Little Women Podcast: Vanity Fair Part 1

A reflective podcast discussion on the 'Vanity Fair' chapter of Little Women, exploring themes of vanity, humility, and personal growth as the March sisters navigate society's pressures. Through mindful reflection, we consider how Alcott’s insights still resonate today, inviting us to examine our own values, intentions, and the quiet joys of living authentically. In this chapter, Meg is invited to a ball, but her experience is not all that glamorous.

Transcript

Hello friends!

This is Niina from The Little Woman podcast.

Before we dive in,

I want to let all our listeners to know that every episode of The Little Woman podcast includes spoilers from the novel Little Woman by Louisa May Alcott and its sequels.

If you don't want any spoilers,

I recommend finding something else to listen to.

However,

If you are familiar with the story or you are not familiar with the story and don't mind spoilers,

You are welcome to start listening.

That's all.

I hope you enjoy our discussions.

Hello Emilie and welcome back to The Little Woman podcast.

Thank you Niina.

I'm happy to be back and to talk about the Vanity Fair chapter.

This has always been one of my favorites.

I love the dressing up scenes and the descriptions of the clothes.

Yes,

And this is one of the most requested chapters that people have asked me to cover in this podcast.

Meg goes to Vanity Fair.

I do think it was the most fortunate thing in the world that those children should have the measles just now,

Said Meg,

One April day,

As she stood packing the go-abroad trunk in her room,

Surrounded by her sisters.

And so nice of Annie Moffat not to forget her promise.

Night of fun will be regularly splendid,

Replied Jo,

Looking like a windmill,

As she folded skirts with her long arms.

And such a lovely weather.

I'm so glad of that,

Added Beth,

Tightly sorting neck and hair ribbons in her best box,

Lent for the great occasion.

I wish I was going to have a fine time and wear all these nice things,

Said Amy,

With her mouth full of pins,

As she artistically replenished her sister's cushion.

I wish you were all going,

But as you can't,

I shall keep my adventures to tell you when I come back.

I'm sure it is the least I can do,

And you have been so kind,

Lending me things and helping me get ready,

Said Meg,

Glancing round the room at the very simple outfit.

It seemed nearly perfect in their eyes.

What did mother give you?

Out of the treasure-box,

Asked Amy,

Who had not been present at the opening of a certain setter-chest,

In which Mrs.

March kept a few relics of past splendour,

As gifts for her girls when the proper time came.

A pair of silk stockings,

That pretty card-fan,

And a lovely blue sash.

I wanted the violet silk,

But there isn't time to make it over,

So I must be contented with my old charlatan.

It will look nicely over my new muslin skirt,

And the sash will set it off beautifully.

I wish I hadn't smashed my coral bracelet.

For you might have had it,

Said Jo,

Who loved to give and lend,

But whose possessions were usually too dilapidated to be much of use.

So Marmee has this cedar chest where she keeps treasures that she gives to each of the girls at different times.

That is quite lovely.

Is this what I googled?

Charlatan originated in the 19th century and was initially used as a stiffening material for collars and cuffs in men's shirts.

Its name is derived from the French word tarlatan,

Referring to a stiff fabric.

Tarlatan was popularized during the Victorian era when fashion trends embraced crisp and structured garments.

It quickly gained recognition for its ability to provide body and shape to clothing items.

Isn't it just like Jo to smash her coral bracelet?

That very much fits to her character.

Here's a lovely old-fashioned pearl set in the treasure chest,

But Mother said real flowers were the prettiest ornament for a young girl,

And Laurie promised to send me all I want,

Replied Meg.

Now,

Let me see.

There's my new gray walking suit.

Just curl up the feather in my hat,

Beth.

Then my poplin for Sunday and the small party.

It looks heavy for spring,

Doesn't it?

The violet silk would be so nice.

Oh dear.

Never mind,

You've got the tarlatan for the big party and you always look like an angel in white,

Said Amy,

Brooding over the little store refinery in which her soul delighted.

It is in low necked and doesn't sweep enough,

But it will have to do.

My blue house dress looks so well turned and freshly trimmed that I feel as if I'd got a new one.

My silk sequi isn't a bit the fashion and my bonnet doesn't look like Sally's.

