Be a Woman Be a Human

Little Women is an autobiographical novel published in 1868 and written by American author Louisa May Alcott. She wrote from the heart, and wove into the story incidents from the lives of herself and her three sisters at Concord. It was based on author’s own experiences as a child in Concord, Massachusetts with her three sisters. Little Women is the story of the Marches, a family used to hard toil and suffering. Although Father March is away with the Union armies, the sisters Meg, Jo, Amy and Beth keep in high spirits with their mother, affectionately named Marmee.

The novel hasn't got fantastic plot, but the author described the happy family life with the simple language. However, this is the story of their growing maturity and wisdom and the search for the contents of family life. It has become a much loved classic tale and many of the trials of the sisters are all too relevant today as evidenced by its continued following.

One of the prominent themes in Little Women is the coming of age or maturation of the girls. During the course of the novel we see them grow in many ways--physically, intellectually, and especially emotionally. After certain happy times winning over the Laurences, their friendly rich neighbor, dark times arrive as Marmee finds out about her husband's illness. Worse is to come as Beth contracts scarlet fever in her Samaritan efforts for a sick neighbor and becomes more or lean invalid. The novel

tells of their young womanhood with the additional strains of romance, Beth's terminal illness, the pressures of marriage and the outside world.

When I read the book, the comfortable feeling and the sense of growing up both strike me as reasonable. These are some most impressive plots to me.

All of the characters who earlier wish for genius and success—Amy, Jo, and Laurie—now realize that they merely possess talent, not the genius for which they earlier hope. These realizations are the results of growing up and learning to accept small defeats. Even Jo’s writing style changes. She no longer writes tales of adventure and intrigue but, instead, write in simpler style that sounds similar to that Little Women itself. Tough one can argue that this change in writing style reflects a loss of independence for Jo, one can also argue that it demonstrates an ability to adapt her creativity to the world around her.

Another plot appeals to me a lot is the end of the story. In contrast to the stormy, childish encounter between Laurie and Jo, Bhaer’s proposal to Jo is touching and more grown-up. Jo goes out to seek Bhaer, demonstrating that she has some agency in the affair; when he proposes, the rain and mud prevent him from going down on his knee or giving his hand, so they stand literally on an equal footing. Jo, furthermore, looks nothing like a romantic heroine; she is bedraggled with rain and mud, but it makes no difference. This marriage, which begins with equality and

primacy of the heart rather than primacy of appearance, is promising.

There is also some foreshadowing in this book. For instance, when Laurie parents the March sisters with a postbox, the writer hints that love letter will pass through the box in years to come. Laurie promise to kiss Amy before she dies foreshadows their future marriage.

The old story brings me some contemporary thinking. Women’s struggle between familial duty and personal growth; the danger of gender stereotyping; the necessity of work; and the importance to be genuine. No matter what age you are in, you need to keep equality concept in mind. Just as the poem If by Joseph Rudyard Kipling goes:

If you can talk with crows and keep your virtue,

Or walk with kings---nor lose the common touch.

Then you’ll be a woman, and be a human. The book teaches me how to be a woman, or rather how to be a human.

第二篇：小妇人 读书笔记

读《小妇人》有感

——题记

上了大学，在老师的鼓动下，我由不喜欢读书变成了有点喜欢读书。其实以前不是不喜欢，而是看到那密密麻麻的小字我便主动地选择放弃，但是现在我换了个心态去面对它，即在书中去寻找快乐。现在我好似体会到了“书中自有颜如玉”的真意。

大二上期，我便有幸与《小妇人》英文原版相遇，我就一天天地走进他们的生活：故事发生在南北战争时期，马萨诸塞州的康科德城。在一所旧房子中，住着马奇一家。马奇先生随军当兵去了，家中留下了马奇太太和四个十几岁的女儿：窈窕贤淑，追求高尚但会照顾人的大姐梅格；泼辣直爽，充满躁动却关心家人，梦想成为作家的乔；温柔文静，爱好弹钢琴，忘我无私却需要家里的人的贝思和活泼开朗，喜欢绘画，优雅自私却颇受人喜爱的艾米。

马奇太太善良纯朴，尽管家境并不富裕，还时常省吃俭用接济贫穷的人。在母亲的影响下，四姐妹不仅有漂亮的容貌，

乔和邻居劳伦斯先生的孙子劳里情投意合，更有一颗善良的心。

成了好朋友。梅格则对劳里的家庭教师约翰一见倾心。凡事爱拔尖的小艾米有时会和乔发生摩擦闹别扭，但很快就重归于好。在马奇家笼罩在一层阴云之中时，四姐妹齐心协力以极大的勇气度过了难关，不久，马奇一家又幸福地团聚在一起。但在最后，梅、乔和艾米都找到了幸福的爱情，但贝思却因患病离开了人世。此篇小说没有跌宕起伏的情节，没有引人入胜的悬念，但是语言朴质，趣味无限，真情流露，其中的亲情、友情、爱情都深“别着急，善良的人！守得云开见月明。”

深地感动着我。

从亲情方面来看：让我印象最深的是马奇太太的教育方式，当她们姐妹犯错误的时，马奇太太并没有像当代有些妈妈一样不分青红皂白就给孩子一顿恶“果子”吃，她是先让姐妹们先冷静下来，了解事情的详情，再利用合适的机会让她们知道犯错的原因以及怎样化解彼此间的矛盾。她根本没有责骂任何一个孩子，而是耐心地教给她们做人的道理，这正是我们当代母亲教育子女的一个好榜样。而她们当然也会仔细聆听母亲的教诲，会用自己灵巧的双手给带来家人欢笑，还会用自己聪颖的大脑设计美化心灵的游戏。在我看来，四姐妹认为最幸福的事情就是永远和她们爱的人和爱她们的人生活在一起。

从人物性格方面看，乔的身上的性格让我意识到：哭泣不是一种武器，某些事情哭泣只是暂时的安慰，哭了也解决不了什么！这让我想到了我的童年，美好的时光却是我最不愿意回首的时光。而我那时就只能靠哭来安慰自己，以为哭可以解决父母间的问题，现在想想真的好傻，但又觉得那时纯真得有点可爱。所以如果你是女孩，那就要让自己坚强起来，只有依靠自己才是最可信的；要相信自己可以用双手来赢取别人的目光，而不是让懦弱的泪水来赢取别人的同情，那是可笑的！

一件小事会触碰一个人的愤怒，但我们应该学会自我控制；每一个人都有缺点，但我们都需要去征服它，这也是四姐妹给我们树立的好榜样。不论情况多么复杂、艰难，我们都不能放弃，我们要坚持到最后，所以我要加倍珍惜现在拥有的，继续坚定地朝着梦想前进，我也还会记住：“别着急，善良的人！守得云开见月明。”