History YMMV / LittleWomen

** The way Meg and John resolve their marital struggles after the birth of their twins stands out in promoting co-parenting, self-care for mothers, and marriage as an equal partnership. John takes a more active role in raising the twins alongside Meg, they allow Hannah to babysit more often to give them valuable time for themselves and each other, they both make more of an effort to share each other's interests instead of living in separate gendered worlds, and their marriage emerges stronger than ever.

** Likewise, readers tend to remember Beth as a completely angelic character, [[TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth too inhumanly perfect to live.]] They forget that while she is slightly idealized compared to the other three sisters, she's no [[Literature/UncleTomsCabin Little Eva St. Clare]] – she struggles with intense shyness, has moments of frustration and laziness too, and at one point forgets to feed her pet bird for a whole week, which results in his death.

** And of course fans felt that Laurie and Jo were much more evenly matched than Jo is with Fritz, even with Louisa May Alcott trying to stress that they were LikeBrotherAndSister; the courtship between Jo and Fritz is rather asexual (which makes sense if you know that the publishers insisted Jo marry, while her original intent was for her to live unmarried). The 1994 film fixes this by giving them much more chemistry in the romance. The 2019 movie leaves whether or not Jo gets married ambiguous (due to its non-linear structure) with a slight leaning towards "no". It's not made clear if she actually runs after Fredrich, marries him, and then opens a school or if she was simply making a concession to her editor to get her book published in the StoryWithinAStory.
* RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap: Amy in the more recent adaptations, to a certain extent, as earlier adaptations tend to lean in much more heavily on her whiny, brattish behaviour as a child. The 1994 film in particular explicitly presents a more natural and likeable child-Amy in Kirsten Dunst. Creator/FlorencePugh even got nominated for an Oscar for the 2019 version.

* TastesLikeDiabetes:
** Can come across as such to a modern reader unused to the straight-forwardly sentimental tone and earnest moralising very typical of children's literature of the time.

** Likewise, readers tend to remember Beth as a completely angelic character, [[TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth too inhumanly perfect to live.]] They forget that while she is slightly idealized compared to the other three sisters, she's no [[Literature/UncleTomsCabin Little Eva]] – she struggles with intense shyness, has moments of frustration and laziness too, and at one point forgets to feed her pet bird for a whole week, which results in his death.

** This book is sometimes dismissed in pop culture as an idyllic, idealized portrait of loving sisters with no realistic SiblingRivalry. But while there might be some truth in this for Meg, Jo and Beth's relationships with each other, and for Meg and Beth's with Amy, it's not true at all for Jo and Amy, whose GloriousWarOfSisterlyRivalry is sometimes ''very'' nasty.

* Likewise, readers tend to remember Beth as a completely angelic character, [[TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth too inhumanly perfect to live.]] They forget that while she is slightly idealized compared to the other three sisters, she's no [[Literature/UncleTomsCabin Little Eva]] – she struggles with intense shyness, has moments of frustration and laziness too, and at one point forgets to feed her pet bird for a whole week, which results in his death.
* It's widely assumed that Laurie is still in love with Jo in the end and only [[SettledForSibling settles]] for marrying Amy instead. But the book makes it clear that gradually, and after some inner resistance at first, he genuinely falls in love with Amy and realizes that he and Jo are BetterAsFriends.

* DieForOurShip:

* UnintentionallySympathetic: Jo, when Amy [[DisproportionateRetribution burns her manuscript]] because Jo doesn't take her on an outing to the theatre. As per the moral imperative, the intended focus of the chapter (actually called "Jo Meets Apollyon") is clearly Jo's recognition of and resolve to control her violent temper. The modern reader is much more likely to home in on the fact that it was the ''only'' copy of the manuscript that Jo had spent years pouring her heart into; and she's expected to forgive Amy almost right off the bat after something so utterly precious to her has been cruelly destroyed. Adding to which Amy -- who doesn't appear to have been punished for her act, other than being mildly scolded by her mother -- however genuinely remorseful she might be at first, quickly gets petulant when she isn't forgiven right away. And when Jo goes out skating with Laurie, leading Amy to whine about missing another outing, [[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom Meg]] doesn't help matters at all by blithely suggesting that the little girl tag along where she clearly isn't wanted. The 2019 version makes it even worse, where Amy is shown maliciously burning every page of the manuscript individually, and then gloating to Jo that she outright wanted to hurt her. Marmee reacts with apparent indifference, and just says "don't let the sun go down on your anger". By contrast, the 1994 version has Amy realising she went too far and Kirsten Dunst effectively conveys that the girl really means it when she apologises.