I didn't like to say anything,

But I was sadly disappointed in my umbrella.

I told Mother black with a white handle,

But she forgot and bought a green one with a yellowish handle.

It's strong and neat,

So I ought not to complain,

But I know I shall feel ashamed of it beside any silk one with a gold top,

Sighed Meg,

Surveying the little umbrella with great disfavor.

Change it,

Advised Joe.

I won't be so silly or hurt Marmee's feelings when she took so much pains to get my things.

It's a nonsensical notion of mine and I'm not going to give up to it.

My silk stockings and two pairs of new gloves are my comfort.

You are a dear to lend me yours,

Joe.

I feel so rich and sort of elegant with two new pairs and the old ones cleaned up for common,

And Meg took a refreshing peep at her glove box.

Annie Moffat has blue and pink bows on her night caps.

Would you put some on mine,

She asked,

As Beth brought up a pile of snowy muslins fresh from Hannah's hands.

No,

I wouldn't,

For the smart caps won't match the plain gowns without any trimming on them.

Poor folks shouldn't rig,

Said Joe decidedly.

During this time period,

Women generally did not wear much makeup.

The only ones who heavily used makeup were typically actresses and prostitutes.

Marmee advises Meg not to wear a lot of makeup because she doesn't want her to appear as someone she isn't comfortable being.

Natural beauty was in vogue during this era.

Yes,

Even when Amy is in Europe,

She wears very fashionable clothes,

But she does not wear a lot of makeup.

She looks quite modest.

No,

I wouldn't,

For the smart caps won't match the plain gowns without any trimming on them.

Poor folks shouldn't rig,

Said Joe decidedly.

I wonder if I shall ever be happy enough to have real lace on my clothes and bows on my caps,

Said Meg impatiently.

You said the other day that you'd be perfectly happy if you could only go to any Moffat's,

Observed Beth in her quiet way.

So I did.

Well,

I am happy and I won't fret,

But it does seem as if the more one gets,

The more one wants,

Doesn't it?

There now,

The trays are ready and everything in but my ball dress,

Which I shall leave for mother to pack,

Said Meg,

Cheering up,

As she glanced from the half-filled trunk to the many times pressed and mended white tarlatan,

Which she called her ball dress,

With an important air.

The next day was fine,

And Meg departed in style for a fortnight of novelty and pleasure.

Mrs.

March had consented to the visit rather reluctantly,

Fearing that Margaret would come back more discontented than she went.

But she begged so hard,

And Sally had promised to take good care of her,

And a little pleasure seemed so delightful after a winter of irksome work that the mother yielded,

And the daughter went to take her first taste of fashionable life.

And the Moffats were very fashionable,

And simple Meg was rather daunted at first by the splendor of the house and the elegance of its occupants,

But they were kindly people in spite of the frivolous life they led,

And soon put their guest at her ease.

Meg felt,

Without understanding why,

That they were not particularly cultivated or intelligent people,

And that all their yielding could not quite conceal the ordinary material with which they were made.

It certainly was a grievous affair.

Some tearsleep,

Drive in a fine carriage,

Wear the best frock every day,

And do nothing but enjoy herself.

It suited her exactly,

And soon she began to imitate the manners and conversation of those about her,

To put on little airs and graces,

Use French phrases,

Crimp her hair,

Take in her dresses and talk about the fashions,

As well as she could.

The more she saw of Annie Moffat's pretty things,

The more she envied her.

She sighed to be rich,

Whole now looked bare and dismal,

As she thought of it.

Work grew harder than ever,

And she felt that she was a very destitute and much injured girl,

In spite of the new gloves and silk stockings.

She had not much time for repinning,

However,

For the three young girls were busily employed in having a good time.

They shopped,

Walked,

Rode,

And called all day,

Went to theatres and operas,

Or frolicked at home in the evening.

For Annie had many friends and knew how to entertain them.

Her older sisters were very fine young ladies,

And one was engaged,

Which was extremely interesting and romantic,

Mac thought.

Mr.

Moffat was a fat,

Jolly old gentleman who knew her father,

And Miss Moffat a fat,

Jolly old lady who took as a grade a fancy to Mac,

As her daughter had done.

Everyone petted her and Daisy.

