Okay, so I’ve read a graphic novel called Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy, and I’ve read The Spring Girls by Anna Todd, and I’ve seen a movie from 2018, set in then-present day. They all get one thing way wrong, IMO. Dad is always *in the army*, as an enlisted man or an officer. Except the canonical Papa March was *not* a soldier! He went in as a chaplain; before the war, he was some kind of philanthropist, like the real Bronson Alcott (correct me if I’m wrong about Alcott). The crisis was that he got pneumonia, and he recovered with no permanent ill effects. But in the modern versions, he’s always career Army, he’s in country, gets wounded, and sometimes has permanent damage. Argh! Why don’t they make him something in the medical field? Have him be away because he’s working for Doctors Without Borders, and then he gets the same disease he’s trying to heal others from.

Does this bother anyone else? It was particularly irritating in The Spring Girls, where the family was living in military housing, and then the wealthy Laurences moved in “next door”. Zuh?

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    • baytaknew@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      Philosophy and political / moral positions mattered to the March family, a LOT. They’re members of a specific group / school of thought that was kindof radical at that time. It runs through the entire book, and is a huge part of their characterization. Even at the end, when Jo wants to open a free school, that’s a radical political stance.

      Taking the politics out of ‘Little Women’ just makes it a story about girls finding husbands.

    • alie1020@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      I agree. I’ve read Little Women, Little Men and Jo’s Boys and I honestly didn’t remember that he was a chaplain and not a soldier. Other people are saying that philanthropy is so important to the March family, but we get so much of that with Marmee already and it’s basically what kills Beth, do we really need to see the father (such a minor character) being selfless?