships, and he did so living in a culture where marriage matches were typically determined by economic factors. It was a radical position to take.

​The difference between “You love me!” and “You love me?” The substitution of a question mark for an exclamation point “changes the meaning completely” (Gustafson). 

There is a fine line between love and obsession and the philosophical and psychological exploration of the two is a common theme in Louisa May Alcott´s literal works. 

A year before Louisa wrote Little Women, she had a fling with a young man called Ladislas Wisniewski, a young Polish composer. He was 10 years younger than Louisa, and one of the models for Laurie. Louisa describes Ladislas as a charming prankster, and apparently at some point even considered a future with him, but Louisa´s letters reveal that she find Ladislas quite immature and irresponsible. A year after the publication of Little Women, Louisa wrote an article called Happy Women, where she says that one should only marry for love, and any other imitation of love, is only a shadow. Louisa often drew from her real life experiences and wrote them to her stories.  If you ask me, a Louisa May Alcott essayist, why Jo rejected Laurie, the answer is very simple, Laurie is based on Ladislas Wisniewski and Alf Whitman. Louisa loved Alf like a brother. Louisa was very lonely when she met Ladislas. She liked to hang out with him but then realized that she didn´t truly love him. ​

Remaining notes of Louisa´s own romantic encounters  and her intense need to protect her reputation does suggest that she put lots of thought and consideration to the true nature of love. Louisa May Alcott also lived during a time period when romantic love became the basis of marriage when before that marriage was based on economical factors and in all her novels Louisa promotes the idea of marriage based on love. When reading Louisa´s journals we find out that Louisa loved philosopher Henry Thoreau. Henry passed away when Louisa was 28 and Henry was 44. It is possible that this is the reason why Louisa never married, because Henry was her soul mate and anyone who has ever been in love knows that, soul  mates are not easy to find.  Later in life Louisa wrote in her journals, she believed that she was going to re-unite with her soul mate in her next life (Lukens). Interestingly in Little Women, Jo and Friedrich marry when Jo is 28 and Fritz 44. All Alcott sisters wanted to marry for love, and both Louisa and her sister May sometimes found it very difficult (Ticknor). Both being working women, it wasn´t that easy for them to find love in the world where financial stability was seen more important than personal happiness. 

​Louisa wrote Jo, the happy ending she had wished for herself. 

Thank you for listening. Stay well and make good choices. 

Sources:

Little Women, Louisa May Alcott, 150 years edition, Penguin Classics 2009

Sorrows of young Werther, Goethe, 1787, Saga Egmont, 2020

Wilhelm Meister´s Apprenticeship, Goethe, 1795, Saga Egmont, 2020

​May Alcott, a Memoir, Caroline Ticknor, 1927

Life lessons from Goethe by Adan Kirch, New Yorker, 2016 issue  

​Stella: A Play for Lovers (1776) (2018) English translation of Goethe's novel (Peter Land and Susan Gustafson) 
​
Immortality, Milan Kundera, 1988

​Louisa May Alcott, Letters to Maggie Lukens

Goethe´s correspondence with a child, Bettina Von Armin, 1837

Goethe and Bettina (from Goethetc)

Listen the full podcast episode here. 

Listen the full podcast episode here.

Hello Global community of Little Women fans. 

Today´s comment shout out goes to @notafraidof-virginiawoolf who says the following: 

Friedrich Bhaer is the only convincingly sexy man in literature I have decided.

That is some legitimate Fritz Bhaer appreciation. Friedrich, he is based on many men who Louisa May Alcott personally found attractive and one of them was Goethe.

From all the episodes I´ve done to this channel, the one about Louisa May Alcott´s love for Germany , it is probably the one I´v got most feedback. When people have contacted me and  they´v wanted to discuss with me about Little Women, lot of people mention that particular episode or the articles I wrote about it and that it has helped them to understand Little Women and Friedrich´s and Jo´s relationship. It´s nice because I went through the same feelings when I was doing the research. Ever since I posted that episode and I mentioned the Goethe connections, I´v got people asking me if I could speak more about it and here we are. 

Sources I have used to gather this information has mostly come from Meghan Armknecht´s excellent essay called "Jo marries Goethe, Professor Bhaer as the Goethean ideal in Louisa May Alcott´s Little Women" and Christine Doyle's amazing essay "Singing Mignon´s song, German culture and literature in Little Women". I have read lots of books and essays about Louisa May Alcott. Sometimes I feel that when the writer is talking about"Little Women" they are actually not speaking about the novel, but some of the movies. It can be very frustrating, and I think some of them don´t even realize they are doing that, but Christine Doyle, she has read the books and knows them very well. I can recommend  her Louisa May Alcott studies. 

I have also used Goethe as one of my sources. I read Sorrows of young Werther, who´s story is very similar to Laurie and his over-compelling emotional turbulent and Wilhelm Meister, book that has love stories that Louisa reprises in Little Women. These were Louisa´s favorite novels that she read multiple times during her life. She had the framework for the love stories build up years before she was asked to write Little Women. In her essay Megan Armknecht said that there has been not a lot research done between Little Women and Goethe´s novels. This is really unknown territory and it can completely change the way we think about Louisa May Alcott. Maybe after you have listened this episode you come to the same conclusion and start do your own research on this topic. 

This episode is sponsored by Audible. From Audible you can find unlimited amount of books to read and you can get a free trial with the affiliate link, that you can find from the description.You can find books like Goethe´s Wilhelm Meister which I am going to open up a bit in this podcast and of course Little Women and it´s sequels, if you have not read it yet. 

(Audible link https://amzn.to/3uFSyNf )

This is Small Umbrella In The Rain The Little Women Podcast - Jo Marries Goethe, Louisa May Alcott´s fascination  to the German Poet. 

(intro tune) 

Louisa May Alcott, great American writer was born in 1832. The same year great German writer and poet Goethe passed away.

Was that a sign? 

Louisa became familiar with Goethe as a child. Thanks to her father Bronson, who had Goethe´s biography, in his small but selective library. By the end of her life, Louisa had managed to collect all American editions and some German editions of Goethe´s works and often send notes to her friends to let her know when new editions were available, so she could complete her Goethe collection. 

This is what Alcott scholar Christine Doyle writes:

By the time Alcott wrote Jo´s Boys (which is the last Little Women book) in 1880s. She had spent a life time reading Goethe, and he was still clearly and consciously important to her. In 1876 and again in 1883, se had made attempts to collect as much of his work as possible. She wrote to her publisher Thomas Niles "Thanks for the Goethe book. I want everything that comes out about him" (Signing Mignon´s song, Doyle). 

Louisa was actually born in to the first American town that was settled by German immigrants in 1683. This was Germantown in Pennsylvania. Louisa was born into a time when Americans started to consume German literature and there was somewhat a "German epidemic" in New England. This was also the time when American universities started to include German books into their collections and many of these educational reformers were transcendentalists, like the Alcott´s.

