Behind the Story: Little Women

Get to know more about Little Women, the American classic Louisa May Alcott didn’t want to write

Maybe it was a childhood favorite or you loved the ’90s movie version featuring Winona Ryder. Perhaps it was that episode of “Friends” where Joey and Rachel trade favorite books. Or maybe your interest wasn’t truly piqued until Greta Gerwig’s movie released in 2019.

However you found out about Little Women, Louisa May Alcott’s novel is widely considered an American classic. So we’re going behind the story to find out how she came to write the novel, her real-life inspirations for the characters and a whole lot more!

When did Louisa May Alcott write Little Women?

Alcott, the daughter of Bronson Alcott, an American writer, thinker and reformer, wrote Little Women in the mid-1800s. It was initially published in two volumes released in 1868 and 1869. A coming-of-age novel, Little Women follows four sisters—Meg, Jo, Amy and Beth—as they grow into adulthood. The book has never been out of print and enjoyed almost immediate success, with the first print run of the book (a mere 2,000 copies) selling out within days.

Where did the idea come from?

Well, that’s a pretty interesting question. . . apparently not from Alcott herself! Alcott starting writing Little Women at the request of her publisher, Thomas Niles. Alcott had already established herself as a writer, though she had mostly focused on thrillers which were more lucrative, when Niles proposed she write a book for young women. The idea didn’t interest her, but her mother and sisters approved (according to a PBS article), so Alcott got to work. She apparently wrote the first half of the novel, about 400 pages, in less than six weeks. When Alcott sent some early chapters to Niles, both author and publisher agreed that they were dull, but Niles’ niece read the draft and loved it! The March sisters, at least in part, are based on Alcott’s own siblings, Anna, Lizzie and Abigail. Jo March is based on Alcott herself, and their home, Orchard House, according to biographer Susan Cheever, is modeled on Alcott’s home of the same name. Located just outside Boston, Orchard House is where Alcott wrote the beloved novel.

Orchard House

What spurred Alcott to write?

Alcott’s family wasn’t particularly well off. Her father, Bronson, was a transcendentalist (think Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau) and an educator; her mother was a social worker. Bronson had previously established an experimental school in Boston, but after some setbacks, moved to Concord, just outside Boston. The family briefly relocated to the Utopian Fruitlands, a transcendental agrarian commune Bronson helped to start, but returned to Concord after the Fruitlands’ collapse. The family moved 21 times in 30 years, eventually settling in Orchard House in Concord in 1857. Due to this nomadic lifestyle and Bronson’s inability to provide sufficiently for his family, Alcott began working very early in life to help support the family, serving as a governess, seamstress, teacher and writer. While Alcott wrote for money, she also found writing to be a creative and emotional outlet.

How autobiographical is Little Women?

Struggling writers are commonly told to “Write what you know,” and it’s clear Alcott did turn to her own life and relationships when creating Little Women. Meg is based on Alcott’s oldest sister, Anna; Beth is patterned after Alcott’s sister Elizabeth, who died after catching scarlet fever while caring for a poor neighborhood family. Amy was heavily influenced by the youngest Alcott daughter, Abigail May, who went by her middle name. Amy is a transliteration of the name. Jo, of course, is based on Alcott herself, though Alcott was uninterested in the “who will the Little Women marry?” fever that excited young readers of her work. “Girls write to ask who the little women will marry, as if that was the only end and aim of a woman’s life…” Alcott wrote in her journal in 1860. “I’d rather be a free spinster and paddle my own canoe.” True to her word, Alcott never married. She died of a stroke, a few days after her father’s death, in 1888 at age 55.

Resources Consulted and Mentioned in this Article:

• “7 Surprising Facts About Little Women,” PBS.

• “How Little Women Got Big,” The New Yorker.

• “The Real Family that Inspired Little Women,” Time.

• “Why Little Women Endures 150 Years Later,” Smithsonian Magazine.

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