Everyone is talking about the 2019 adaptation of the book ‘Little Women’ by Louisa May Alcott (directed by Greta Gurwig) that has recently been released to stream on Netflix. But what's the truth behind this tale? 

 

Little Women’s first volume was published in 1869 and became an instant hit, with a second volume then released which combined to make today's classic. The main characters Jo, Amy, Beth and Meg have captured the hearts of the public for years, but not many know that these sisters were actually based on Louisa's own family and experiences! 

 

Born to politically active parents, she grew up surrounded by both the arts and politics with her 3 sisters. In fact, her parents were influential abolitionists and both served as stationmasters on the Underground Railroad. Her mother was also one of America's first professional social workers while her father was a philosopher, educator, writer and more looked up to by names such as Henry David Thoreau! 

However, not all the Alcott family's political ventures were a success - her fathers attempt to form a Utopian commune called ‘Fruitlands’ failed after only 8 months, leaving the family in poverty. This formed the foundation for her story, ‘Transcendental Wild Oats’, a satirical work on her experiences. Little Women, though, was based much more on the bittersweet domestic life the author lived with her sisters and their individual successes and failures. 

 

But, while not many realise just how autobiographical Little Women is, not everything about the sisters was entirely accurate.  In fact, May (who inspired Amy) pursued her passion for painting and actually finished studying art, unlike her character, before moving to Paris. There, one of her still lifes was accepted into the Paris Salon above famous artists such as Mary Cassat (a well known impressionist) and she was said to have lived “an ideal life - painting, music and love” with her husband and children in the Parisian suburbs.

 

The character Jo was much more based in reality and was modeled off Alcott herself, who was also an avid tree climber and writer before working as a nurse during the Civil War. But, despite all their similarities, the most noticeable difference between the two is that Alcott never married and instead lived out her life as a single author. It's even argued that she may have been part of the LGBTQ+ community, with her once stating ‘I am more than half convinced I am a man’s soul, put by some freak of nature into a woman's body… because I have fallen in love with so many pretty girls and never once the least bit with a man.’ Louisa May Alcott herself mentioned she felt Jo should have stayed single, and it’s widely believed that Jo’s marriage was put in place only to appease fans of the books at the time. 

 

This could provide one reason why Jo turned down the character Laurie, something many of my friends have been wondering about. Laurie himself is harder to find one specific muse for, though. He’s seemingly a combination of multiple men (both family friends and personal acquaintances) from Alcott's life and she once said that, ‘Laurie is not an American boy, although every lad I ever knew claims the character’.  

 

Even the plays hosted by the fictional sisters were influenced by the real ones, who formed their own theatre troupe! I know I had no idea about the interesting lives of the real people behind this classic, so if you’re watching the movie on Netflix, consider doing some reading about the fascinating life of the author and the family that inspired her characters - you may be surprised at what you find!