As they caught her,

Was in a fair way to have her head turned.

When the evening for the small party came,

She found that the popling wouldn't do at all,

For the other girls were putting on their dresses and making themselves very fine indeed.

So out came the Tarleton.

And looking older,

Limper,

And shabbier than ever besides Sally's crisp new one,

Meg saw the girls glance at it and then at one another,

And her cheeks began to burn,

For with all her gentleness she was very proud.

No one said a word about it,

But Sally offered to dress her hair,

Annie to tie her sash,

And Belle,

The engaged sister,

Praised her white arms.

But in their kindness,

Meg saw only pity for her poverty,

And her heart felt very heavy as she stood by herself,

While the others laughed,

Chattered,

And flew about like gauzy butterflies.

The hard-bitter feeling was getting pretty bad,

When the maid brought in a box of flowers.

Before she could speak,

Annie had the cover off,

And all were exclaiming at the lovely roses heath and fern within.

Let's get to the flowers later,

But for now let's talk about this passage.

And so I think it's a really interesting detail that she leaves in,

That they're not cultivated,

Nor particularly intelligent.

They are rich,

But not particularly refined.

And of course,

We know from the book as a whole,

That those are two very different things for Louisa.

Yes,

Meg has a very good introspection.

I think this is one of those transcendentalist elements as well.

She kind of sees these people living this rich lifestyle,

But maybe they are not that cultivated,

Interested in the same things as Meg's family.

How did they make their money?

Yes,

I thought of that too.

I was just,

Well,

I don't know,

Maybe they were,

They feel very nouveau riche.

Maybe they did business and then they became very,

Very rich.

Maybe they're,

Yeah,

They did some kind of,

Do some kind of business that doesn't necessarily require them to be very educated in that way.

Which,

I mean,

I think,

You know,

We can kind of see that a lot these days.

It brings me back to a bit of a time when I was in girl's school,

Because maybe you're not necessarily horribly dressed,

But you kind of feel next to other people's sort of shinier outfits and everything.

But even in uniform,

You just kind of feel that there's a bit of a difference where,

Oh,

Well,

My,

My shirts have this logo.

I'm wearing this type of shoe and this type of blouse and that sort of thing.

And you suddenly feel like when you kind of thought something looked so good when you went out and suddenly it's just,

And it feels really sad because the tolietan suddenly looks older.

It is kind of sad.

And also we have a lot of talk about how they have such an easy life,

Whereas we know that the Marches value hard work.

Louisa is,

In her voice of the novel,

Is,

Believes that hard work is really important to the person,

A daily routine of work.

The Moffats do not have that.

Yeah,

I think Mr.

Moffat probably has worked hard,

But the mother doesn't really work.

The daughters are social butterflies.

Yeah,

No,

I get that.

Because I mean,

I,

From my recollection,

Mr.

Moffat doesn't really partake a whole lot in sort of the same gossip that Mrs.

Mombet takes part in.

It's always like Mrs.

Moffat being like,

Oh,

What if this is happening?

It seems they have the time on their hands to really think about this sort of thing.

Yeah,

No,

It's just really generally really sad to kind of read about her sense of humiliation at being pitied by everyone.

It probably kind of picks at a bit of a childhood wound for her,

Especially since at one point she could have had a lot of these,

A lot of the material goods that the Moffats have.

The name Daisy,

There was quite a big discussion about this on Tumblr in the Little Women group.

One of my friends wrote that in the 19th century,

Like the French word for Daisy is similar to Margaret,

So it was a nickname for Margaret.

Okay,

Oh.

That's why they call her Daisy.

Oh,

That's very interesting.

When Jo and Meg get married and they have twins,

They are called Demi and Daisy.

So Daisy is named after Meg.

I think her real name is Margaret,

But everyone calls her Daisy in a separation for,

To separate her from Meg.

Okay,

It's Marguerite,

Marguerite.

Yes.

I said,

Oh,

Okay.

Oh,

Very interesting.

And I'm not entirely sure,

Is mommy's actual name Marguerite as well,

Or is she Abigail,

Like Louisa May Alcott's mother?

Because I don't think the book mentions that.

The book does not give her a name,

I must say.

In 94,

They give her the name Abigail.

Yes,

I was thinking about that.

