1) Briefly summarize the plot of the novel you read according to the elements of plot you've learned in the past courses. Explain how the narrative fulfills the author's purpose.
a) Introduction/Exposition: The book opens around Christmas, with the four sisters - Meg March, Jo March, Beth March, and Amy March - deciding what they should each gift themselves for Christmas. With all of them mourning over their poverty, they soon realized that their love and happiness should be shared with their mother - Marmee - and they each decide to buy her a gift.
b) Rising Action: As the four sisters grow up, without a father figure in their house, they face many day to day problems, making them into mature adults. In this process, they get introduced to many different people around them, especially Laurie - their next door neighbor, turning out to be an extremely important part of their lives.
c) Conflict: As the sisters gradually realize their flaws, they try to grow up by improving themselves and making themselves better individuals.
d) Climax: The moment when Jo - the protagonist of the story - proves her as a mature and independent adult by refusing Laurie's proposal to marriage.
e) Falling Action: Beth ends up dying towards the end. Amy and Laurie end up meeting in France again and fall in love. Jo waits for Professor Bhaer.
f) Resolution: Amy and Laurie have a daughter, whom they name Beth. Jo ends up finding and opening a school for boys, requiring her to put her dream career (as a writer) on hold.
The third person omniscient narrative allows the author to achieve her purpose of describing the hardships of growing up by describing all the events to all the characters - their reactions, opinions, thoughts, beliefs, and actions - instead of focusing on one person. If the author were to have a first person or a third person, it would have restricted her in describing the purpose because the readers - even unintentionally - would have been biased towards that character.
2) Succinctly describe the theme of the novel.
There are multiple themes of the book - from growing up to the struggle of being a woman. Since the March family did not have a male figure in the house, the women were not only suffering financially but also mentally. Marmee had to be mentally strong to handle her four daughters - who were not that mature and were growing up to enter their adulthood. The March women also faced the problems of either working or starting a family. While Marmee was doing everything she could to keep the family intact, she also had to do minor jobs to run her house.
3) Describe the author's tone. Include a minimum of three excerpts that illustrate your points.
Since the POV was third person omniscient, the author's tone during most of the book was matter-of-factly. Once in a while, the author was compassionate towards the situations of the March women and their hardships in life. She was also a little serious towards the issue that growing up is extremely hard requires strength and determination.
4) Describe a minimum of ten literary elements/techniques you observed that strengthened your understanding of the author's purpose, the text's theme and/or your sense of the tone. For each, please include textual support to help illustrate the point for your readers.
1) Foreshadowing: Foreshadowing of Jo's and Mr. Bhaer's marriage when Jo says he's a great singer and that she sings a duet with him. "You will sing with me? We go excellently well together." (Pg: 421)
2) Symbols: Burns: "What a queer smell! It's like burned feathers." (Pg: 25) The burn of Jo's dress or Jo burning Meg's hair symbolizes Jo's resistance to become lady-like.
3) Imagery: "Six children are huddled into one bed to keep from freezing, for they have no fire." (Pg: 15) Creates a mental picture for audience to "see" the poverty faced by the woman and kids.
4) Allegory: The sisters' 'pilgrimage' imitate "John Bunyan's allegory The Pilgrim's Progress."
5) Allusions: "That's loving our neighbor better than ourselves, and I like it." (Pg: 17) Meg says this, which is an allusion to the Biblical quote: "Love your neighbor as yourself."
6) Personification: "And then the rooms were very still while the pages were softly turned, and the winter sunshine crept in to touch the bright heads and serious faces with a Christmas greeting." (Pg: 14) Describes how Christmas was a new beginning for the sisters.
7) Metaphor: "...'I'm so sorry, but the tongs were too hot, and so I've made a mess,' groaned poor Jo, regarding the black pancakes with tears of regret." (Pg: 25) Describes the extent to which the hair was burnt.
8) Simile: "But Jo, who didn't care much for girls, or girlish gossip, stood about with her back carefully against the wall, and felt as much out of place as a colt in a flower garden." (Pg: 26)
9) Characterization: The author mostly uses indirect characterization, but does have some direct characterization. The author says (Pg: 6) that "as young people like to know 'how people look,' we will take this moment to give them a little sketch..." The author clearly believes in indirect characterization because actions do speak louder than words.
10) Point of View: The author uses third person omniscient POV to allow readers to understand, be able to analyze, and relate to the characters and their personalities and not feel biased towards the protagonist.
