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'''''Little Men,''''' or '''''Life at Plumfield with Jo's Boys,''''' is a children's novel by American author [[Louisa May Alcott]] (1832-1888), which was first published in 1871 by Roberts Brothers. The novel reprises characters from ''[[Little Women]]'' and acts as a sequel, or second book in an unofficial ''Little Women'' trilogy. The trilogy ends with Alcott's 1886 novel, ''[[Jo's Boys]]'', and How They Turned Out: A Sequel to "Little Men." Alcott's story recounts the life of Jo Bhaer, her husband, and the various children at Plumfield Estate School |
'''''Little Men,''''' or '''''Life at Plumfield with Jo's Boys,''''' is a children's novel by American author [[Louisa May Alcott]] (1832-1888), which was first published in 1871 by Roberts Brothers. The novel reprises characters from ''[[Little Women]]'' and acts as a sequel, or second book in an unofficial ''Little Women'' trilogy. The trilogy ends with Alcott's 1886 novel, ''[[Jo's Boys]]'', and How They Turned Out: A Sequel to "Little Men." Alcott's story recounts the life of Jo Bhaer, her husband, and the various children at Plumfield Estate School. Alcott's classic novel has been adapted to a [[Little Men (1934 film)|1934 film]], a [[Little Men (1940 film)|1940 film]], a [[Little Men (TV series)|television series]], and a [[Little Women II: Jo's Boys|Japanese animated television series]]. |
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==Background== |
==Background== |
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| ⚫ | Alcott's novel narrates six months in the life of the students at Plumfield, a school run by German Professor Friedrich and his wife, Mrs. Josephine Bhaer (née March). The idea of the school is first suggested at the very end of Little Women, Part Two, when Jo inherits Plumfield Estate from her late Aunt March.<ref>Alcott 1868</ref> |
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The story was originally inspired by the death of Alcott's brother-in-law, which is revealed in one of the last chapters, when a beloved character, John Brooke, from ''Little Women'' dies.<ref>Alcott 1871</ref> |
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Alcott’s first inspiration for bringing educational ideals into the home and the development of a home-like model into the classroom, stems from her father, ''[[Amos Bronson Alcott]]'', “an educational reformer and prominent Transcendentalist.” <ref>Cheever 2011</ref> |
Alcott’s first inspiration for bringing educational ideals into the home and the development of a home-like model into the classroom, stems from her father, ''[[Amos Bronson Alcott]]'', “an educational reformer and prominent Transcendentalist.” <ref>Cheever 2011</ref> |
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As a “Transcendentalist visionary,” her father was considered unconventional even among his reform contemporaries.<ref>Matteson 2007 </ref> |
As a “Transcendentalist visionary,” her father was considered unconventional even among his reform contemporaries.<ref>Matteson 2007 </ref> |
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Educational theorists such as ''[[Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi]]'', provided the inspiration for Alcott’s educational methodologies and “stressed the need for the school to be as homelike as possible."<ref>Speicher 2020</ref> |
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| ⚫ |
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Alcott's father also “believed that the theatrical performance of moral allegories by children would train them in the self-restraint that was the basis of domestic harmony and happiness."<ref>Halttunen 2020</ref> |
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Bronson Alcott’s allegorical family dramatizations were designed to teach “children how to control every aspect of their self-expression.” His educational appeal to children’s imagination “was part of an effort to harness the child’s imaginative powers to the pursuit of the passionless life.”<ref>Halttunen 2020</ref> |
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| ⚫ | As an educational reformer, he “had just been converted by Colridge’s Aids to Reflection from a Lockean view of the child as tabula rasa to a romantic vision of the child’s innate divinity." He believed education, “should simply turn the child’s mind inward to recognize that divinity.”<ref>Halttunen 2020</ref> |
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| ⚫ | The Alcott family theatrics “proved a means of establishing peace between them, as Louisa learned to use family theater to curb her frantic demands for personal freedom and bring herself into conformity with her father’s domestic ideal.” Through adaptations of family theater, the characters in Little Men “learn to view themselves as little garden plots growing large crops of patience, perseverance, and good temper.”<ref>Halttunen 2020</ref> |
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Alcott’s |
Bronson Alcott’s allegorical family dramatizations were designed to teach “children how to control every aspectoftheir self-expression.” His educational appeal to children’s imagination “was part ofaneffort to harness the child’s imaginative powers to the pursuitofthe passionless life.”<ref>Halttunen 2020</ref> |