In some point,

They say that Daisy is named after her mother and her grandmother,

So.

Oh,

Okay.

If I remember right,

I might be wrong.

So it's either Margaret or Abigail.

Well,

I mean,

I think maybe in the 94 adaptation,

They thought it would be a bit confusing if the mother was also called Meg,

So they may have just given her another name.

Well,

I thought that was quite funny.

I always thought it was Abigail because of the 94 film,

But it makes sense if it's also Margaret,

If Meg also names her daughter Margaret.

It's an interesting way to continue that,

To kind of continue the naming convention.

It's an interesting detail,

Yeah.

But also,

I did want to make note of these details about slipping in French.

I mean,

I don't know if it was just a thing in this era where you just had to kind of randomly speak French in order to seem learned or as a marker of class,

Because clearly they have access to the Moffats.

They have access to other languages and places.

They know,

Including bits of another language,

But I guess not as a way of actually understanding a language and culture,

But more as just kind of looking their class.

Fashion statement.

Yeah,

Yeah.

I think I wrote somewhere to my notes that French and German are like fashionable languages at this time.

Okay.

The Marches have lots of access to different German books because there's so many mentions of them.

There are times when Laurie speaks French like occasionally and just to annoy Amy,

Which is really cute.

Maybe people just randomly spoke French.

It includes French to their speech to sound more worldly.

Yeah,

I just feel like it's the sort of thing that people would have done to just kind of appear more learned or appear more.

It's like a very nouveau riche thing,

I feel like.

Again,

We're bringing this up again,

But I do observe this about sort of nouveau riche people that I have met where there's such a desire to kind of seem very learned and quote poetry and kind of do all these little things to appear posh.

And I feel like there's just a similar thing here.

Yeah,

Well,

Laurie grew up in France and Italy,

So that's okay for him.

I suppose he's the real deal.

He's the real European here.

Yeah,

But the Moffat's,

You know,

That name is quite amusing.

I won't lie.

Like to this day,

I can't really tell the Gardeners apart from the Moffat's.

I feel like just like all of these characters and all of the girls just kind of mix together in my head.

I don't even know that Annie Moffat and Belle are their own people.

Yeah,

It's just like,

Oh,

This girl and this rich sister and this rich sister.

When I watched the 1994 film last time,

I just now started to pay attention to who the rich girl was.

The blonde girl who's talking to Meg,

She's the Gardener girl.

And the girl who's eating the cupcakes,

That's Moffat.

I just now realized that.

I must say,

Louisa doesn't really give them much of a personality.

They're all just kind of the same.

Maybe that's the point.

But I mean,

On my first reading,

I'm just like,

Who's Annie?

Who's Belle?

They are all just kind of the same person.

And I also only just started to pay attention to like,

Oh,

Who is this blonde girl in the 1994 film?

And then she calls out the girl eating the cakes and being like,

Oh,

You won't be able to fit into your dress.

I often can't much tell girls apart from each other.

I can maybe vaguely now.

I'm starting to get it.

But yeah,

I wanted to kind of put that up front.

Jules always sends her some,

But these are all together ravishing,

Cried Annie with a great sniff.

They are for Miss March,

The man said.

And here's a note within the maid holding it to Meg.

What fun!

Who are they from?

Didn't know you had a lover,

Cried the girls,

Fluttering about Meg in a high state of curiosity and surprise.

The note is from Mother and the flowers from Lori,

Said Meg,

Simply yet much gratified that he had not forgotten her.

Who indeed,

Said Annie with a funny look,

As Meg slipped the note into her pocket as a sort of a talisman against envy,

Vanity and false pride,

For the few loving words had done her good.

And the flowers cheered her up by their beauty,

Feeling almost happy again.

She laid by a few ferns and roses for herself and quickly made up the rest in dainty bouquets for the breast,

Hair or skirts of her friends,

Offering them so prettily that Clara,

The elder sister,

Told her she was the sweetest little thing she ever saw.

And they looked quite charmed with her small attention.

Somehow the kind act finished her despotency,

And when all the rest went to show themselves to Miss Moffat,

She saw a happy,

Bright-eyed face in the mirror as she laid her ferns against her rippling hair and fastened the roses in the dress that didn't strike her,

As so very shabby now.