CHARACTERIZATION:
1) Describe two examples of direct characterization and two examples of indirect characterization. Why does the author use both approaches, and to what end?
a) Direct Characterization: "Margaret, the eldest of the four, was sixteen, and very pretty, being plump and fair, with large eyes, plenty of soft, brown hair, a sweet mouth, and white hands, of which she was rather vain." (Pg: 6)
"Fifteen-year-old Jo was very tall, thin and brown, and reminded one of a colt, for she never seemed to know what to do with her long limbs, which were very much in her way." (Pg: 6)
b) Indirect Characterization: "Don't laugh at me, Jo! I didn't mean anyone to should know till the time came. I only meant to change the little bottle for a big one, and I gave all my money to get it, and I'm truly trying not to be selfish any more." (A dialogue by Amy) (Pg: 15)
"Mrs. March gave the mother tea and gruel, and comforted her with with promises of help, while she dressed the little baby as tenderly as if it had been her own." (Pg: 16)
The author uses both approaches to make the characters more realistic for the audience. It allows the readers to engage, not only with the narrative but also with the characters. Using both characterization allows the readers to understand a character to such an extent, that they can almost hear them think and see them act.
2) Does the author's syntax and/or diction change when s/he focuses on character? How? Example(s)?
The author's syntax and diction does change when she focuses on a character because she narrates in the way that the character would talk. It makes the story and the character come alive and allows the readers to get an insight to the personality of a character because changing the syntax or diction will make the readers understand the intensity and importance of an obstacle and/or of another character. An example could be, when Alcott talks about Jo, suddenly her diction changes to a tomboyish girl, with problems about dressing up, being a woman, etc. This happened when Jo and Laurie started talking at the party - hiding away from everyone else.
3) Is the protagonist static or dynamic? Flat or round? Explain.
The protagonist is a dynamic, round character because her thoughts, emotions, goals, beliefs, etc. were depicted in the story. Alcott represented Jo, the protagonist, as a strong, independent woman - who wants to become a writer and hates how she has to dress like a woman, look like a woman, behave like a woman, etc. but still she was willing to do so when she read her dad's letter in the beginning of the story and how he has high expectations of her. These little emotions and actions can help the readers to conclude that Jo is a dynamic and round character.
4) After reading the book did you come away feeling like you'd met a person or read a character? Analyze one textual example that illustrates your reaction.
I came away feeling like I met myself. I could completely relate to Jo because of her inability to figure out if she should just be herself and listen to her heart or follow what her parents and sisters expect from her. For example, in the middle of the book, Jo finds out that her dad - Mr. March is sick - but she doesn't have money to go to him. She sells her hair to fund her trip. This deep love of her for her family completely describes who I am. Or, for example, when her dad sends her a letter, he says in it that he hopes Jo is fulfilling the responsibility that he left her with. Jo decides to try and change herself to make her father happy. When I was little, I was always told that I should be a doctor. This expectation made me change myself and I forced myself to like Biology. And even God wanted me to make my parents proud, and biology really did become my goal. Reading the characterization of Jo made me come away with the feeling that I was put in that story and I was the one going through the hurdles and choices.
a) Introduction/Exposition: The book opens around Christmas, with the four sisters - Meg March, Jo March, Beth March, and Amy March - deciding what they should each gift themselves for Christmas. With all of them mourning over their poverty, they soon realized that their love and happiness should be shared with their mother - Marmee - and they each decide to buy her a gift.
b) Rising Action: As the four sisters grow up, without a father figure in their house, they face many day to day problems, making them into mature adults. In this process, they get introduced to many different people around them, especially Laurie - their next door neighbor, turning out to be an extremely important part of their lives.
c) Conflict: As the sisters gradually realize their flaws, they try to grow up by improving themselves and making themselves better individuals.
d) Climax: The moment when Jo - the protagonist of the story - proves her as a mature and independent adult by refusing Laurie's proposal to marriage.
e) Falling Action: Beth ends up dying towards the end. Amy and Laurie end up meeting in France again and fall in love. Jo waits for Professor Bhaer.
f) Resolution: Amy and Laurie have a daughter, whom they name Beth. Jo ends up finding and opening a school for boys, requiring her to put her dream career (as a writer) on hold.
The third person omniscient narrative allows the author to achieve her purpose of describing the hardships of growing up by describing all the events to all the characters - their reactions, opinions, thoughts, beliefs, and actions - instead of focusing on one person. If the author were to have a first person or a third person, it would have restricted her in describing the purpose because the readers - even unintentionally - would have been biased towards that character.