During those years German immigrants and German literature made a powerful impact on America. Quoting historian Russel Nye "Although Irish immigrants were the most numerous (Marches in Little Women, and Alcott´s in real life were descendants of Irish immigrants) Germans were close behind, numbering 1,3 million in 1860s, In addition to their Protestant heritage, which made the typical German immigrant far less suspect in America than the Irish Catholic, German immigrants were welcomed for their "socially sophisticated tradition" that included food, art and support for education.

The attitude towards immigrants varied depending on the location. Areas like New England where there was a long history of German immigration, people were naturally a lot more accepting, but this was not the case in many other places. In Little Women Jo points out the difficulties Friedrich has finding a job, because he is an outsider and speaks with broken English. We can assume that this is why the local universities do not wish to hire him, despite the fact that he was a teacher of philosophy in Germany. When Friedrich proposes Jo he says that he is going to move to the west and work as a teacher there and the two agree to wait and work for their shared future. This probably is a reference to Louisa´s love for philosopher Henry Thoreau, who to Louisa embodied the ideology of the west. West in the popular imagination refers into to the last frontier of American settlement. 

 Nye sums up; They (German immigrants) were "adaptable, ambitious and strongly patriotic". 

Just such an immigrant is Friedrich Bhaer, whose character allows Alcott to acknowledge many of the positive aspects of German culture that the new immigrants embodied. Though a renowned professor in Berlin, Bhaer endures anonymity and poverty in America to honor his promise to his sister, who had married an American and wanted her two German-American sons to be raised there (Doyle). 

Goethe is still today a huge figure in Germany and  in German speaking countries, one must read at least some of his works to get into the university they want. Lots of research has been done between the similarities in Louisa´s novel "A  long fatal love chase" and Goethe´s Faust but the connections between Goethe´s writings and Little Women is just beginning. 
​
Friedrich and Jo are both mixed characters. Louisa wrote Jo to be an idealized version of herself, therefore Jo also has elements from women who Louisa admired. Louisa wrote Friedrich to be her own ideal man, so Friedrich has elements of men who Louisa loved and admired, and Goethe was one of these men. 

Friedrich as a character has striking similarities with Goethe, that go beyond their German background.  When Jo writes letter home, she describes Friedrich for the first time. 

"Mrs Kirk told me he was from Berlin. Very learned and good but poor as a church mouse".

Goethe was not poor as a church mouse . He actually came from an aristocratic background  but Friedrich shares Goethe´s intellectualism and the book gives hints that if Fritz would have remained in Germany he would have risen in to great fame, because of his intellectualism. 

In his native city he had been a man much honored and esteemed for learning and integrity. Jo felt  proud to know that he was an honored professor in Berlin, though only a poor language master in America and his homely, hard working life, was much beautified by the spice of romance which this discovery gave it. 

Goethe´s native city was not Berlin. He was from Weimar,  but the two cities are only hundred miles away from each other in the same region.

Quote from Megan Armknecht:

By the time when Alcott wrote Little Women, Berlin was gaining more and more importance and would become the capital of the new German empire in 1871. 

There are similarities between Goethe´s and Friedrich´s personalities. Both were family men and loved children. Their characteristics include kindness and largeness of heart. 

When Jo sees Fritz for the first time, he is helping a young servant girl to carry a heavy hold of cole. 

In her letter home, Jo remarks the incident.

"Wasn´t it good of him? I like such things for as father says, trifles show character. 

Friedrich loves kids and is very good with them. After his sister Minna passed away, he adopted his nephews Franz and Emil, and raised them as his own.  For Jo, that Friedrich has children, especially boys, is actually something very attractive. Throughout the novel the narrator (Louisa) mentions how much Jo loves boys and hanging out with boys and boyish energy. 

Jo loves to observe how Fritz interacts with children. When she is staying at New York, she spies on him and little Tina, who is the daughter of the French maid at the boarding house. 

Jo writes; "Tina has lost her heart to Mr Bhaer and follows him about the house, like a dog, whenever he is at home, which delights him, as he is very fond of children".

Goethe biographer Herder writes that Goethe was a great child all his life. Eager to learn and willing to give whatever he had to make others happy. One of the things that Jo finds attractive in Friedrich´s character is the way he is always ready to look after people and himself. Which is in contradiction to Laurie´s behavior since for the most part of the novel, Laurie doesn´t know how to be an adult or how to look after himself  and he expects that once they marry, Jo shall be his caretaker, not an equal partner, which is what Amy later becomes. 

In Little Women Louisa hints that Friedrich´s father might have abandoned his family. This explains why Friedrich loves his sons and his nephews, and wants to be an exceptionally good father. He kissed his sleeping sons head remembering a father who left and never returned. 

Goethe had a complicated relationship with his father. He didn´t approve his sons artistic endeavors, and this is a topic Goethe often handles in his novels. Young men often act out against the bourgeois lives of their parents. It is part of their rebellion.

Both Goethe and Louisa lived during a time period when marriages were based on economic factors and not the matters of the heart. Both writers encourage their readers to reject the economical factors and only to marry for love. This was a very radical idea of the time. 

One of the books that Louisa found from her father´s library was Goethe´s WIlhelm Meister´s apprenticeship. Like Little Women, Wilhelm Meister is a Bildung´s roman. It was world´s first coming of age novel. Little Women and perhaps it´s most famous story-line, Jo rejecting Laurie for Friedrich, can be traced to Wilhelm Meister. Wilhelm starts out as a naive, and idealistic young man who has a passionate affair with the actress Marianne. Wilhelm loves theater and he struggles to balance his passion for the arts and the expectations his family has for him taking on the family business. He runs out with the theater company only to see how the theater world slowly consumes his soul with it´s ruthlessness. Then he meets Natalia, a woman very different to Marianne who helps him to gain back his self-worth. 

For her 18th birthday Emerson gave Louisa a copy of Goethe´s Wilhelm Meister´s apprenticeship. This copy now in Houghton library at Harvard, is well-worn and marked with Alcott´s marginal comments, showing the care and attention with which she read Goethe´s novel” (Armknecht). In Little Women when Jo is staying in New York, Friedrich gives her a copy of Shakespeare´s novels as a Christmas gift and encourages her to study character. Louisa praised Emerson calling him as "her Goethe". Goethe was a literal inspiration for her and Emerson offered support and encouraged her to read and study character. Friedrich embodies them both and it makes sense that Louisa would give Jo a partner who not only supports Jo´s creative journey but is an essential part of it. 

Louisa called both Goethe and Waldo Emerson as "god of my idolatry" Goethe became a a way for Louisa and Emerson to deepen their friendship through intellectual conversation, enriching both of their lives". 