She enjoyed herself very much that evening,

For she danced to her heart's content.

Everyone was very kind,

And she had three compliments.

Annie made her sing,

And someone said she had a remarkable,

Fine voice.

Major Lincoln asked who the fresh little girl with the beautiful eyes was,

And Mr.

Moffat insisted on dancing with her because she didn't doddle but had some spring in her,

As he gracefully expressed it.

So altogether she had a very nice time,

Till she overheard a bit of conversation which disturbed her extremely.

She was sitting just inside the conservatory,

Waiting for her partner to bring her a nice.

Then she heard a voice ask,

On the other side of the flowery wall,

How old is she?

Sixteen or seventeen,

I should say,

Replied another voice.

It would be a grand thing for one of those girls,

Wouldn't it?

Sally says they are very intimate now,

And the old man quite dotes on them.

Mrs.

M has laid her plans,

I dare say,

And will play her cards well,

Early as it is.

The girl evidently doesn't think of it yet,

Said Miss Moffat.

She thought that fib about her mama,

As if she did know,

And colored up when the flowers came quite prettily.

Poor thing,

She'd be so nice if she was only got up in style.

Do you think she'd offend it if we offered to lend her a dress for Thursday?

Asked another voice.

She's proud,

But I don't believe she'd mind,

For that dowdy tartan is all she got.

She may tear it tonight,

And that will be a good excuse for offering a decent one.

We'll see.

I shall ask that Lawrence as a compliment to her,

And we'll have fun about it afterward.

All right.

So there's some very dirty gossip that Mrs.

Marge is planning to marry off some of her daughters.

We can kind of see,

Of course,

That,

You know,

That's Mrs.

Moffat taking part in that gossip.

I kind of distinguish who actually pays attention to her when she's sort of still in her regular clothes,

In her own clothes,

And who kind of decides she's worth the time when she's kind of all dressed up,

Right?

And maybe this is my own headcanon,

But I feel like Mrs.

Moffat is sort of like the Mrs.

Bennett of this marriage,

And Mr.

Moffat is just kind of like,

You know,

The Mr.

Bennett who doesn't really care,

Pay attention to that stuff.

So I'm just wondering if that is the case.

We can make note of this later on,

But I feel like a lot of the people who think she's worth the time of day later on,

They don't really think of her very much now,

Which I think Tamarmi is a very good distinguisher of who's your real friend and who's actually worthwhile.

It's such a cruel thing that she is so cheered by this gift of flowers from a friend and her mom,

And then sudden people are just like,

Oh,

It has to be from Laurie.

It can't be a note from her mom.

That's just too wholesome.

That's not,

That can't be it.

And that's,

And I feel like it just kind of contaminates the whole feeling around that gift.

I think I was in upper elementary school.

Some of my friends were teasing about me liking someone and I really didn't like them and it was so annoying.

So I always remember to read this chapter.

It's really frustrating.

Yeah,

Yeah.

Even still today.

Yes.

That's why,

I mean,

This book is so deeply relatable in a lot of ways,

Right?

It kind of really shows you,

I mean,

The more,

More times change,

The more some things stay the same.

People can see that she's a very authentic person and there are people who can appreciate that,

Right?

And I think,

You know,

I feel like it's such a nice gesture actually,

That she just takes the flowers and she actually distributes them among different people so that they can also benefit from the gift that she has received.

I think that's just a really nice touch for the character.

And she kind of is able to show her sort of inner gifts of much more in this situation.

But then it's kind of a shame we can see that other people just are like,

Oh,

Well,

You know,

She would just be so much better if we could just like put her in a different dress.

She would just like be fine.

And they kind of can't even really see that the kind of care that a lot of the sisters,

Which we know that all of the sisters put into making that dress presentable for this event.

I mean,

All of the sisters kind of came together so that this outfit would be fine.

And then everyone's just like,

Oh,

She's just got this dowdy tarlatan.

Maybe she'll just tear it and replace it with a different one.

Hopefully it just tears and we can replace this outfit that lots of multiple people put effort into preparing.

Yeah.

The problem really is that with these rich girls,

There is really no understanding about the value of money.

Mm,

Yeah,

Yeah.