2) Succinctly describe the theme of the novel.
There are multiple themes of the book - from growing up to the struggle of being a woman. Since the March family did not have a male figure in the house, the women were not only suffering financially but also mentally. Marmee had to be mentally strong to handle her four daughters - who were not that mature and were growing up to enter their adulthood. The March women also faced the problems of either working or starting a family. While Marmee was doing everything she could to keep the family intact, she also had to do minor jobs to run her house.
3) Describe the author's tone. Include a minimum of three excerpts that illustrate your points.
Since the POV was third person omniscient, the author's tone during most of the book was matter-of-factly. Once in a while, the author was compassionate towards the situations of the March women and their hardships in life. She was also a little serious towards the issue that growing up is extremely hard requires strength and determination.
4) Describe a minimum of ten literary elements/techniques you observed that strengthened your understanding of the author's purpose, the text's theme and/or your sense of the tone. For each, please include textual support to help illustrate the point for your readers.
1) Foreshadowing: Foreshadowing of Jo's and Mr. Bhaer's marriage when Jo says he's a great singer and that she sings a duet with him. "You will sing with me? We go excellently well together." (Pg: 421)
2) Symbols: Burns: "What a queer smell! It's like burned feathers." (Pg: 25) The burn of Jo's dress or Jo burning Meg's hair symbolizes Jo's resistance to become lady-like.
3) Imagery: "Six children are huddled into one bed to keep from freezing, for they have no fire." (Pg: 15) Creates a mental picture for audience to "see" the poverty faced by the woman and kids.
4) Allegory: The sisters' 'pilgrimage' imitate "John Bunyan's allegory The Pilgrim's Progress."
5) Allusions: "That's loving our neighbor better than ourselves, and I like it." (Pg: 17) Meg says this, which is an allusion to the Biblical quote: "Love your neighbor as yourself."
6) Personification: "And then the rooms were very still while the pages were softly turned, and the winter sunshine crept in to touch the bright heads and serious faces with a Christmas greeting." (Pg: 14) Describes how Christmas was a new beginning for the sisters.
7) Metaphor: "...'I'm so sorry, but the tongs were too hot, and so I've made a mess,' groaned poor Jo, regarding the black pancakes with tears of regret." (Pg: 25) Describes the extent to which the hair was burnt.
8) Simile: "But Jo, who didn't care much for girls, or girlish gossip, stood about with her back carefully against the wall, and felt as much out of place as a colt in a flower garden." (Pg: 26)
9) Characterization: The author mostly uses indirect characterization, but does have some direct characterization. The author says (Pg: 6) that "as young people like to know 'how people look,' we will take this moment to give them a little sketch..." The author clearly believes in indirect characterization because actions do speak louder than words.
10) Point of View: The author uses third person omniscient POV to allow readers to understand, be able to analyze, and relate to the characters and their personalities and not feel biased towards the protagonist.
CHARACTERIZATION:
1) Describe two examples of direct characterization and two examples of indirect characterization. Why does the author use both approaches, and to what end?
a) Direct Characterization: "Margaret, the eldest of the four, was sixteen, and very pretty, being plump and fair, with large eyes, plenty of soft, brown hair, a sweet mouth, and white hands, of which she was rather vain." (Pg: 6)
"Fifteen-year-old Jo was very tall, thin and brown, and reminded one of a colt, for she never seemed to know what to do with her long limbs, which were very much in her way." (Pg: 6)
b) Indirect Characterization: "Don't laugh at me, Jo! I didn't mean anyone to should know till the time came. I only meant to change the little bottle for a big one, and I gave all my money to get it, and I'm truly trying not to be selfish any more." (A dialogue by Amy) (Pg: 15)
"Mrs. March gave the mother tea and gruel, and comforted her with with promises of help, while she dressed the little baby as tenderly as if it had been her own." (Pg: 16)
The author uses both approaches to make the characters more realistic for the audience. It allows the readers to engage, not only with the narrative but also with the characters. Using both characterization allows the readers to understand a character to such an extent, that they can almost hear them think and see them act.
2) Does the author's syntax and/or diction change when s/he focuses on character? How? Example(s)?
The author's syntax and diction does change when she focuses on a character because she narrates in the way that the character would talk. It makes the story and the character come alive and allows the readers to get an insight to the personality of a character because changing the syntax or diction will make the readers understand the intensity and importance of an obstacle and/or of another character. An example could be, when Alcott talks about Jo, suddenly her diction changes to a tomboyish girl, with problems about dressing up, being a woman, etc. This happened when Jo and Laurie started talking at the party - hiding away from everyone else.
