Little Women Characters

When we first meet Jo March, she's a tomboyish, hot-tempered, geeky fifteen-year-old girl. She loves activity and can't bear to be left on the sidelines; it drives her crazy that she can't go and f...

Meg, short for Margaret, is the oldest and (until Amy grows up) the prettiest of the four March sisters. She's also the most typical of the sisters – we think of her as everything that you mi...

Beth is one of those children in a novel who is so good and sweet and perfect that you just know she's going to die, because nothing interesting could ever happen to her, and anyone that angelic be...

Amy is the March sister that most readers love to hate. She's the youngest of the family and she fits the stereotype of the spoiled youngest child. Amy's vanity begins with her appearance – s...

"Marmee" is the affectionate name that the March girls use for their mother, Mrs. March, whose real first name, like her eldest daughter, is Margaret. Mrs. March is essentially the perfect mother:...

The March girls' father, like their mother, is essentially perfect. However, he's also absent, or silently in the background, for most of the novel. For the first half of the book, he's far away, s...

Laurie, short for Theodore Laurence, is the March girls' wealthy next-door neighbor. He's a high-spirited young man about the same age as Jo. Until the March girls come along, he's moody, bad-tempe...

Professor Bhaer is an expatriate German professor working as a tutor in New York in order to support his orphaned, half-American nephews. Jo meets him while she is working as his landlady's governe...

John Brooke is a hard-working, orphaned young man who is forced to take a job as Laurie's tutor in order to support himself – despite the fact that he is only a few years older than Laurie. H...

Daisy and Demi are the twin children of Meg and John Brooke. They are loosely named for their parents – "Daisy" is a nickname for Margaret, which is Meg's full name and her mother's first nam...

Aunt March, not to be confused with Aunt Carrol, is, as her name suggests, the March girls' aunt. If you want to get specific, and we know you do, she's a paternal aunt by marriage – their fa...

Mr. Laurence, Laurie's grandfather, is a wealthy old man who lives next door to the March family. Although old Mr. Laurence often seems crabby or intimidating, he's actually a very compassionate, t...

Hannah is the March family servant. She has lived with them and served them since Meg's birth, and even though the family has fallen on hard times she feels loyal to them and continues to work for...

The Hummels are a poor, fatherless German immigrant family who live in a run-down shack. All of the Marches, but especially Beth and Marmee, help care for the Hummel children, bringing them food, c...

The Moffats are a wealthy local family with whom the older March girls sometimes socialize. When Meg goes to stay with the Moffat girls for a party, she is enchanted by their wealth and enjoys livi...

Sallie Gardiner is a friend of Meg's, about the same age, but with far more money and a higher social status. Meg constantly compares herself to Sallie, wishing that she had Sallie's advantages in...

The Vaughns are an aristocratic British family and friends of the Laurences. The March girls meet them at a picnic hosted by Laurie, and there is much friendly British-versus-American banter. Kate...

Aunt Carrol (not to be confused with Aunt March) is, as her name suggests, the March girls' aunt and the mother of their cousin Florence, also known as Flo. Impressed by Amy's good manners and arti...