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| ⚫ | In the Introduction of Louisa May Alcott: A Biography, author ''[[Madeleine B. Stern]]'' states that “Louisa May Alcott was throughout her life a professional author skilled in creation and the re-creation implicit in revision.”<ref>Stern 1999</ref> |
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| ⚫ | Alcott's works borrowed “as source material episodes from her life, her observations, her travels, her experiences, [and] her reading.”<ref>Stern 1999</ref> Alcott’s legacy remains in her depiction of life and her devotion to family.<ref>Stern 1999</ref> |
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==Summary== |
==Summary== |
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| ⚫ | Alcott's novel narrates six months in the life of the students at Plumfield, a school run by German Professor Friedrich and his wife, Mrs. Josephine Bhaer (née March). The idea of the school is first suggested at the very end of Little Women, Part Two, when Jo inherits Plumfield Estate from her late Aunt March.<ref>Alcott 1868</ref> |
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The story begins with the arrival of Nat Blake, a shy young orphan who is gifted at playing the violin and telling fibs. Nat narrates the story and introduces each character which features several cameo appearances from characters from the original Little Women novel. There are ten boys attending the school already. Then, Nat comes to Plumfield, followed by his friend Dan. After that, Nan arrives and becomes a companion for Daisy, the only girl. Jo's sons, Rob and Teddy, are younger than the others. Rob, Teddy, Daisy and Nan are not counted among the pupils. |
The story begins with the arrival of Nat Blake, a shy young orphan who is gifted at playing the violin and telling fibs. Nat narrates the story and introduces each character which features several cameo appearances from characters from the original Little Women novel. There are ten boys attending the school already. Then, Nat comes to Plumfield, followed by his friend Dan. After that, Nan arrives and becomes a companion for Daisy, the only girl. Jo's sons, Rob and Teddy, are younger than the others. Rob, Teddy, Daisy and Nan are not counted among the pupils. |
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==Analysis== |
==Analysis== |
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| ⚫ | The Alcott family theatrics “proved a means of establishing peace between them, as Louisa learned to use family theater to curb her frantic demands for personal freedom and bring herself into conformity with her father’s domestic ideal.” Through adaptations of family theater, the characters in Little Men “learn to view themselves as little garden plots growing large crops of patience, perseverance, and good temper.”<ref>Halttunen 2020</ref> |
||
Alcott’s use of performance and acting in the home creates a “fictional adaptation of her father’s allegorical nursery theater, [where] domestic drama is made an inextricable part of the moral struggles of everyday life.”<ref>Halttunen 2020</ref> |
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| ⚫ | In the Introduction of Louisa May Alcott: A Biography, author ''[[Madeleine B. Stern]]'' states that “Louisa May Alcott was throughout her life a professional author skilled in creation and the re-creation implicit in revision.”<ref>Stern 1999</ref> |
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| ⚫ | Alcott's works borrowed “as source material episodes from her life, her observations, her travels, her experiences, [and] her reading.”<ref>Stern 1999</ref> Alcott’s legacy remains in her depiction of life and her devotion to family.<ref>Stern 1999</ref> |
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==Publication== |
==Publication== |
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Alcott’s novel, Little Men, addresses two ideals of learning which had previously been separated, home and school. Little Men discusses the gray area in-between where a teacher can “cover the whole ground of human culture—physical, intellectual, moral, spiritual, and practical.” Soon after the publication of Little Men, educational advocates and reformers alike “embraced these theories too, arguing their applicability to all children but particularly of the poor, who, it was believed, most needed the moral education a homelike school could offer."<ref>Speicher 2020</ref> |
Alcott’s novel, Little Men, addresses two ideals of learning which had previously been separated, home and school. Little Men discusses the gray area in-between where a teacher can “cover the whole ground of human culture—physical, intellectual, moral, spiritual, and practical.” Soon after the publication of Little Men, educational advocates and reformers alike “embraced these theories too, arguing their applicability to all children but particularly of the poor, who, it was believed, most needed the moral education a homelike school could offer."<ref>Speicher 2020</ref> |
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In the novel, Alcott “is able to devote her attention to the benefits and risks of science education on an individual basis rather than imagining students in the abstract.” |
In the novel, Alcott “is able to devote her attention to the benefits and risks of science education on an individual basis rather than imagining students in the abstract.” |
