Little Men

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For other uses, see Little Men (disambiguation).
Little Men
First edition title page
AuthorLouisa May Alcott
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
SeriesLittle Women
GenreChildren's literature
PublisherRoberts Brothers
Publication date
1871
Media typePrint
Pages376
(first edition)
Preceded byLittle Women 
Followed byJo's Boys 

Little Men, or Life at Plumfield with Jo's Boys, is a children's novel by American author Louisa May Alcott (1832–1888), which was first published in 1871 by Roberts Brothers. The book reprises characters from her 1868–69 two-volume novel Little Women, and acts as a sequel, or as the second book in an unofficial Little Women trilogy. The trilogy ends with Alcott's 1886 novel Jo's Boys, and How They Turned Out: A Sequel to "Little Men". Alcott's story recounts the life of Jo Bhaer, her husband, and the various children at Plumfield Estate School. Alcott's classic novel has been adapted to a 1934 film, a 1940 film, a 1998 film, a television series, and a Japanese animated television series.

Plot[edit]

The story begins with the arrival of Nat Blake, a shy young orphan, at Plumfield, the school run by Professor Bhaer and Mrs. Josephine Bhaer (née March). Nat charms the ten other boys attending the school, as well as Mr. and Mrs. Bhaer, with fiddle skills learned from his father. Mrs. Bhaer shares with him that every Sunday, she reviews each student's behavior and whether they were good or they disappointed her that week. Nat resolves to make her proud.

He quickly realizes Plumfield is not run by conventional means. Fifteen-minute pillow fights are permitted on Saturdays to keep mischief during the week to a minimum. Children are treated as individuals, with a strong emphasis on gently molding their characters. All the children have their own gardens and their own pets and are encouraged to experiment with independence. Nat soon forms a friendship with Tommy Bangs, the troublemaker of the school, who keeps chickens and allows Nat to keep one egg from every dozen found. Nat dreams of buying his own violin with his profits. Demi and Daisy, Meg's twin children, also live at Plumfield and Nat becomes close friends with them.

Mr. Bhaer cures Nat of his fibbing habit by making him strike Mr. Bhaer's hand with a ruler when he is caught lying. Nat is only consoled by playing his violin and walking with Daisy, who is normally excluded from playing with the boys. Mrs. Bhaer and Laurie surprise her with a tiny, functional kitchen which the boys are not allowed to play with. She puts on little parties for the boys with her meager cooking skills.

Nat's wild friend Dan comes to live at Plumfield. Dan originally decides the other boys are "molly-coddles" and leads them in experiments with boxing, drinking, smoking, profanity, and card games. When one of his games starts the house on fire, Dan, along with Mr. Bhaer's nephews Franz and Emil, put out the fire, and he is sent away.

Nan arrives as a companion for Daisy, but she is even more of a tomboy than Jo was as a teenager and gets into all sorts of trouble. Dan returns to Plumfield with a broken foot and is nursed back to health by Mrs. Bhaer. When Laurie sponsors a new natural history museum for the school, Dan becomes curator because of his interest in the outdoors.

One day, everyone goes to pick berries and Nan promises to take care of little Rob, but they end up playing in a cave and miss the wagon back home. After a joyful reunion, the next day Mrs. Bhaer teaches them a lesson by tying Nan up to a string in one room for the day. Bess, Laurie and Amy's daughter, comes for a visit and all the boys respect her so greatly that their behavior improves from her presence. When Nat is falsely accused of theft by the other boys, Dan takes the fall so Nat is no longer shunned. When Dan saves another student named Jack from a fall, Jack admits to Mr. Bhaer he stole the money and leaves the school. The boys plan to buy Dan a microscope for his kindness. Although Dan cares Fmore for the Bhaers than before, he begins to long for freedom again and Mrs. Bhaer attempts to keep him home with various tasks.

Near the end of the novel, Demi and Daisy's father, John, becomes ill. They are taken to visit him and he dies that night, leaving Demi with an increased feeling of responsibility. A short while later, the boys have a story night in which they trick members of the household into the schoolroom and only let them out when they tell a story. Mr. and Mrs. Bhaer tell moral-based stories of hard work and kindness. At Thanksgiving, they feast on the harvest of each boy's garden, giving thanks for all they have learned and been given, and then they end the night with a play.

