Little Women (1949)

After watching a movie with your children or students, we encourage parents and teachers to look for education opportunities to teach with movies. Here are a few discussion topics that can help with lesson plans or teaching in the home.

In one scene Jo asks her mother if she has any ?plans? for her daughters’ future. Her mother lovingly replies that she wants to see her daughters grow up to be beautiful, good, accomplished, admired, loved and respected. She wants them to lead pleasant, useful lives, with as little sorrow as the Lord sees fit. And she would rather see them as happy wives of poor men, or respectable old maids, than to be queens on thrones without peace or self-respect.

Louisa May Alcott wrote this novel long before the Feminist movement of the 1960s reshaped the goals young women considered for their future. Does Mrs. March’s vision still capture the dreams modern mothers have for their daughters, or has time altered those sentiments? What do you feel are the most important things for girls to accomplish?

The March family is considered poor, even though they live in a comfortable home and employ a domestic servant. How would you describe an impoverished lifestyle? How does the prevailing standard of living influence your perception of wealth and poverty?