Quote 1
"I'll try and be what he loves to call me, 'a little woman,' and not be rough and wild, but do my duty here instead of wanting to be somewhere else," said Jo, thinking that keeping her temper at home was a much harder task than facing a rebel or two down South. (1.77)
We're not sure how much of a joke this little narrative aside really is. Obviously, going to war is much more physically dangerous, but at least battle, while difficult and requiring great heroism, is straightforward. Jo has to battle herself and her own inclinations.
Quote 2
"I may be strong-minded, but no one can say I'm out of my sphere now, for woman's special mission is supposed to be drying tears and bearing burdens." (46.99)
The novel concludes by reconciling Jo's unusual character with the nineteenth century's idea of woman's proper sphere. Jo isn't turned into a typical housewife, but she also doesn't get to go out into the world and become a celebrated author or playwright. Instead of entering the public world, she remains in the domestic one, even though she changes it significantly.
Quote 3
"Tell another story, Mother, one with a moral to it, like this. I like to think about them afterward, if they are real and not too preachy," said Jo, after a minute's silence. (4.58)
The kind of story Jo likes to hear is also the kind that Alcott is trying to write – something that has a moral center, but is also realistic and down-to-earth.
Quote 4
"I think I haven't done much harm yet, and may keep this to pay for my time," she said, after a long meditation, adding impatiently, "I almost wish I hadn't any conscience, it's so inconvenient. If I didn't care about doing right, and didn't feel uncomfortable when doing wrong, I should get on capitally. I can't help wishing sometimes, that Mother and Father hadn't been so particular about such things."
Ah, Jo, instead of wishing that, thank God that "Father and Mother were particular," and pity from your heart those who have no such guardians to hedge them round with principles which may seem like prison walls to impatient youth, but which will prove sure foundations to build character upon in womanhood. (34.69-70)
Jo confronts the problem that is at the center of the March family's poverty – an unwillingness to compromise strict and idealistic ethical principles in order to make money and get on in the world. Alcott suggests that holding to your ethics is ultimately more important than being prosperous or successful, but she's realistic about the fact that it might be uncomfortable sometimes.
Quote 5
"I want to do something splendid before I go into my castle, something heroic or wonderful that won't be forgotten after I'm dead. I don't know what, but I'm on the watch for it, and mean to astonish you all some day. I think I shall write books, and get rich and famous, that would suit me, so that is my favorite dream." (13.52)
At this point, it's not clear whether Jo actually has a gift for writing or just views it as a way to get rich quick. She's clever enough to make money from her writing and make a name for herself, but whether it is her true calling remains to be seen.
"Well, I've left two stories with a newspaperman, and he's to give his answer next week," whispered Jo, in her confidant's ear.
"Hurrah for Miss March, the celebrated American authoress!" cried Laurie, throwing up his hat and catching it again, to the great delight of two ducks, four cats, five hens, and half a dozen Irish children, for they were out of the city now.
"Hush! It won't come to anything, I dare say, but I couldn't rest till I had tried, and I said nothing about it because I didn't want anyone else to be disappointed."
"It won't fail. Why, Jo, your stories are works of Shakespeare compared to half the rubbish that is published every day. Won't it be fun to see them in print, and shan't we feel proud of our authoress?" (14.56-59)
For Jo, trying to get her stories published is a serious matter – it will help her know whether or not writing really is her gift, and it might bring in some much-needed money for her family. For her friend Laurie, however, publication is just a game. He thinks it would be exciting for Jo to have her name in print, but he doesn't think much about it beyond that.
Quote 7
"You said, Mother, that criticism would help me. But how can it, when it's so contradictory that I don't know whether I've written a promising book or broken all the ten commandments?" cried poor Jo, turning over a heap of notices, the perusal of which filled her with pride and joy one minute, wrath and dismay the next. "This man says, 'An exquisite book, full of truth, beauty, and earnestness.' 'All is sweet, pure, and healthy.'" continued the perplexed authoress. "The next, 'The theory of the book is bad, full of morbid fancies, spiritualistic ideas, and unnatural characters.' Now, as I had no theory of any kind, don't believe in Spiritualism, and copied my characters from life, I don't see how this critic can be right. Another says, 'It's one of the best American novels which has appeared for years.' (I know better than that), and the next asserts that 'Though it is original, and written with great force and feeling, it is a dangerous book.' 'Tisn't! Some make fun of it, some overpraise, and nearly all insist that I had a deep theory to expound, when I only wrote it for the pleasure and the money. I wish I'd printed the whole or not at all, for I do hate to be so misjudged." (27.39)
The reception of Jo's novel is realistic – her reviews are mixed, and she regrets some of the editorial choices that she let herself be convinced to make.
Quote 8
"I don't understand it. What can there be in a simple little story like that to make people praise it so?" she said, quite bewildered.
"There is truth in it, Jo, that's the secret. Humor and pathos make it alive, and you have found your style at last. You wrote with no thoughts of fame and money, and put your heart into it, my daughter. You have had the bitter, now comes the sweet. Do your best, and grow as happy as we are in your success." (42.21-22)
At last, Jo is able to come to the right mixture of morality and sensation. It's called realism.