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As an educational reformist, Alcott "proves to be attuned to what eventually, in the twentieth century, became a solution to this obstacle: differentiation, or the idea that all children need not learn the same things." The novel centers around "a diverse and challenging set of students--orphaned boys, the next generation of Marches, physically and mentally challenged children, a motherless girl, children of the merchant class--Alcott comments on the possibilities and limitations of science education for the masses." As Alcott's characters grow into adult-hood, their learning "outcomes are inflected not only by class and gender but also, most important, by the students' preexisting values and moral leanings."<ref>Speicher 2020</ref> |
As an educational reformist, Alcott "proves to be attuned to what eventually, in the twentieth century, became a solution to this obstacle: differentiation, or the idea that all children need not learn the same things." The novel centers around "a diverse and challenging set of students--orphaned boys, the next generation of Marches, physically and mentally challenged children, a motherless girl, children of the merchant class--Alcott comments on the possibilities and limitations of science education for the masses." As Alcott's characters grow into adult-hood, their learning "outcomes are inflected not only by class and gender but also, most important, by the students' preexisting values and moral leanings."<ref>Speicher 2020</ref> |
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First edition title page
| |
| Author | Louisa May Alcott |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Series | Little Women |
| Genre | Children's literature |
| Publisher | Roberts Brothers |
Publication date | 1871 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 376 (first edition) |
| Preceded by | Little Women |
| Followed by | Jo's Boys |
Little Men,orLife at Plumfield with Jo's Boys, is a children's novel by American author Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888), which was first published in 1871 by Roberts Brothers. The novel reprises characters from Little Women and acts as a sequel, or second book in an unofficial Little Women trilogy. The trilogy ends with Alcott's 1886 novel, Jo's Boys, and How They Turned Out: A Sequel to "Little Men." Alcott's story recounts the life of Jo Bhaer, her husband, and the various children at Plumfield Estate School. Alcott's classic novel has been adapted to a 1934 film, a 1940 film, a television series, and a Japanese animated television series.
Alcott's novel narrates six months in the life of the students at Plumfield, a school run by German Professor Friedrich and his wife, Mrs. Josephine Bhaer (née March). The idea of the school is first suggested at the very end of Little Women, Part Two, when Jo inherits Plumfield Estate from her late Aunt March.[1]
The story was originally inspired by the death of Alcott's brother-in-law, which is revealed in one of the last chapters, when a beloved character, John Brooke, from Little Women dies.[2]
Alcott’s first inspiration for bringing educational ideals into the home and the development of a home-like model into the classroom, stems from her father, Amos Bronson Alcott, “an educational reformer and prominent Transcendentalist.” [3]
As a “Transcendentalist visionary,” her father was considered unconventional even among his reform contemporaries.[4]
Educational theorists such as Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, provided the inspiration for Alcott’s educational methodologies and “stressed the need for the school to be as homelike as possible."[5]
Alcott's father also “believed that the theatrical performance of moral allegories by children would train them in the self-restraint that was the basis of domestic harmony and happiness."[6]
As an educational reformer, he “had just been converted by Colridge’s Aids to Reflection from a Lockean view of the child as tabula rasa to a romantic vision of the child’s innate divinity." He believed education, “should simply turn the child’s mind inward to recognize that divinity.”[7]
Bronson Alcott’s allegorical family dramatizations were designed to teach “children how to control every aspect of their self-expression.” His educational appeal to children’s imagination “was part of an effort to harness the child’s imaginative powers to the pursuit of the passionless life.”[8]
The story begins with the arrival of Nat Blake, a shy young orphan who is gifted at playing the violin and telling fibs. Nat narrates the story and introduces each character which features several cameo appearances from characters from the original Little Women novel. There are ten boys attending the school already. Then, Nat comes to Plumfield, followed by his friend Dan. After that, Nan arrives and becomes a companion for Daisy, the only girl. Jo's sons, Rob and Teddy, are younger than the others. Rob, Teddy, Daisy and Nan are not counted among the pupils.
Plumfield is not run by conventional means. All the children have their own gardens and their own pets and are encouraged to experiment with running businesses. Pillow fights are permitted on Saturdays, subject to a time limit. Children are treated as individuals, with a strong emphasis on gently moulding their characters.