I don't remember which chapter it was,

But a little bit later on when Jo starts to sell her stories to publishers,

Lori is like,

Why do you need to do that?

And she's like,

I need to make money.

And Lori doesn't really understand why she needs to make money.

He is in that bubble for a rich person,

Never needing to work for anything.

I think it's always a little sad how people don't pay attention to the class differences in a little woman.

Somebody recently sent me a message on Tumblr and asked why people think that Meg is vain.

They read the Vanity Fair chapter and they don't think that Meg is vain.

I don't know if it's the movies.

In the 2019 film,

For example,

Greta Gerwig said that it's all about Meg wanting to have a day off from her terrible life.

And I'm like,

What?

What happens in the movie?

Meg goes to a ball in a pink gown.

It's pretty awkward compared to that 1994 film.

Nothing really happens in the movie.

Meg is just dancing there.

She completely missed the point,

But I don't think she read the book.

It's not about vanity.

It's about who among us doesn't have a sense of having things that we want to have more access to and would like to be able to have.

The problem is the Greta Gerwig film doesn't really have,

Doesn't understand that kind of nuance where it's just this girl,

They used to have a really,

Really comfortable life.

And what she knows is that all of a sudden they couldn't have those things anymore.

They couldn't have a lot of those comforts.

And I think for a kid,

I think that change in circumstances can be actually quite traumatic.

So I think for her,

She's kind of getting into a bit of a money wound,

That kind of wound from having to change circumstances from when she was younger.

And so in particular,

That would hurt.

I mean,

The film adaptation doesn't really understand that and doesn't really even sit with that experience and explore why these things would be valuable to her in the first place.

Well,

It was a person who wrote that Jo wanted to punch Amy after she heard that Laurie and Amy were engaged.

Meg never was a vain person.

She's very introverted.

What's the word?

Introspective.

We all have things that we feel envious about.

It doesn't need to be like nice dresses or living in the manner,

But I know sometimes I envy people in YouTube who are more subscribers than me.

Anyone who does any kind of creation on social media knows this.

So those are the things that I feel envious about sometimes.

Yeah.

I tried to stop that.

I deleted Instagram from my phone because it was doing that to me.

Those are really natural feelings because we compare each other to other people all the time,

And we do that unconsciously.

Meg lived in a time when there wasn't social media,

So there were other things that she compared herself to.

With Jo,

I can see that she loves books and libraries.

I mean,

I think envy is very human,

And everyone has a bit of something that they envy.

And I think the discussion we have with Marmee at the end is that it's more how we reckon with our own personal values and being able to rationalize that.

So I think this is a really good chapter for Meg.

She's going through a lot of personal challenge in this one.

That's why we enjoy it.

Yes.

It is a big part of her character arc.

We see that also when she starts to court John,

And then she struggles with that,

Because there is this pressure from the society and from Aunt Marge to marry a rich man because,

Hey,

You are the beautiful Marge sister.

During this time,

It wasn't okay for a woman to make their own money.

You were expected to marry someone.

Then you would live your life in a more relaxed way.

She's working as a governess at this point in a family that really seems to be very supportive.

No,

No.

From what we can see in the book,

They're not very good bosses.

Yeah.

And the kids are a little bit of a horror.

I think later on,

We also see that John very much praises her working.

We can dive a bit deeper into that when we hit the end of this chapter.

But we can see that Meg is learned enough to be a governess,

First of all.

But also the fact that she has to work.

Some people think that's a horrific thing,

But then when she meets actually the right person who thinks that what she's doing is very honorable and is the sign of a good person,

Then that's when she knows that she's found the right person.

And that's when she's found the right person that Marmee would want for her.

Because Marmee is like,

Well,

Your poverty isn't going to matter if it's the right person.

We can kind of see some foreshadowing at the end,

And we can dive deeper into that towards the end.

I think this is a really interesting part of her arc where I think she's dealing with a lot of the nuances around class and how being well educated and wise and content with the world is very different from actual material wealth.

And the fact that her character is a more important asset.

And that's something that I think the 94 adaptation does very well because that,

You know,

Marmee's character,

You know,

Puts it together.

Well,

Marmee puts it together very well and says,

Well,

I think you should have a good character.

That's what people should appreciate or something like that.