Quote 9
"Mercy me! I don't know anything about love and such nonsense!" cried Jo, with a funny mixture of interest and contempt. "In novels, the girls show it by starting and blushing, fainting away, growing thin, and acting like fools. Now Meg does not do anything of the sort. She eats and drinks and sleeps like a sensible creature, she looks straight in my face when I talk about that man, and only blushes a little bit when Teddy jokes about lovers." (20.23)
Jo admits that she really doesn't understand what love is like in a practical, everyday sense. She knows that the heroines in novels act silly when they fall in love, and that her sister doesn't act silly, so she assumes that Meg isn't in love. She's in for quite a surprise!
Quote 10
"She'll see those handsome eyes that she talks about, and then it will be all up with her. She's got such a soft heart, it will melt like butter in the sun if anyone looks sentimentally at her. She read the short reports he sent more than she did your letters, and pinched me when I spoke of it, and likes brown eyes, and doesn't think John an ugly name, and she'll go and fall in love, and there's an end of peace and fun, and cozy times together. I see it all! They'll go lovering around the house, and we shall have to dodge. Meg will be absorbed and no good to me any more. Brooke will scratch up a fortune somehow, carry her off, and make a hole in the family, and I shall break my heart, and everything will be abominably uncomfortable. Oh, dear me! Why weren't we all boys, then there wouldn't be any bother." (20.31)
For Jo, falling in love is dangerous because it will split her sisters apart. As each of them finds a love interest, she will be drawn away from the March family and into a new partnership that creates a different home.
Quote 11
"Mercy on me, Beth loves Laurie!" she said, sitting down in her own room, pale with the shock of the discovery which she believed she had just made. "I never dreamed of such a thing. What will Mother say? I wonder if her . . ." there Jo stopped and turned scarlet with a sudden thought. "If he shouldn't love back again, how dreadful it would be. He must. I'll make him!" and she shook her head threateningly at the picture of the mischievous-looking boy laughing at her from the wall. "Oh dear, we are growing up with a vengeance. Here's Meg married and a mamma, Amy flourishing away at Paris, and Beth in love. I'm the only one that has sense enough to keep out of mischief." (32.20)
Although Jo doesn't love Laurie, she seems to consider it her prerogative to match him up with her sisters. When her initial plan of marrying Meg to Laurie falls through, she develops a new plot involving Beth, and even convinces herself that Beth is already in love. Clearly, Jo hasn't really fallen in love with anyone herself yet, or she wouldn't think of it as a mechanical, controllable thing.
Quote 12
"I just wish I could marry Meg myself, and keep her safe in the family." (20.29)
Jo's wish is intriguingly taboo, suggesting same-sex desire and an almost-too-intimate bond between sisters. It's also a reminder that marriage will divide the March girls; as each girl marries and becomes a wife, she will become the center of a new family, separate from her siblings.
Quote 13
"I can't say 'yes' truly, so I won't say it at all." (35.48)
Many of Louisa May Alcott's nineteenth-century fans – and, let's be honest, lots of fans from later centuries, too! – were disappointed that Jo doesn't marry Laurie. After all, the first half of the book leads the reader to believe that they're a natural couple. But part of what Alcott tries to show us is that they're not suited. Even if they were, Jo just doesn't feel that way about him. Don't get us wrong, he's a perfectly nice guy and everything, but she simply doesn't love him in a romantic way. You can't make yourself love somebody, and it's best not to pretend.
"I'll believe it, with all my heart, but, Teddy, we never can be boy and girl again. The happy old times can't come back, and we mustn't expect it. We are man and woman now, with sober work to do, for playtime is over, and we must give up frolicking. I'm sure you feel this. I see the change in you, and you'll find it in me. I shall miss my boy, but I shall love the man as much, and admire him more, because he means to be what I hoped he would. We can't be little playmates any longer, but we will be brother and sister, to love and help one another all our lives, won't we, Laurie?" (43.48)
Jo has learned something that Laurie has yet to understand – that adulthood means sacrificing the playful spirit of their childhood relationship. Things are going to be Very Serious from here on out…OK, not all that serious actually, but you get the idea.
"Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents," grumbled Jo, lying on the rug.
"It's so dreadful to be poor!" sighed Meg, looking down at her old dress.
"I don't think it's fair for some girls to have plenty of pretty things, and other girls to have nothing at all," added little Amy, with an injured sniff.
"We've got Father and Mother and each other," said Beth contentedly from her corner. (1.1-4)
The first thing we learn about the March girls is that they are poor – they can't afford presents at Christmas, their clothes are old, and they envy the other girls that they know. Only Beth seems to realize that they are rich in another, more intangible way.
"I don't believe fine young ladies enjoy themselves a bit more than we do, in spite of our burned hair, old gowns, one glove apiece, and tight slippers that sprain our ankles when we are silly enough to wear them." (3.124)
Early in life, Jo and Meg, along with their sisters, begin to realize that possessions can't make you happy, even when they're really nice.
Quote 17
"I'm glad you are poor. I couldn't bear a rich husband," said Jo decidedly, adding in a softer tone, "Don't fear poverty. I've known it long enough to lose my dread and be happy working for those I love. . . ." (46.97)
Poverty suits Jo better than wealth would; if she married a rich man, she might have to learn how to behave properly and go around in Society and boring stuff like that.