Daisy Brooke, Meg's daughter, attends Plumfield with her twin brother Demi, but she is somewhat isolated with no other girls her age, until Nan's arrival. Nan is even more of a willful tomboy than Jo was as a teenager, while Daisy is mainly interested in dolls and her own mini kitchen. Daisy’s mini kitchen includes a cast iron child-sized oven which was purchased by Jo's brother-in-law, Uncle Teddy, husband of her youngest sister Amy March. Near the end of the novel, Daisy's father, John, dies quietly one night.
The other newcomer to Plumfield, Dan, is introduced by Nat. Dan originally decides the other boys are "molly-coddles" and leads them in experiments with boxing, fighting, drinking, smoking, profanity, swearing and card games, which results in him being temporarily removed from the school. Dan eventually returns to Plumfield with an injured foot and redeems himself by standing up for Nat when Nat is falsely accused of theft by the other boys. He later becomes a curator of the school's natural history museum.
Personal relationships are central to the school, and diversity is celebrated. Daisy is deeply attached to her twin brother, to shy Nat, and to tomboy Nan. Nan and Tommy are also close and intend to marry when they grow up. Dan, already friends with Nat, is unexpectedly drawn to the pious Demi and the toddler Teddy. While Franz, Emil, Daisy and John are all related to the Bhaers, they are not treated with favouritism and are encouraged to overcome their faults just the same as the other pupils.[9]
The Alcott family theatrics “proved a means of establishing peace between them, as Louisa learned to use family theater to curb her frantic demands for personal freedom and bring herself into conformity with her father’s domestic ideal.” Through adaptations of family theater, the characters in Little Men “learn to view themselves as little garden plots growing large crops of patience, perseverance, and good temper.”[10]
Alcott’s use of performance and acting in the home creates a “fictional adaptation of her father’s allegorical nursery theater, [where] domestic drama is made an inextricable part of the moral struggles of everyday life.”[11]
In the Introduction of Louisa May Alcott: A Biography, author Madeleine B. Stern states that “Louisa May Alcott was throughout her life a professional author skilled in creation and the re-creation implicit in revision.”[12] Alcott's works borrowed “as source material episodes from her life, her observations, her travels, her experiences, [and] her reading.”[13] Alcott’s legacy remains in her depiction of life and her devotion to family.[14]
Alcott’s novel, Little Men, addresses two ideals of learning which had previously been separated, home and school. Little Men discusses the gray area in-between where a teacher can “cover the whole ground of human culture—physical, intellectual, moral, spiritual, and practical.” Soon after the publication of Little Men, educational advocates and reformers alike “embraced these theories too, arguing their applicability to all children but particularly of the poor, who, it was believed, most needed the moral education a homelike school could offer."[15]
In the novel, Alcott “is able to devote her attention to the benefits and risks of science education on an individual basis rather than imagining students in the abstract.”
As an educational reformist, Alcott "proves to be attuned to what eventually, in the twentieth century, became a solution to this obstacle: differentiation, or the idea that all children need not learn the same things." The novel centers around "a diverse and challenging set of students--orphaned boys, the next generation of Marches, physically and mentally challenged children, a motherless girl, children of the merchant class--Alcott comments on the possibilities and limitations of science education for the masses." As Alcott's characters grow into adult-hood, their learning "outcomes are inflected not only by class and gender but also, most important, by the students' preexisting values and moral leanings."[16]
Commentaries suggest that “even Little Women and its successors, Little Men and Jo’s Boys, were not immune from critics in hot pursuit of gender relations, power struggles, and sexual politics.”[17] According to Stern’s biography, “in the case of Louisa May Alcott, such interpretations are very tempting, since she herself provided such an intriguing arsenal of ammunition.”[18] Her overall work is considered, “neither of Hell nor of Heaven, but of a multitude of stories in a variety of literary genres, ranging from fairy tales to realistic war sketches, from sensation thrillers to domestic sagas.”[19]
Little Men was first adapted into film in 1934 starring Erin O'Brien-Moore and Ralph Morgan. Another film followed in 1940 with Kay Francis. In 1998, a Canadian feature starring Mariel Hemingway and Chris Sarandon was released.[citation needed]
In 1993, an animated television series based on this novel ran in Japan, Little Women II: Jo's Boys, and has been translated into several other languages with new cast members to voice the characters. A Canadian television series, Little Men, aired in 1998 to 1999 for two seasons. The plot is somewhat altered and acts more as a continuation of the novel.[citation needed]
Little Men public domain audiobook at LibriVox