They write it very well in the film.

Here Meg's partner appeared to find her looking much flushed,

Rather agitated.

She was proud and her pride was useful just then,

For it helped her hide her mortification,

Anger and disgust at what she just heard.

Poor,

Innocent and unsuspicious as she was,

She could not help understanding the gossip of her friends.

She tried to forget,

But could not,

And kept repeating to herself,

Mrs.

M has made her plans that fib about her mama and dowdy,

Tarlatan,

Till she was ready to cry and rush home to tell her troubles and ask for advice.

As that was impossible,

She did her best to seem gay and being rather excited,

She succeeded so well that no one dreamed what an effort she was making.

She was very glad when it was all over and she was quiet in her bed where she could think and wonder and fume till her head ached and her hot cheeks were cooled by a few natural tears.

Those foolish yet well-meant words had opened a new world to Meg and much disturbed the peace of the old one in which till now she had lived happily as a child.

Her innocent friendship with Laurie was spoiled by the silly speeches she had overheard.

Her faith in her mother was a little shaken by the worldly plans attributed to her by Mrs.

Moffat,

Who judged others by herself.

And the sensible resolution to be contented with the simple wardrobe which suited a poor man's daughter was weakened by the unnecessary pity of girls who thought a shabby dress one of the greatest calamities under heaven.

Poor Meg had a restless night and got up heavy-eyed,

Unhappy,

Half resentful toward her friends,

And half ashamed of herself for not speaking out frankly and setting everything right.

Everybody dawdled that morning and it was noon before the girls found energy enough even to take up their worsted work.

Something in the manner of her friends struck Meg at once.

They treated her with more respect,

She thought,

Took quite a tender interest in what she said and looked at her with eyes that plainly betrayed curiosity.

All this surprised and flattered her,

Though she did not understand it till Miss Bell looked up from her writing and said with a sentimental air,

Daisy,

Dear,

I've sent an invitation to your friend Mr.

Lawrence for Thursday.

We should like to know him and it's only a proper compliment to you.

Meg colored,

But a mischievous fancy to tease the girls made her reply demurely,

You are very kind,

But I'm afraid he won't come.

Why not,

Chérie?

Asked Miss Bell.

He's too old.

My child,

What do you mean?

What is his age?

I beg to know,

Cried Miss Clara.

Nearly seventy,

I believe,

Answered Meg,

Counting stitches to hide the merriment in her eyes.

You sly creature.

Of course we meant the young man,

Exclaimed Miss Bell,

Laughing.

There isn't any.

Laurie is only a little boy.

And Meg laughed also at the queer look which the sisters exchanged as she thus described her supposed lover.

About your age,

Nan said,

Ne'er are my sisters.

I am seventeen in August,

Returned Meg,

Tossing her head.

It's very connice of him to send you flowers,

Isn't it?

Said Annie,

Looking wise about nothing.

Yes,

He often does to all of us,

For their house is full and we are so fond of them.

My mother and Mr.

Lawrence are friends,

You know,

So it is quite natural that we children should play together.

And Meg hoped they would say no more.

It's evident Daisy isn't out yet,

Said Miss Clara to Bell with a nod.

Oh,

Quite a pastoral state of innocence all round,

Returned Miss Bell with a shrug.

I'm going out to get some little matters for my girls.

Can I do anything for you,

Young ladies?

Asked Mrs.

Moffat,

Lumbering in like an elephant in silk and lace.

Uh,

Let's pause there before we get into clothing,

Clothing flurry for that night.

This is funny how Meg teases Miss Bell.

Oh,

Yeah,

Yeah,

No,

I put a note there on my Kindle edition.

Meg is a troll.

But they be teasing her,

So it's fine.

I don't feel bad about that.

And she shouldn't feel bad about it.

They deserved it.

They had it coming.

Because I can relate to that so much where I think where other people's remarks can kind of contaminate what you perceive of a situation and something that they know nothing about,

Right?

They know nothing about their relationship with Laurie and how her mom sees the world.

They don't understand her mother at all.

That's quite evident here.

But still,

You can have other people's assumptions about you contaminate how you thought about a situation,

How you perceive a situation and know and you know perfectly well.