Many of the annotations in Louisa´s copy of Wilhelm Meister are associated with romance. For example, she underlined the heading of chapter nine of volume one, marking the passage where Wilhelm feels as though he is infused with "new life" as he falls deeply in love with his first love Mariane. Furthermore in volume three, chapter four, Louisa annotatted a scene where Wilhelm and Natalia talk in the garden about love. She penned in the word "beautiful" after their private conversation. 

This sounds very similar to what happens between Amy and Laurie when they are in the garden at Vevey and Jo and Friedrich under the umbrella.

Quote from Christine Doyle´s Mignon´s song. 

"The cultural level suggested by Friedrich´s profession and more specifically by his knowledge of Goethe also helps to validate the connection between him and Jo. Alcott had penned a quote from Margaret Fuller´s Woman in the 19th Century regarding Wilhelm Meister´s females connections, the note in Alcott´s handwriting on the back of flyleaf reads, "M Fuller says, As Meister grows in life and advances in wisdom, he becomes acquainted with women of more character moving from Mariana to Natalia, who expresses the Minerva side of things, Mignong the electrical lyrical cnnature. In this light it is possible to read Jo March´s transference of affection from Laurie to Friedrich as a form of "rising" due to her own growth and advancement in terms of character. Laurie is always a "boy" to Jo, but Friedrich is a man. Laurie possess charm and culture, Friedrich as we see, is cultured but also steady and well-grounded. He speaks both to her down-to-earth practicality and down-to-earth imagination. When he and Jo together reprise Mignon´s song after Friedrich´s surprise arrival at the March home later in the novel, it is a  clear statement of the fitness of their union, a union of America with some of the best European culture, and for Friedrich, fulfillment of the American dream, he is much more than a "funny match" for Jo".

Louisa read Wilhelm Meister´s apprenticeship first time as a child and it was a novel that she always went back to. The way Laurie is chasing Jo is very similar to what happens in another famous novel by Goethe "sorrows of young Werther". Louisa´s affection to Eliza Follen´s biography on her husband Charles and the love story between an American woman and a German immigrant is also reprise in Little Women in Jo´s and Friedrich´s characters. Another book that Louisa read in her early youth.This knowledge can change the course of Louisa May Alcott research, especially what it comes to Louisa´s own perceptions on Good Wives.  Alcott scholar Daniel Shealy writes in his essay "Wedding Marches" "in the remaining correspondence between Louisa and her publisher Thomas Niles there are no indications that Niles would have had any say on the character relationships, the marriage decisions were all Alcott´s".  Louisa had build the basis for the love stories in Little Women decades before she was asked by Niles to write a book for girls. Good Wives (Little Women part 2) was never an afterthought but an exploration between immature love versus mature love. Yes, some of that we can see in Louisa´s own love life in her relationships between young Ladislas Wisniewski (Laurie) and Henry David Thoreau (Friedrich), which is probably the reason why, Louisa later in life tried to detach herself and her own love life from the love life of her literal counterpart, because it became all too personal. 

Geraldine Brooks declares: Another reason Alcott crafted the direction of Jo’s life in this way was because she seemed to want to marry but never did. It seems likely, however, that she did have at least two different love interests in her life. Perhaps Alcott decided to give Jo what she herself always wanted: marriage and a family. 

After doing this research for few years now, I´ve come to the same conclusion. When I read Louisa´s letters from her later life, where she says she is happy for her sisters when she sees them flourishing in their marriages, she envies them and feels lonely and she believed that in her next life she would get the things she wanted but never could have, a safe and loving relationship and children of her own. ​

Greta Gerwig has been very vocal how much she hates Friedrich´s character. I don´t know what her problem is but there is one thing that annoys me to no end. In every one of her interviews Gerwig has argued that Friedrich forces Jo to use the word "thou". I can´t even fathom how absurd this is. 

When you study German one of the first things that you learn is that there are two ways to address a person. There is "Du" which is what you use with someone you are very close and then there is "Sie" that you use when you are discussing with someone who is not very close to you. In the 19th century when German literature was translated into English "Du" became "thou". When Friedrich and Jo call each other "Thou" it means that they want to be close to one another. 

In the book it says that Jo thought that "thou" was a "lovely syllable". It sounds that Gerwig is just making excuses to spread hate speech about a fictional character and it doesn´t have any base on reality. 

This is what Christine Doyle writes:

​When Jo terms Friedrich´s request to use "thou" in addressing him "sentimental" (while privately thinking it is lovely), he says, "Sentimental? yes, thank Gott, we Germans believe in sentiment, and keep ourselves young mit it. Your English "you" sounds so cold. Friedrich in fact, retains his German accent throughout the March novels, occasionally dropping German words and phrases such as "Mein Sohn" and "Vaterland" into his speech despite his much imrpoved command of English (for example in Little Women Friedrich says "haf" but then Little Men and Jo´s boys he says "have"). Like Friedrich´s defense of religion, his sentimental language is significant in both cultural and literary context. Alcott seems here to be standing up for emotion in the face of staid New England culture". 

Sorrows of young Werther, novel that first skyrocketed Goethe into great fame has been often used as an example of the over-sentimentality of the German Sturm und Drang movement. Louisa was heavily affected by the Sturm und Drang and in her youth she consumed and wrote these "Stress and thunder" tales. Despite of being more of a realistic novel, Little Women is written in sentimental language and this applies to all of Louisa´s novels, children´s books and the adult books. Friedrich is sentimental, but so is Louisa May Alcott. 

Louisa´s real life crush, and possible lover Henry David Thoreau also always used "thou" in his love poems when addressing his loved  one. 

Jo describes Friedrich to look like a regular German. He has brown hair and a bushy beard. Kind blue eyes, big hands and big feet and he has kind tone is his voice "that does one´s ears good after our sharp or slipshod American gabble".

This description is similar to Friedrich Schiller´s first impression on Goethe:

"His appearance greatly lessened the idea I had conceived from hearsay of his imposing and handsome person. He is of middle height, and looks and walks stiff. His countenance is not open, but he has beaming eyes. The expression of his countenance is serious, at the same time that it is benevolent and kind. He has brown hair, and appears older than I should say he really is. His voice exceedingly pleasing, and his conversation flowing, lively and amusing. It is a pleasure to listen to him, and when he is in a happy mood, which he was on this occasion, he is fond of talking and takes and interests in what he says".

Friedrich´s looks and his somewhat stoic personality can also be traced back to Henry David Thoreau, but like Goethe, Henry as well opened up in a company, especially when the conversation was lively and interesting. 

"First thing Jo hears from Bhaer is him singing "Kennst du das land" (do you know the land) to himself, the opening line of Mignon´s love song from Goethe´s Wilhelm Meister. Here again is literary intertextuality of Wilhlem Meister in Little Women. By having Bhaer sing Mignon´s song to himself. Alcott not only draws a direct connection between Bhaer and Goethe but also an emotional connection between herself and Goethe". 

