Uppsatsen önskade undersöka karaktärerna Jo och Amy samt deras relation i Greta Gerwigs film Little Women (2019) ur ett feministiskt perspektiv. Detta gjordes genom att jämföra gestaltningen av dem i Gillian Armstrongs filmadaption av Little Women från 1994 och genom att utgå från Jens Eders karaktärsklocka och feministisk filmteori. Analysen visade distinkta skillnader i gestaltningarna av och relationen mellan karaktärerna samt att dessa innebär ett starkare feministiskt budskap i Gerwigs film. Resultatet visade att Jo hade en än mer feministisk betydelse än i Armstrongs film eftersom hon tydligare motsätter sig hur ett lyckligt slut för en kvinna måste innebära äktenskap med en man. Hon hade också mer tydligt feministiska åsikter och tankar som presenterades i Gerwigs tillagda repliker. Amy fick mer moderna och feministiska värderingar än samma karaktär i Armstrongs film. Amys ambition att bli en duktig konstnär visade enligt denna analys på motivationer utöver de att gifta sig och gjorde att hon indirekt motsäger att hon som kvinna endast är lämpad som fru och i relation till en man. Med hjälp av Eders karaktärsklocka och feministisk filmteori kunde analysen också visa att en karaktärs feministiska budskap kan fokuseras till deras inre aspekter, deras sociala roller, deras symbol och deras symptom. Den yttre aspekten och därmed den visuella njutningen är inte av betydelse för filmens feministiska budskap utan detta kan fokuseras på karaktärernas andra, ovan nämnda, aspekter. Avslutningsvis redovisades hur åskådarens subjektiva upplevelse inte var av väsentlighet eftersom identifiering med karaktärernas känslor och värderingar tillräckligt tydligt förmedlade filmens feministiska budskap.

Syftet med den här uppsatsen är att undersöka hur karaktären Amy March porträtterats i olikaadaptioner av Little Women. Utifrån Eders karaktärsklocka med ett fokus på fiktiv existensoch symptom analyseras fyra versioner, de från 1933, 1949, 1994 och 2019. Genom att utgåfrån ett genusperspektiv undersöks även hur tiden varje adaption gjorts under formatkaraktären. Resultatet av analysen visar att de två tidigare adaptionerna följer merkonventionella genrekonventioner där Jo står i fokus. De två senare adaptionerna ger merplats åt Amy och ger en mer nyanserad bild av karaktären. Dessutom för de uppmärksamhetentill den verklighet som kvinnor levde i under 1800-talet och har tydliga feministiska budskap.

This essay argues that Little Women does not promote breaking stereotypical gender norms and nineteenth century gender roles, contrary to what several critics say. This paper will be using feminist criticism and analyzing two of the novel’s main characters, Meg and Jo, and examining their behavior towards stereotypical gender norms and rules. This essay concludes that while Jo challenges certain gender norms and roles, such as having “manly” emotions (anger) and taking on male-dominated jobs (author), within the narration she is punished for these and forced to become a conventional woman of the nineteenth century in order to live a happy life. On the other hand, Meg follows the rules of societal gender expectations and is rewarded for her behavior. By examining these two characters, this essay establishes that Little Women, because it is a didactic novel, delivers the moral that women can only be truly happy if they fit into stereotypical gender norms and roles.

This essay focuses on Louisa May Alcott's Little Women as a feminist novel and explores the representations of feminisms in the text. First, I argue Little Women is a novel that presents writing as feminist practice from a Künstlerroman perspective, which highlights Jo March's subversive feminism in the time. Next the essay shows how Jo’s gender fluidity helps her reconcile/negotiate her artistic aspirations and social expectations as part of her creative path. Finally, my essay also goes beyond Jo March's character to show how minor characters like the forgotten Beth March and emerging artist Amy March are a reminder of the text’s Künstlerroman focus, how patriarchy attempts to erase women like Beth who do not seem to fit into the stereotypes of the time due to their sickness or gender.

Louisa May Alcott wrote Little Women in 1868 and the novel has been loved and praised ever since. Throughout the years, Jo March is the character that has been viewed as the heart of the novel, celebrated both as a tomboy and a feminist icon. In the novel, she is initially portrayed with gender-nonconforming traits, with strong ambitions of becoming a writer, and she longs for independence rather than to conform to the norms of femininity prevalent in the 19th century. However, Jo’s character arc takes a surprising turn when she marries Mr. Bhaer in the end, leaving her extensive declarations of independence behind. This essay argues that there is a question of literary ambiguity in the breakdown of Jo’s character arc, questioning the authenticity in her declared happiness at the end. It furthermore offers a psychological analysis of Jo March’s character arc by using Sigmund Freud’s concept of sublimation to examine Jo’s struggle with anger and internal conflicts, revealing that she redirects her excessive emotions into creative processes of writing and ultimately into marriage. The analysis further examines the discrepancy in the portrayal of Jo at the beginning of the novel and at the end, arguing for the “happy” ending as unconvincing and unresolved. Through close readings of the novel with support from Freud’s concept of sublimation, the essay reveals unresolved tensions withing her character that questions the conventional interpretation of Jo’s journey from tomboy to traditional woman. Never before has the character Jo March been analyzed through a psychoanalytic perspective, making this essay contributing to a more extensive dialogue on the unresolved nature of her story.

The purpose of this Master Thesis is to compare two American novel suites for young women, Louisa May Alcott‟s Little Women and Good Wives to Ann Brashares series of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. The social status of women and children in the US during the 19th century is analyzed and compared historically and literary with the situation 130 years later.The main question is, what differences exist in the books and is there a connection between the changes in society and literature?The method of this Master Thesis is to make a comparative narratological analysis placed in a historical context.The result shows that the multiple character remains and enhances the identification process. Motherhood in the works of Alcott is prominent, whereas in the works of Brashares, sisterhood replaces motherhood.In Alcott‟s US during the 19th century, Christian faith was in the foreground. The goal for girls was the holy matrimony, followed by the sanctuary of heaven. Brashares depicts, in the 21st century, self-fulfilment to be aspired on earth.The strength of Alcott‟s portrayed sisterhood is weakened when marriage is consumed. In Brashares works, the love relationships are no longer the sole purpose of life and consequently not a competitor to the sisterly friendship.

This paper examines the expansive history of literary tomboys in the century preceding Louisa May Alcott's Little Women (1868). Applying concepts from gender performativity theory, it explores earlier and previously overlooked portrayals of tomboys (or, alternatively, "hoydens" or "romps"), especially in Richard Brinsley Sheridan's A Trip to Scarborough (1777), Isaac Bickerstaffe's The Romp; A Comic Opera in Two Acts (1786), Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey (1817), and E.D.E.N. Southworth's The Hidden Hand (1859). Because the tomboy phenomenon emphasizes that gender roles must be learned and can be resisted, tomboy characters are implicitly making a feminist point. As such, in the gap between Austen and Southworth, texts with minor and derogatory mentions of tomboys connect tomboyism with the prevailing anti-feminism of the early nineteenth century. By examining the developmental arc of tomboyism throughout literature and culture, this essay develops a greater understanding of how tomboyism fits within different historical periods and was a fully recognizable type in Britain and America decades before Alcott's Jo March supposedly normalized it in popular culture.