* UnintentionallySympathetic: Jo, when Amy [[DisproportionateRetribution burns her manuscript]] because Jo doesn't take her on an outing to the theatre. As per the moral imperative, the intended focus of the chapter (actually called "Jo Meets Apollyon") is clearly Jo's recognition of and resolve to control her violent temper. The modern reader is much more likely to home in on the fact that it was the ''only'' copy of the manuscript that Jo had spent years pouring her heart into; and she's expected to forgive Amy almost right off the bat after something so utterly precious to her has been cruelly destroyed. Adding to which Amy -- who doesn't appear to have been punished for her act, other than being mildly scolded by her mother -- however genuinely remorseful she might be at first, quickly gets petulant when she isn't forgiven right away. And when Jo goes out skating with Laurie, leading Amy to whine about missing another outing, [[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom Meg]] doesn't help matters at all by blithely suggesting that the little girl tag along where she clearly isn't wanted.

* ValuesResonance: The 1933 film was so successful in part because the story of the family’s perseverance throughout financial hardship clicked with the audience who was living through the worst year of the Great Depression.

* HollywoodHomely: All the movie adaptations have cast very beautiful actresses to interpret the self-described "plain" Jo March, leading to the unintentionally hilarious moment when Jo has her hair cut off and a very shocked Amy cries: "Jo, your one beauty!". The Winona Ryder version even has her declare that she is "ugly and awkward" - and it's even more egregious when Meg is supposed to be the beauty of the sisters, when Winona Ryder is just as cute as Trini Alvarado. At least Creator/KatharineHepburn in the most famous earlier adaptation isn't a classic beauty, and manages to make young Jo coltish and a bit clumsy.

** Some fans go overboard with bashing the Hummels for getting Beth sick, as if it was part of some evil plot.

* LGBTFanbase: Jo has a following amongst both queer women and trans men due to her tomboyishness and ambiguous dialogue (which were intended to be Jo hating gender roles, but instead come off as accidentally trans sounding).

** The relationship between Jo and Bhaer seems [[NoSparks weirdly unromantic]] by modern standards, especially compared to what one might expect for [[SpiritedYoungLady young, spirited, independent Jo]]. The 1994 film goes out of its way to give them a more romantic love story. The 2019 movie plays with the relationship in a very meta way and ultimately leaves whether or not they actually got married of if it was a concession Jo gives her editor to get her own book published up to the viewer’s interpretation (but slightly leaning towards the latter).

* {{Fanon}}: Some people believe Amy's name is short for "Amelia," due to her sisters being referred to by nicknames, but her name is just Amy. In real life, of course, while sometimes used as a nickname for "Amelia", "Amy" is actually the English variant of the old French name "Amée", and a name in its own right.

** Amy, like all the characters who suffer from DieForOurShip, gets more hate than she likely deserves. While burning Jo's book was bad, she was just a child, and for what it's worth, she only does it once, and afterwards it's emphasized that her act was wicked and destructive. Many fans like to ignore all her CharacterDevelopment in her later years, and claim she is still a shallow brat who only ends up with Laurie because she is a GoldDigger.

* RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap: Amy, to a certain extent, as earlier adaptations tend to lean in much more heavily on her whiny, brattish behaviour as a child. The 1994 film in particular explicitly presents a more natural and likeable child-Amy in Kirsten Dunst. Creator/FlorencePugh even got nominated for an Oscar for the 2019 version.

** Amy, like all the characters who suffer from DieForOurShip, gets more hate than she likely deserves. While burning Jo's book was bad, she was just a child and for what it's worth, she only does it once after it's emphasized that her act was wicked and destructive. Many fans like to ignore all her CharacterDevelopment in her later years, and claim she is still a shallow brat who only ends up with Laurie because she is a GoldDigger.