Louisa points out that both Jo and Friedrich are familiar with Wilhelm Meister. In the chapter surprises Friedrich comes to court Jo, and Jo asks him to perform Mignon´s song with her. 

"Now we must finish with Mignon´s song, for Mr Bhaer sings that"

"You will sing with me, we´ll go excellenty well together?" he asked. 

A pleasing fiction, by the way, for Jo had no more idea of music than a grasshopper, but she would have consented, if t he had proposed to sing a whole opera, and warbled away, blissfully regardless of time and tune. It didn´t much matter, for Mr Bhaer sang like a true German, heartily and well, and Jo soon subsided into a sublued hum, that she might listen to the mellow voice that seemed to sing for her alone.

"Know´s thou the land where the citron blooms"

Used to be the Professor´s favorite line, for "das land" meant Germany to him; but now he seemed to dwell, with peculiar warmth and melody, upon the words; -

"There, oh there might I with thee, Oh my beloved go"

and one listener was so thrilled by the tender invitation, that she longed to say she did know the land, and would joyfully depart thither, whenever he liked. 

How did Jo knew that was his favorite line? they must have had deep one-to-one discussions about Goethe.

Here is a quote from Little Women fan Christina:

Maybe she noticed how a certain gleam come across his eyes as he sings the line. Maybe his lips turn upward into a smile when the lyric comes up, no matter how many times he sings it. Or maybe it was because of the warmth in his voice as he spoke of his home that Jo recognized as she speaks of her home.
But she notices. She notices all the little things of Friedrich, but had yet to have a reason why. But when she leaves New York and is alone after Beth’s death, she thinks of those little things and smiles to herself. 
When he comes to her home, she thinks about that line. Home. He is home.
There is another way to interpretate this chapter. Mignon´s song is about departure and re-uniting with your loved one in the after life. Louisa believed that in the next life, she would meet her loved one again  and then she would get the life that she had wanted. Maybe this scene was written about Henry, same way as the umbrella chapter. Henry had the same Goethe´s  books as Louisa and he was also a good singer and when he would come to visit the Alcott´s, they sometimes sang together. 

Quote from Megan Armknecht

Another parallel between Bhaer and Goethe is their philosopher, especially regarding the purposes of art and religion. Bhaer is very interested in Jo´s writing, encourages her to read Shakespeare, and helps explain his work to her. Bhaer gives her as a New Year´s present. Classic writers, such as Shakespeare  were very important to Goethe, who read Shakespeare and often wrote about and criticized him in letters to Schiller. 

As Jo reads Shakespeare, she not only begins to notice true, honest character more, but she also recognizes just how good Bhaer truly is. She discovers a "live hero", who interested her in spite of many human imperfections. Mr Bhaer, in one of their conversations, had advised her to study simple, true and lovely characters whenever she would found them, as good training for a writer; Jo took him at his word - fro she coolly turned round and studied him and finds him to be good and benevolent. In this way Bhaer´s love of the simple, honest and pure, mirror´s Goethe´s who remained ever in touch with the reality of things as revealed to the sense, but never blind to an ideal interpretations. 

This is all in the text of Little Women. Friedrich encourages Jo to become a genuine writer. I have never understood people who say that Friedrich prevents Jo from writing, when in the book, he does the exact opposite, but the people who spread that type of false information, are usually Jo and Laurie fans. 

Another quote from Armknecht:

"Bhaer is trying to help Jo to become a genuine writer instead of one who caters to the whims of the crowd. This is something that Goethe would have done. He disliked superficiality in people and in art and was through life frequently offended by the shallow pretensions, the false aims. He insists that a poem  must be suggested by real life, and having herein a firm foundation".

This is particularly important information. When Louisa was in her twenties she wrote sensational stories to a New York magazine. Weekly Volcano in Little Women, is a caricature of this magazine. These stories are not Louisa´s best stories, and in Little Women, she describes how Jo has mental health problems because she feels powerless in the hands of the editor, who wants her to write stories that have shock value and when Jo looks for material she begins to have anxiety attacks. This is all in the text. It has never been adapted and that must affect to any anti-Friedrich statements people might have, because in the novel Friedrich comes to Jo´s help, when he sees how much she is struggling. 

When Louisa wrote these sensational stories, she was not very experienced with the darker side of life and struggled with lot of these themes that she was requested to write about. It makes sense that she looked up to her literal hero, Goethe and take his advice that a good story, should have a real-life foundation and this is how Jo in Little Women moves on from writing trash to write successful realism thanks to Friedrich, and Louisa did the same thanks to Goethe. 

There are times when Goethe´s  and Friedrich´s values separate. One of these are their views on religion. Goethe´s views on religion are often described as vague where as Friedrich in Little Women, is very religious. Louisa was a very spiritual person herself and her religious views were rather eclectic, but the base of her beliefs were in her protestant upbringing. 

In Little Women Jo and Friedrich attend a symposium. There Jo listens one of the young philosophers speaking about atheist world view, and this makes Jo quite upset. 

"It dawned upon her gradually, that the world was being picked to pieces, and put together on new, and according to the talkers, on infinitely better principles than before; that religion was in a fair way to be reasoned into nothingness, and intellect was to be the only God. Jo knew nothing about philosophy or metaphysics of any sort, but a curious excitement, half pleasurable, half painful, came over her, as she listened with a sense of being turned adrift into time and space, like a young balloon out on a holiday".

"He bore it as long as he could; but when he was appealed to for an opinion, he blazed up with honest indignation, and defended religion with all the eloquence of truth - an eloquence which made his broken English musical, and his plain face beautiful. H had a hard fight, for the wise men argued well; but he didn´t know when he was beaten, and stood to his colors like a man. Somehow, as he talked, the world got right again to Jo; the old beliefs that had lasted so long, seemed better than the new. God was not a blind force, and immortality was not a pretty fable, but a blessed fact. Jo felt as if she had solid ground under her feet again; and when Mr Bhaer paused, out talked, but not one whit convinced, Jo wanted to clap her hands and thank him. 

She did neither, but she remembered this scene, and gave the Professor her hearthiest respect, for she knew it cost him an effort to speak out then and there, because his conscience would not let him to be silent. She began to see that character is a better possession than money, rank, intellect or beauty, and to feel that if greatness is what  a wise man has defined it to be "truth, reverence and good will" then her friend Friedrich Bhaer, was not only good but great". 

In this case Friedrich is in fact, much more closer to the American philosophers like Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, who Louisa had often heard  keeping speeches about religion. Despite the fact that the transcendentalists adored German culture and writings they were highly suspicious of German philosophers because they did not always share their religious views.