3) Is the protagonist static or dynamic? Flat or round? Explain.
The protagonist is a dynamic, round character because her thoughts, emotions, goals, beliefs, etc. were depicted in the story. Alcott represented Jo, the protagonist, as a strong, independent woman - who wants to become a writer and hates how she has to dress like a woman, look like a woman, behave like a woman, etc. but still she was willing to do so when she read her dad's letter in the beginning of the story and how he has high expectations of her. These little emotions and actions can help the readers to conclude that Jo is a dynamic and round character.
4) After reading the book did you come away feeling like you'd met a person or read a character? Analyze one textual example that illustrates your reaction.
I came away feeling like I met myself. I could completely relate to Jo because of her inability to figure out if she should just be herself and listen to her heart or follow what her parents and sisters expect from her. For example, in the middle of the book, Jo finds out that her dad - Mr. March is sick - but she doesn't have money to go to him. She sells her hair to fund her trip. This deep love of her for her family completely describes who I am. Or, for example, when her dad sends her a letter, he says in it that he hopes Jo is fulfilling the responsibility that he left her with. Jo decides to try and change herself to make her father happy. When I was little, I was always told that I should be a doctor. This expectation made me change myself and I forced myself to like Biology. And even God wanted me to make my parents proud, and biology really did become my goal. Reading the characterization of Jo made me come away with the feeling that I was put in that story and I was the one going through the hurdles and choices.
Naiomi,
ReplyDeleteGreat Analysis! I am currently reading this book, and I love the book so far.
I liked the way you described the rising action, conflict, climax and falling action; It was simple but you got all the important details included.
I also really liked how you analyzed the theme of the book; the connection between the four daughters and their father.
Good Job (:
-Jisu
Hey Jisu,
DeleteThanks so much for your feedback and I'm glad that you like the book. It's a good one!
Great Job! I'm curious, why do you think the author wasn't compassionate towards the March sisters (in the author's tone)?
ReplyDeleteI actually said that she was but not throughout. If she had been compassionate towards the sisters, the book would've lost the effect of its theme. The matter-of-factly tone helped her reach her audience but at the same time allowed the readers to put their own perspective in the story and analyze it without having the author making them feel pity or biasness towards the sisters. Hope it made sense!!! Thanks Danielle for your comment and feedback!
DeleteNaomi, you did a great job providing others with distinct detail while answering the prompts. This book seems very interesting, is it one that you would recommend me to read for future a literature analysis?
ReplyDeleteHey Stevie,
DeleteThank you! And yes, most definitely I would recommend you to read it for your future analysis. You surely will enjoy it! Thanks again!
I'm going to keep this book in mind for a future literature analysis! It seems very interesting and relatable.
ReplyDeleteYou should, it's a great and deep book to read and understand!
DeleteNaomi!! So I was wondering of this book changed your perspective on anything and if there was a moment that you couldn't put it down?
ReplyDeleteHey Hannah,
ReplyDeleteYes, it changed my perspective on many things in life. I mean, I knew how difficult growing up could be (I mean I'm going through it, so!), but I was never able to imagine how it would be with siblings (I don't have any). So it brought about this new knowledge of how sharing your childhood and work your way up to adulthood could actually be somewhat smoother when you have someone your age next to you to understand you. I loved the entire book in general (as clichéd as it sounds) but the beginning 4-5 chapters just killed it, bringing tears in my eyes. P.S. now I wish I did have siblings!!
Naiomi, great analysis! Seems like an emotional, empowering read! Definitely will add this to my list of books to read for future literature analysis'. Only thing you could've done I guess was just to add specfic, textual examples in supporting your claims and ideas on what the tone of Little Women was. Overall, a great job and effort puy in to this! No surprise, though (: Would you read other works by Louisa May Alcott after reading this novel?
ReplyDeleteEdgar, thank you and yes I will surely try to keep up with my quotes instead of cramming to find them at the end, and yes, I most definitely will read other books by Louisa May Alcott, if I get a chance!
ReplyDeleteIt seems Jo was really well developed as a character. Were there any other characters that you thought were given depth comparable to Jo? If so what characteristics of that character and the authors description gave them depth?
ReplyDeleteThis was very well put together! I need a second metaphor for a literature class and I can't find any except for on here, which was really helpful! Is there another metaphor that I'm missing? Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI need more similes from this book.
ReplyDelete