Analysis and major themes[edit]

Little Men combines two genres: the domestic novel and the school story.[1] Popular school stories of the time generally involved a newcomer in a group of British boys growing in skill, often fighting a bully or competing in sports. Alcott transforms the traditional, however; females take part where they rarely appear in other school stories and Plumfield is both a school and a home, the residents both peers and family. Mrs. Jo is the center of the school, with more scenes set outside the classroom than in and Professor Bhaer rarely appearing outside the classroom.[2]

Education[edit]

Alcott's exploration of education through a novel instead of a more formal setting allows her to look at the effects on the individual students instead of using abstract generalization.[3] Mrs. Bhaer professes the belief that children become miserable with too many rules and too much study, and the students learn in different ways to help others, control their temper, and exercise. Their different accomplishments are valued. Dan has no crop but collects wild nuts instead, Nan grows herbs instead of a crop because of her interest in medicine, and Dolly memorizes a report to make up for his stutter. Mrs. Bhaer shares with Laurie that unlike her previous aspirations, she simply wants the boys to grow into "honest men".[4]

The educational methods employed reflect the Pestalozzian idea that "the best education starts at home and is continued in a homelike school."[5] Little Men combines school and home for its students, particularly to teach both discipline and knowledge. Ralph Waldo Emerson theorized that learning about nature led humans to learn about the inner workings of their minds as well. He believed that knowledge must be balanced by book knowledge to prepare a student for society and that colleges should prepare students to create reform for "new national needs". Alcott translates these Transcendentalist ideals for younger students and combines them with her father's approaches from Fruitlands and Temple School.[6]

Play[edit]

Playing among the children often mirrors adult activities and responsibilities. The children grow crops, run a museum, have social clubs, raise children (dolls), and cook meals. The play violence comes in the imitation of "bullfighters, gladiators, or the imaginary ladies who torture Teddy". While the children learn the value of hard work and duty, play is relatively unregulated as it helps the children to develop their talents.[7]

Style[edit]

In the Introduction of Louisa May Alcott: A Biography, author Madeleine B. Stern states that “Louisa May Alcott was throughout her life a professional author skilled in creation and the re-creation implicit in revision.”[8] The content of many of her works came from her observations and experiences with family, traveling, and reading.[9] Alcott’s legacy remains in her depiction of life and her devotion to family.[10] Her overall work is considered, “neither of Hell nor of Heaven, but of a multitude of stories in a variety of literary genres, ranging from fairy tales to realistic war sketches, from sensation thrillers to domestic sagas.”[11]

Background[edit]

The novel depicts a utopia of coeducation and includes ideas from Alcott's father, Bronson Alcott, “an educational reformer and prominent Transcendentalist.”[12] Alcott said her father's Temple School inspired some of the scenes at Plumfield.[13] Jo's procedure of taking notes on the children's behavior was employed at Bronson's school, Fruitlands, however Jo's notes were shared in private while Bronson's were shared in public.[1] Alcott commented she felt trapped into propriety having grown up around her father and others like Ralph Waldo Emerson.[14] Additionally, while many say Plumfield is inspired by Temple School or Fruitlands, Alcott herself was a teacher and would have had plenty of her own knowledge and understanding of educational reform during her time. [15]

Publication[edit]

In 1865, Alcott was first encouraged to write a book for girls, including memories of her childhood, and while she was employed as an editor at Merry Museum, a Boston children’s magazine, she began writing the Little Women trilogy which includes Little Women, Little Men, or Life at Plumfield with Jo's Boys and How They Turned Out: A Sequel to Little Men. [16][17] The first edition of Little Men was published by Roberts Brothers in 1871 and contained 376 pages.[18] The Taunton Daily Gazette reported 130,000 copies of the book had been sold by June 3, 1871.[19]

Reception[edit]

Little Men received many positive reviews although some cautioned it was overly sentimental or idealistic. While Plumfield is meant to be a progressive school, literary scholar William Blackburn mentioned its impracticality and said while Dan gets the closest, none of the students truly challenge the educational theories because every one of the them accepts Plumfield ideals. Blackburn called the end result "charmingly impossible."[20]