** During "Jo Meets Apollyon," the emphasis is more on Jo forgiving Amy than Amy suffering punishment for burning Jo's book out of spite for not going on an outing. Amy has to be told that she destroyed a copy with no backups before she segues from NeverMyFault to MyGodWhatHaveIDone, and Marmee thinks the lecture and everyone being disappointed in her is sufficient punishment. The narrative itself has to deliver LaserGuidedKarma via Amy whining that Jo is not taking her ice-skating -- when Jo has every right to leave her at home as punishment-- and that she skates over rotten ice and falls in, which means no more outings for her until she gets better. In the twentieth century, Jo is within her rights to not wanting to accept Amy's apology, which is more self-serving SecretlySelfish, and the parents involved would be firmer towards a sibling old enough to know better. Consider what happened in Beverly Cleary's ''Beezus and Ramona'' when Ramona damages Beezus's things out of not knowing better or being bratty; she's sent to her room to think about what she did, and Aunt Beatrice recalls laughingly that she was punished as a child for writing in every page of her older sister Dorothy's autograph album in a fit of spite. Also worth noting is that Ramona is four years old, compared to Amy's twelve.

** During "Jo Meets Apollyon," the emphasis is more on Jo forgiving Amy than Amy suffering punishment for burning Jo's book out of spite for not going on an outing. Amy has to be told that she destroyed a copy with no backups before she segues from NeverMyFault to MyGodWhatHaveIDone, and Marmee thinks the lecture and everyone being disappointed in her is sufficient punishment. The narrative itself has to deliver LaserGuidedKarma via Amy whining that Jo is not taking her ice-skating -- when Jo has every right to leave her at home as punishment-- and that she skates over rotten ice and falls in, which means no more outings for her until she gets better. In the twentieth century, Jo is within her rights to not wanting to accept Amy's apology, which is more self-serving SecretlySelfish, and the parents involved would be firmer towards a sibling old enough to know better. Consider what happened in Beverly Cleary's ''Beezus and Ramona'' when Ramona damages Beezus's things out of not knowing better or being bratty; she's sent to her room to think about what she did, and Aunt Beatrice recalls laughingly that she was punished as a child for writing in every page of her older sister Dorothy's autograph album in a fit of spite.

** In "Experiments," Marmee's RadishCure of letting the girls go for a week without chores to teach them that [[AllWorkVsAllPlay all play is as bad as all work]] includes letting Beth's pet bird Pip die because Beth neglects to feed him. With more recent attitudes toward animal rights, a modern parent would probably have reminded Beth to feed the bird even before the "experiment" was over, or else fed him herself, regardless of the lesson his death would have taught her.

** ''Literature/LittleWomen'' plots a course through [[PurpleProse wildly extravagant and sentimental prose]], {{A|nAesop}}esops (some of them [[FamilyUnfriendlyAesop rather questionable]]) in [[OncePerEpisode nearly every chapter]]... and comes out as a gripping romantic drama with a deserved place in the highest pantheon of American literature.

** If you want to be cynical about it, Amy forces Laurie to abandon his art and work with his grandfather to secure her own comfort - regardless of how he feels about it.

** Amy, like all the characters who suffer from DieForOurShip, gets more hate than she likely deserves. While burning Jo's book was bad, she was just a child and for what it's worth, she only does it once after it's emphasized that her act was wicked and destructive.

* {{Narm}}: The "Jo, your one beauty!" line from Amy after the former cuts off her hair tends to come off like this on film, as it's missing the narrator's careful buildup re: Jo's appearance. Without it, the line reads as Amy [[BrutalHonesty being rather blunt about how bad her sister looks now.]]

** Amy. To this day there are still people invested in demonizing her for preventing Jo/Laurie. [[DoubleStandard While conveniently letting Laurie off the hook, despite him pushing his feelings on Jo to the point of getting rejected twice]].

** Amy, like all the characters who suffer from DieForOurShip, gets more hate than she likely deserves.

* SignatureScene: The four March sisters gathered around Marmee's chair as she reads them their father's letter. An image recreated by countless illustrators, as well as in all the major adaptations, and even featured on [[Wiki/TVTropes This Very Wiki]] as the main page image.