I know quite a few Little Women fans, who absolutely love the symposium scene. It is their favorite Jo and Friedrich moment. She says that "he was not only good, but great" Friedrich is no longer a crush for Jo. It becomes something a lot more serious. Jo remembered his passionate speech for the rest of her life.  She even wants to clap when he stops talking.  Friedrich, he managed to move something inside her. I have mentioned this in my articles before, one of the reasons why I always adored Jo and Friedrich love story and story line, is because it is one of the most realistic descriptions in literature, how it actually feels like to fall in  love to another person and Louisa wrote from her experience. 

Jo was attracted to Friedrich from the moment she met him. There is a build up in the novel how her crush and her curiosity about him deepens.

"He was poor, yet always appeared to be giving something away. a stranger yet everyone was his friend, no longer young, but as happy hearted as a boy, plain and odd, yet his face looked beautiful to many and his oddities, were freely forgiven for his sake. Jo often watched him, trying to discover the charm, and at last decided that it was benevolence which worked the miracle. If he had any sorrow "it sad with it´s head under it´s wing" and he turned only his sunny side to the world".

This what is said about Goethe´s personality: "Goethe was always an optimist, despite of the many setbacks he had had during his life. He often wanted to uplift others and bring as much success to others as to himself. Goethe believed that creativity was a gift, but only way to true success was through hard work and resilience. Goethe was emotional and vulnerable and yet he could be a light of the party. Sometimes he was generous to a fault, but always honest and loyal to those he cared about the most. 

I personally really like the idea that Louisa gave Jo a husband and a partner that was inspired by Goethe. It makes a lot of sense that Friedrich who helps Jo to reach the next stages of her writing career was based on Louisa´s favorite writer, and that there are elements in Friedrich´s personality we can trace to Goethe.

I hope you enjoyed listening to this. Take care and make good choices. Bye. 

Sources: 

Little Women,  Louisa May Alcott, 150 years Penguin edition,

Sorrows of young Werter, Johann W. Goethe, 1787, Book Beat 

Singing Mignon´s Song, Christine Doyle, John Hopkin´s university press, Children literature volume 31, 2003

"Jo marries Goethe, Dr Bhaer as the Goethean ideal in Louisa May Alcott´s Little Women", Megan Armknecht
​
Goethe in our time, Sarah Colvin, BBC Radio 4, https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p003c1c8

Little Women Podcast Transcript:

Merry meet little women fans! Welcome to the second season of Small umbrella in the rain. New episode every Thursday for the next 12 weeks. 

Today´s comment shutout goes to Melodie. This is what she says:

I wish, instead of remaking “Little Women” into a story where Jo is happy as a spinster, they’d give us a movie about Louisa May Alcott and Henry David Thoreau. I want to see THAT story! Maybe folks would understand that Friedrich was the real prize then. And maybe they could understand better that Louisa did not remain unmarried because she wished it. She needed meeting of the minds, mutual respect sort of love.

It’s my experience that Jo and Laurie shippers are usually folks who haven’t read the book. Or, if they read it, it was when they were very young and it was still only as a companion to the 1994 movie. I love your comparison to “The Notebook.” I’m always horrified when I hear that’s someone’s idea of romantic. It’s so toxic. And Jo and Laurie together would be just that. I think one of the beautiful things about “Little Women” is it shows the difference between immature and mature love. When we are young, love often looks like what Jo and Laurie had. I think Laurie just wanted to be in love, so he latched onto the idea of Jo. It’s hard to see it this way, though, because of the movie portrayal. How do you say no to a young and beautiful Christian Bale?!

Melodie, I agree 100%. Perhaps the problem is not the way the book is written, but that society at large romanticizes that type of toxic behavior. Louisa found Henry very attractive even though he wasn´t conventionally attractive but it wasn´t just about his looks but the connection that they shared. Laddie Wisniewski, who was one of the real life Lauries. He was conventionally attractive but he and Louisa didn´t have that connection.

Romanticizing possessive behavior in a male character runs very deeply in our culture. There are double standards, because when a man is pursuing the woman, no matter what the woman says, lot of people think it´s romantic, but when a woman does the same to a man, she is automatically labeled as crazy. This episode is about the similarities between Goethe´s novel, The Sorrow´s of young Werther and Laurie´s character arc in Little Women, and especially how Jo´s and Laurie´s relationship can be directly traced into Goethe´s novel. 

There will be mentions of suicides. If this is a  topic that triggers you, use your own judgement how to proceed. It is not going to be overly explicit, but it can be a difficult topic for some people. 

This episode is sponsored by Audible. If you wish to find unlimited amount of books to read and podcasts to listen you can get 1 month free trial by clicking the affiliate link in the description https://amzn.to/3uFSyNf and if you are looking to something to listen on Audible I can recommend The Sorrows of young Werther and other Goethe´s novels. To me, in terms of my character research . reading Goethe helped me to understand Laurie´s character a lot more, and also it made me understand the transcendentalist world view and their belief system better,  because Goethe was one of their heroes and they believed that nature was manifestation of god and this is an idea that Goethe writes a lot in his novels and because he was Louisa´s favorite writer as well, it has helped me to understand Louisa more as a person.

​Johan Wolfgang von Goethe was one of the most praised German authors of his time. Louisa May Alcott was a big Goethe fan. Louisa was a transcendentalist. The whole world view of the transcendentalists could be described as nature-centric form of Christianity and it was based on German philosophy and German romanticism. Goethe was one of the most important literal inspirations for the transcendentalists because he captured the essence of their beliefs into poetic form. 

Louisa, according to her own words "grew up hearing stories of Goethe on her father´s knee". Bronson Alcott´s library included contemporary translation of Goethe´s biography and we can assume that it was one of the first books that Louisa read. One of Louisa´s most famous literal characters, Laurie from Little Women, is partially based on Goethe and Goethe´s literal heroes (Doyle). 

Goethe was born into great wealth. His father was a doctor of jurisprudence and came from prestigious family from Frankfurt. Goethe was home schooled. He had tutors and he studied history, mathematics, music, languages, dancing and fencing. Goethe was fluent in French, a language he spoke as well as his native German. 

At the age of 16 Goethe began to study law in the university of Leipzig but he mostly focused on deepening his love for literature and partying. 

After graduating as the licentiate of law in 1771 Goethe worked as a lawyer in Frankfurt for a while. Around the same time he began to receive more fame as an author. Goethe published his first novel the Sorrows of Young Werther at the age of 24 and it became a massive best-seller. At the time "Werther" was the second most sold book in Germany, only surpassed by the German Bible. ​

Goethe was one of the most prominent figures of the German Sturm und Drang movement. Sturm und Drang refers into deep emotional stress. The name of the movement originates from a play called Sturmn und Drang written by Friedrich Maximilian von Klinger. Two most prominent figures of the movement were Goethe and Friedrich Schiller and the movement effected to the German art world, music, literature and theater. 