The Springfield Daily Republican reviewed book and said "it is evident that Miss Alcott [...] has drawn many of her incidents from real experiences in her own family."[21] Jo was praised as a leader of reform and seen as "in her element with a baker's dozen of boys around her."[22] Generally, the book was found slightly lacking compared to Little Women; one newspaper said it was inferior to Little Women but still "full of fun and spirit." Another called it "full of the charming naturalness, sweet simplicity and tender sentiment so peculiarly portrayed by this author in her previous works."[23]

Critics said that Alcott was particularly good at capturing children's humor and uniqueness and that her approach to education for children allowed her to demonstrate individual results rather than abstract ideas.[24] Other reviews commented on the ideals for children as well intentioned with the potential to teach parents and leaders, although potentially unrealistic.[25] Springfield Daily Union suggested the book was aimed towards young readers alone, calling it "a bright little juvenile work which will make the young people half crazy with delight," while Hartford Daily Courant and The New-York Times said it would teach and entertain both young and old, although particularly young boys.[26]

Adaptations[edit]

Film[edit]

Little Men was first adapted into film in 1934 starring Erin O'Brien-Moore and Ralph Morgan.[27] Another film followed in 1940 with Kay Francis as Jo.[28] In 1998, a Canadian feature starring Mariel Hemingway and Chris Sarandon was released.[29] A Variety review complimented the talent of the young actors, although it also called the 1998 film overly sentimental, saying it was "long on morality but weak on dramatic tension".[30]

Television[edit]

In 1993, an animated television series produced by Nippon Animation, Little Women II: Jo's Boys, ran in Japan.[31] Additionally, a Canadian television series, Little Men, aired in 1998 to 1999 for two seasons.[32]

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ a b Blackburn 1980, p. 100.
  2. ^ Lyon Clark 1995, pp. 1–6.
  3. ^ Speicher 2014, p. 64, 71.
  4. ^ Eiselein 2005, pp. 21–23; Blackburn 1980, p. 98.
  5. ^ Speicher 2014, p. 72.
  6. ^ Sesnic 2023, pp. 17–19.
  7. ^ Eiselein 2005, pp. 12, 17–18.
  8. ^ Stern 1999
  9. ^ Stern 1999
  10. ^ Stern 1999
  11. ^ Speicher 2014.
  12. ^ Halttunen 1984, p. 233.
  13. ^ Eiselein 2005, pp. 5–6.
  14. ^ Blackburn 1980, p. 101.
  15. ^ Speicher 2014, p. 65.
  16. ^ Cheever 2011
  17. ^ Stern 1999
  18. ^ Alcott 1871
  19. ^ Lyon Clark 2004, p. 137.
  20. ^ Blackburn 1980, pp. 99–100.
  21. ^ Lyon Clark 2004, pp. 134–135.
  22. ^ Lyon Clark 2004, pp. 137, 140.
  23. ^ Lyon Clark 2004, pp. 139–140.
  24. ^ Speicher 2014, p. 64; Lyon Clark 2004, pp. 138, 141; Blackburn 1980, p. 98.
  25. ^ Lyon Clark 2004, p. 136.
  26. ^ Lyon Clark 2004, pp. 135, 139, 140 & 142.
  27. ^ Paletta, Ann C., Teacher in the Movies, page 113, McFarland, Inc., 2014
  28. ^ "Little Men (1940)". Black & White Movies. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
  29. ^ Maltin, Leonard; Sader, Luke; Clark, Mike (2008). Leonard Maltin's 2009 Movie Guide. Penguin. p. 813. ISBN 9780452289789. Little Men (1998-Canadian) C-98m. ★★½ D: Rodney Gibbons. Mariel Hemingway, Chris Sarandon, Michael Caloz, Ben Cook, Ricky Mabe, Gabrielle Boni; narrated by Kathleen Fee.
  30. ^ Loewenstein, Lael (May 11, 1998). "Louisa May Alcott's Little Men". Variety. 371 (1). Retrieved 6 June 2024.
  31. ^ "Little Women II: Jo's Boys (TV Series)". FilmAffinity. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
  32. ^ Jafarnejad, Diba. "Little Men". History of Canadian Broadcasting. Retrieved 7 June 2024.

References[edit]

External links[edit]

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