Louisa described herself as "a creature of moods" so finding an author who managed to capture Louisa´s own emotional stress into words must have been both exiting and comforting. In Little Women Laurie, Jo and Friedrich can be described as Goethean characters, Laurie notably the most. We can trace Laurie´s character arc in Little Women to two Goethe´s novels: "Sorrows of young Werther" and "Wilhelm Meister´s apprenticeship" and to Goethe himself. 

In Little Women Laurie is born into great wealth. He lives with his grandfather and he has a home tutor, Mr Brooke. In boarding school he studied fencing and dancing. In college Laurie is a party boy and not very interested in the world of academics (unlike Jo). Laurie is also fluent in French. He has, most of the time, nice manners and he is a talented musician. Laurie is very temperamental. He was born out of a forbidden marriage, between his American father and Italian mother, and this is one of the reasons why he struggles to bond with his grandfather, and they both feel great deal of resentment towards one another when Laurie moves to live with him. ​

Sorrows of young Werther is a novel written in a letter form. This is an important fact because this makes an immediate effect to the reader. There is no narrator. Letters are written by Werther and addressed to his friend Wilhelm. Werther is a story of a young man who falls in love to Charlotta "Lotte", who is engaged to another worthy man, Albert. Werther suffers from constant emotional stress and he also has quite a temper. 

In the beginning of the novel Werther travels to the countryside.  He is impressed by the unpretentious country people and envies their happy and simple life style. Often he wonders what is the secret of their happiness, since they have way less than he has. Werther spends great deal of time thinking the meaning of life and he is a great admirer of beauty and the natural world. He spends his time writing and drawing the things he sees. Nature comforts him and that is where he feels happy and safe. 

When Werther meets Lotte for the first time he is invited to her home and he sees her feeding her younger sisters and brothers and what Werther is attracted is the feeling of warmth and home that he sees around him. Something that he doesn´t seem to have in his own urban home. 

Same happens in Little Women, when Laurie meets the March family for the first time and Jo sees the "hungry look in his eyes" when he looks at her family. ​

Louisa´s younger sister May, was a talented professional artist but perhaps Louisa was also inspired by Werther´s artistic talents. 

"I am so happy, my dear friend, so absorbed in the exquisite sense of mere tranquil existence, that I neglect my talents. I should be incapable of drawing a single stroke at the present moment; and yet I feel that I never was a greater artist than now. When, while the lovely valley teems with vapour around me, and the meridian sun strikes the upper surface of the impenetrable foliage of my trees, and but a few stray gleams steal into the inner sanctuary, I throw myself down among the tall grass by the trickling stream; and, as I lie close to the earth, a thousand unknown plants are noticed by me: when I hear the buzz of the little world among the stalks, and grow familiar with the countless indescribable forms of the insects and flies, then I feel the presence of the Almighty, who formed us in his own image, and the breath of that universal love which bears and sustains us, as it floats around us in an eternity of bliss; and then, my friend, when darkness overspreads my eyes, and heaven and earth seem to dwell in my soul and absorb its power, like the form of a beloved mistress, then I often think with longing, Oh, would I could describe these conceptions, could impress upon paper all that is living so full and warm within me, that it might be the mirror of my soul, as my soul is the mirror of the infinite God! O my friend—but it is too much for my strength—I sink under the weight of the splendour of these visions!"
​
​-Sorrows of Young Werther, chapter 1

​The novel is entirely written from Werther´s perspective so the reader does not get to hear Lotte´s personal thoughts or feelings about him and his behavior. Werther falls in love, but Lotte doesn´t return to his affections. Albert is described as a man who Werther respects but also envies. There is an element of ridiculousness in Werther´s behavior and his emotional stress. He compares his mood changes into dark clouds and thunder storms. Both Werther and Laurie are written to be overly-dramatic.

Werther´s thoughts of suicide appear alarmingly often. Albert is worried when Werther jokes about it and when Werther defenses man taking his own life when the constant passions and feelings are never ending and he can´t escape them.

Laurie´s and Werther´s emotional stress is not caused by the broken heart. Their problems are caused by the lack of meaning.

Laurie was always told what to do by others. He was addicted to Jo´s maternal care, and because of that maternal care that Jo has for him, she was never able to inspire him to become a person who could make his own decisions and live his own life. Part of this is created by Jo´s sympathy to the masculine. She struggles to judge his behavior because of her soft spot for boys. We can trace this back to all the real-life Laurie´s being a lot younger than Louisa. 

In the middle of the novel, Werther leaves Lotte and Albert and travels away. He gets a position as an ambassador´s assistant but the work does not satisfy him or the duties that comes with it. He struggles to fit into the high society because he feels that his individuality is being smothered by the "fake facade". He compares his wealthy associates to the poor people who were so kind to him. Werther sees that the nature of the person does not matter in the society, but only wealth and status does. Which leads into an inevitable conflict with the aristocrats and as a result he is reminded by his supporters that on such occasions going with the "whim of the society" is the way to go. Werther´s behavior becomes the topic of the gossip among those who have envied his position and Werther is so upset he would like to "stab a knife into his heart".

Goethe lived during the time when Neo-humanism became mainstream philosophy. One of the more important aspects of neo-humanism was the idea of "self". What is more important? the sense of self, the personal values and the moral codes, or in the end, is our value only measured by our wealth and status. 

The idea of being "one authentic self" was part of the transcendentalist philosophy. Werther´s inner struggles, with his self-worth are being measured by things that he has no control over,  like his family background. This is repeated in Little Women when Jo and Friedrich participate into the social gathering of artists, poets and intellectuals. Jo has a moment of clarity, when the people who she has been admiring from afar show the true nature of themselves and it is far from flattering. This becomes a pinning point between her and Friedrich, because his speech on religion goes right into her soul. Jo often despised the higher class gatherings and was even afraid to be invited into such events. This is caused by Jo´s own preconceptions about the higher class but also her unique sense of self and the way her parents have shown her the livings conditions of the less fortunate. 

The idea of self, and self-worth appears in Jo´s and Friedrich´s discussion about writing, and when he reminds Jo that if she, Jo wants to be a successful writer, first she needs to find her own voice, and as a result Jo begins to search her own style. 

This is where Werther and Laurie separate. Despite the fact that Laurie has grown up in the world that was filled with high class social gatherings, he is not against them. In fact he enjoys participating to parties and dinners. Amy has always enjoyed such gatherings. Laurie grew up in that world he neither has disillusions about it, but it is only with his relationship with Amy he begins to understand the privileges of his position. ​

​When Werther returns to Lotte and Albert, they are now a married couple. They treat Werther with friendliness but his moods are uncontrollable. He knew that the marriage was about to happen but it only fuels to his distress. The country idyll and the harmony that he was so in love with is utterly broken. Young woman who he was friends with had lost their child, and her husband had returned and lost their inheritance. A young peasant boy, a friend of Werther, has sexually abused his mistress. Even nature does not comfort Werther. Seeing the hazel threes he had admired with Lotte make him furious. 

Lotte becomes angry at Werther accusing him for choosing her from all the other women, when he knew that she was engaged to somebody else. She and Albert try to calm him down, and she tries to figure out how they could make him to be more sensible.

"I can´t love anyone else, I can´t forget you Jo! never! with a stamp to emphasize his passionate words. 

"What shall I do with him? sighed Jo, finding that emotions were more unmanageable than she expected. "You haven´t heard what I wanted to tell you. Sit down and listen; for indeed I want to do right, and make you happy" she said, hoping to soothe him with a little reason, which proved that she knew nothing about love". (Little Women, chapter tender troubles) 

When Werther has made his final decision, Lotte is very nervous when she goes to meet him. In Little Women when Jo decides that it is time to tell Laurie to stop, she is very nervous. Werther reads Lotte death of Ossian, which is a poem by James McPherson and all the passages handle death and grief and they are very sentimental. Werther becomes very abusive. 

"Everything passes away; but a whole eternity could not extinguish the living flame which was yesterday kindled by your lips, and which now burns within me. She loves me! These arms have encircled her waist, these lips have trembled upon hers. She is mine! Yes, Charlotte, you are mine for ever!

Werther doesn´t listen anything that Lotte says. He threatens her to say he loves her and then he shoots himself. 

In Little Women Laurie says that there comes a time when Jo will find someone else, and he rather dies than sees it, and this is Jo´s brilliant response. 

​Werther was massively popular book among the German youth when it appeared. Young men even dressed like Werther, wearing a yellow vest and a blue jacket and it inspired thousands young men and women to commit suicide, and many were angry at Lotte for rejecting Werther. Does this sound familiar to Little Women fans? 

Werther´s way to self-destruction is pervasive and all-compassing. His desire to live full-filling meaningful inspirational life is replaced with the belief that it can not be possible. 

Werther´s inner conflicts have been often explained with his status. That his unhappiness is caused by the fact that he can not live a simpler life because he was born as an aristocrat.

More contemporary interpretation is that Werther sees no meaning in his life. In his biography Goethe writes about his inspirations for Werther, that the boredom towards life troubled his generation and the popular literature of the time was all about death and disappearance.

Emily and I discusses about this in our Laurie episode. It is a shame that Laurie´s character arc is missing from all Little Women adaptations, because the lack of meaning and not really knowing what you want to be or what you want to do with your life, that is a topic that lot of young people still today can identify with. 

In Little Women Jo actively tries to partner Laurie to each one of her sisters, because she earnestly wants Laurie to be her brother. First with Meg because "she is in the age", and in part 2 first to Beth, and later on to Amy (even before Jo knew that Amy and Laurie were re-kindling their friendship in Europe). For the modern viewer Jo´s desire to marry Laurie to anyone of her sisters, might come out as fear of committing, but the reason can be found  from the proposal chapter. Jo at that point, did not know yet what love was, but she knew that she was not in love with Laurie, and that she wanted to be with someone who she could love truly and with her whole heart. Throughout the book series Jo is shown as a maternal figure who "saves" young boys from being lost, and in Jo´s eyes without her family´s care, Laurie will be lost. 

Both Werther and Little Women, flip the pattern of the traditional romance novel, because the female protagonists wants someone better, a partner who is more suitable for them than the overly-emotional guy who is pursuing them and who´s advances make them feel uncomfortable.  ​

Quote from Sarah Colvin, professor of German:

"Sorrows of young Werther brought Goethe enormous fame. It was hugely successful. There are elements of Sturm und Drang in it but more than that, it tapped into the cultural sensibility of the time. The importance of the heart, the importance of the emotions. An enormous audience responded into that. It sold out very quickly. It was popular for all kinds of reasons. Partly because you could decode it and people always love that. 

Goethe, he himself fell in love to a young woman called Charlotte von Buff and the main character that Werther falls in love is called Lotte. That brought some embarrassment to the real life Charlotte and her fiance. In reality the relationship between Charlotte and Goethe was platonic, and he had a great respect to Johann Kristian Kestner, who is the Albert of the story. 

Werther he kills himself in the end and lot of young men and women followed his example. Werther was badly misunderstood as a novel. Firstly because people didn´t understand that Goethe was actually criticizing the cultural sensibility in the character of Werther and secondly, it was read as an encouragement to suicide, which it certainly wasn´t. It was partly based on to a young man called Jerusalem, who´s story Goethe had heard and implemented to the novel. Jerusalem was a promising young ambassador´s assistant, who had had heartbreaks and disappointments living in the high society and who eventually took his own life". 

Goethe was horrified by the wave of suicides that happened. Couple years later, he literally re-wrote Werther, this time in more critical tone.

Louisa was a consumer of Goethe´s novels since an early age. Because she had read Goethe´s biography she seemed to have a very deep understanding why Werther was not a character to be romanticized, but just like Goethe, Louisa noticed that giving Laurie this "Wertherian" character arc, in the end, took the attention away almost everything else in the novel.  ​

It is difficult for us to understand it now, but when Little Women appeared Louisa received tons of mail everyday from young girls asking her to re-write the ending of the novel and marry Jo to Laurie. There is a scene in Jo´s boys (which is the last Little Women book) where Jo, who is now a famous writer, is very frustrated by these fans who send these requests and the fans who come to spy on her and leave disappointed when they see that she is a "gray woman in her 50s" and not a pretty 15-year old. 

This is what Elizabeth Bankcroft writes, in her essay Alcott´s through 30 years, letters to Alf Whitman: 
"Alfred, a motherless, lonely boy of 15, enrolled in Franklin B private school in 1857. The shy youth became great favorite of the Alcott girls". 

Thirteen years later after Louisa´s death, Alfred published portions of twelve of her letters to him in the "Ladies home journal" permitting the magazine to announce that Laurie the beloved "hero" of Little Women, had edited them. Apparently up to then it had been generally believed that Ladislas Wisniewski, of Vevey and Paris, was the sole prototype for Laurie, but Alfred admitted that Louisa has written him, many years before that "Laurie is you and Jintly (that´s Ladislas). You are the sober half and Ladislas (who I met abroad) is the gay whirligig half". 

I am not a native English speaker so I had to check what whirligig means. 

Whirligig is a toy that spins round, for example a top or windmill. 

I think I need to add that the word gay in the 19th century context, wasn´t always about sexual orientation. It meant a person who took care of their looks or looked dashing and dandy.

​Louisa met young Wisniewski in Switzerland. He was very flirtatious with Louisa, who nursed him when he was ill. Louisa always spoke very highly about Ladislas in public, but in private letters between Louisa and her sister May they call him "boring" and they are frustrated that he does not take life very seriously. This is also why, I hardly ever believe any of Louisa´s public statements. She didn´t want anyone to know how heavily Little  Women was intertwined with her own life. 

We can only imagine Louisa´s frustration when her young fans would beg her to marry Jo to a dear friend like Alf, or Ladislas who was somewhat Louisa´s ex. 

I can see why Werther was such a beloved character among young people in the 18th century, because he is written to be very endearing with all his messiness. Somebody also commented in a literal group that I´m part of that both Laurie and Werther, have these tragic elements within them that appeal to young people.
​
Thank you for listening. 

If you wish to follow little women channel on Instagram or on YouTube user name is the little women channel, we are also on Facebooktv as little women channel. 
​
​I´ll see you soon. 
Make good choices!

Sources:

Little Women,  Louisa May Alcott, 150 years Penguin edition,

Muuttuva Romaani, Liisa Saariluoma, Karisto, 1989

Sorrows of young Werter, Johann W. Goethe, 1787, Book Beat 

Singing Mignon´s Song, Christine Doyle, John Hopkin´s university press, Children literature volume 31, 2003

Alcott´s through 30 years, Letters to Alf Whitman, Elizabeth Bankcroft, 1957, Harvard Library 
​
Goethe in our time, Sarah Colvin, BBC Radio 4, https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p003c1c8

How 500 days of Summer gets the manic pixie dream girl right, Movies under the surface, 2018,  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YI2i96G6Kwk&ab_channel=MoviesUnderTheSurface

image credits:

Little Women 1994 film, Little Women 2017 series, and "Young Goethe in love" 2010 (in Germany "Goethe!") 

"This is less a question than an observation a huge part of what is disappointing about lot of these adaptations including the Greta Gerwig one, is that it´s 2020 now and folks don´t want to talk about the fact that a huge part of the Bhaer-hate stems from fat-phobia and honestly, that brilliant, goofy, nerdy people don´t make romantic leads and I´m pretty sure Louisa May Alcott would agree. I always imagined someone maybe with Sean Astin´s build playing the part". 

This next thing I am going to say is legitimate. You can find Louisa May Alcott novels so you can check this out. In every single Louisa May Alcott novel, where the Louisa type of protagonist falls in love or marries, the romantic partners, they always look the same. They all have the same body type. They are all tall and heavily build. One of Friedrich´s models was the German poet Goethe and if you look at pictures of Goethe, he is this middle-aged man with broad-shoulders and very tall and you know, heavily build and all Louisa May Alcott´s romantic heroes look like that. Some of the have beards, some of the don´t and surprisingly many of them speak with German accents. John Suhre who was a German soldier who Louisa nursed in the war. He was tall and a bit stout, with a brown beard. Louisa wrote into her diary that she found him very handsome and attractive. Adam in Moods and David in Work, the female protagonist is always fixated to their looks and their "manliness" and when Friedrich becomes Jo´s sexual awakening she pays attention to his big hands and to his big feet and she is really lusty over him. 

In Jo´s boys when Dan comes back to Plumfield, he has grown a beard. For those of you who have not read Jo´s boys, Dan was one of Jo´s and Friedrich´s students. When he comes back he asks Jo if he should shave the beard or not and Jo is like "don´t do that. It makes you look so manly and handsome" and it is so funny because both Friedrich and Dan are based on Henry Thoreau. Mac in Rose in Bloom, he also has the same body type. He is blonde and he is younger. In Eight Cousins where he is a pre-teen he is described to be a bit "chubby", but then in Rose in Bloom, Mac has a huge growth spurt and suddenly he is taller and he has broad shoulders and Rose, surprise, begins to see him more attractive. 

All these men are described to have blue eyes, which is an interesting detail since Henry Thoreau had blue eyes. In away Louisa, she was attracted to the alpha-male. Her ideal man always looks very masculine but they are all very gentle by nature. To Louisa man being heavily build meant that they were big and strong, and they can take care of themselves and other people. People like Greta Gerwig complaining about body type. It is very shallow. People can hire conventionally good looking actors to play Fritz like Rossano Brazzi and Louis Garrel, but it never erases the problem that Jo is never attracted to Laurie, and Laurie´s looks, and the way his and Jo´s relationship has these toxic elements, it´s always missing and all that explains why Jo dumps him in the first place.

Alpha-male for Louisa was also someone who could support their writing, which is what Friedrich does. He encourages her to find her own writing style. There is also some criticism over skinny-looking guys in Little Women. Nat and Laurie are skinny and pretty, more effeminate and the narrator has occasionally criticisms about their "overly-emotional nature", like Laurie. Laurie is often overly-dramatic and Nat is more of a daydreamer, they both are very sensitive. Which raises an interesting question if part of that is about narrator´s dislike about femininity because in the novel, one of Jo´s more masculine qualities is that she denies her own vulnerability which is why I think her arc with Friedrich was so important because the more she tried to deny her vulnerability, the more she felt lost and with Friedrich she could find the balance.

In some ways Louisa connected men being skinny with non-productivity. In Jo´s boys Meg and Jo don´t want Daisy to marry Nat, because they think he is such a daydreamer. Then he travels to Germany to study music and when he comes back to Concord he is more heavily-build. It´s really funny because Meg and Jo are like wow, he looks much better now. I don´t personally share Louisa´s views about skinny guys not being productive but maybe it was based on her own experiences since Julian Hawthorne and Laddie Wisniewski who were real-life Laurie´s. They were pretty but they weren´t always very productive and didn´t really live up to Louisa´s standards. In Finland we have this expression, uusavuton, which means an adult, who doesn´t know how to be an adult, and Laurie and Nat, they are these type of characters. They need strong female guides, like Amy or Daisy to inspire them to grow and to take control over their lives. 

To Louisa the alpha-male is a man who combines the masculine and the feminine energy together in a balance, and effectively. Strong but kind, confident but humble. I don´t really know any other writer who has such a clear idea what her ideal man is like. It has a lot to do with taste, but I think Louisa´s love for "masculine men" who were also intellectuals was connected to her own values. She was drawn to men who possessed tender masculinity. I read once that Louisa gave Friedrich elements of European men that she wished that more American men would have. I think there might be some truth to that. I grew up watching lots of Scandinavian film productions, like Astrid Lingren adaptations and there is lots of male characters that look very masculine, or physically strong male characters, but they are passionate and romantic with their partners and they love their kids. So if you know someone who complains about Friedrich´s looks, Louisa wrote Friedrich to be her own ideal man, so if someone has problems with that. They don´t really understand the author. 

When Louisa was asked to write little women, she hesitated because her closest friends were all boys, and then her sisters. Knowing Louisa´s love for men and boys and masculinity, it makes a lot of sense that men who she was attracted to also looked that way. There has  been lots of research on Louisa´s identification with masculinity and yes, there is a lot of that in Little Women, but in a lot of ways Jo is also a very feminine character, in the way she reads romance novels and when she falls in love, she dreams about marriage and starting a family and she is very maternal, which is something that came naturally to her. 

​You can watch the full q and a here.