Of course,

Then she kind of repeats the words to herself in her head,

And that's just something that is also deeply relatable.

She has this innocent friendship.

Her mother is the fount of wisdom,

At least still is at this point.

But of course,

The voice of the novel is quite clear that Mrs.

Moffat is projecting herself onto other people.

I think she really deserved to be able to troll her friends because she acknowledges that they kind of think,

Oh,

Well,

It's so natural.

They mean well.

They do mean well.

And I think the book does acknowledge that.

They think that there's just one way of dealing with boys and marriage and wealth,

And it just has to be that.

And they're just trying to be helpful in their own way,

But just making an actual mess.

And yeah,

No,

It's a very interesting scene.

Also,

Very interesting character moment for Meg.

I was thinking about some of my favorite Megs in the movies,

Like Trini Alvarado in the 1994 film.

But I also like Janet Leigh in the 1949 film because I feel like she's very snarky and the book is snarky.

Like there are moments in the movie when Jo is like,

I hate knitting and wearing long dresses.

And then Aunt Meg is like,

Knitting?

That is so below you.

It always makes me laugh.

You knit?

I didn't know you could.

And there was a moment in the 1949 film where,

I don't know if it was Bill Gardner or Annie Moffat who spoke to their mother about Meg wanting to marry Laurie.

And I don't remember now if it was Meg or Jo who heard that.

I think it was Jo in that version.

But I was like,

Oh,

Nice that they actually took that scene from this book.

When I read like lots of books from the 19th century Victorian era,

A lot of times there are these Miss Bennet type of characters who try to marry their daughters.

I think Marmie is like the only maternal character who doesn't like that idea of forcing her daughters to marry a rich man.

Like she's a very unique character in that way.

Yeah,

It was quite a standout for that era because I can't blame a lot of other mothers of that time for being very worried about that.

Because sometimes that was how a girl got anywhere in life.

To an extent,

I really can't blame women for becoming like that when they get older,

Especially in that period of time.

Yeah,

Marmie is quite unique.

She has a very set philosophy about how marriage should be because,

I mean,

Because she has also experienced a marriage with a person who can balance her,

Is compatible with her,

And also can get through hard times with her.

And I think she's had to go through that kind of discontent that maybe,

Say,

Mrs.

Moffett hasn't had to go through.

Yeah,

And I think it also shows how she has very great trust to her daughters.

She trusts that they are going to make right decisions.

I think she's a bit worried about Amy sometimes because Amy is set on marrying for money.

And when Amy is abroad,

She can't really control her or help her to navigate feelings.

But that ended up with Laurie and not with.

.

.

Why do I always forget his name?

Yeah,

That's Fred Vaughn.

Yeah,

No,

It's Freddie Vaughn.

I was kind of making note of how Marmie is generally pretty content to let her kids just learn things by themselves.

I mean,

We learned this in the experiments chapter,

Right?

You know,

Even if she's worried,

She's like,

Well,

She's only going to learn by doing.

She's a proponent of that,

And I respect that.

I once had a chat with another guest of this podcast,

And we talked about the scene when Laurie proposes Joe.

And my guest said that they always thought that in the back of her mind,

Joe also has pressure from the society to marry Laurie,

Because there seems to be this sort of contention in the book that either Meg or Joe should marry Laurie.

Yes.

And it's really sad,

Even when Laurie proposes and Joe says no,

It's not that Joe regrets it because of herself,

Her feelings.

It's because the only reason she would have married him is because providing,

You know,

Comfortable life for her family and the family was struggling.

Yeah.

So it's not just Meg,

It's Joe as well,

Who are in this constant pressure and sort of under a magnifying glass in this community where everybody knows everybody.

And people are like,

When they are going to get married?

Yeah,

Yeah.

What I do like is that they end up not even needing the two older girls to even marry for money.

I mean,

By the time Amy marries Laurie,

I think the two older ones,

They're not even married to rich men.

Yeah,

No,

No,

The two older ones,

They kind of opt not to do that.

And Joe eventually is able to earn her own keep as a writer.

They all just kind of earn their own small and comfortable living.

And,

You know,

And so ultimately the family doesn't even really necessarily need any other family's money to be supported.

I like that.

I like that resolution.

Yeah,

Definitely.

And it's really cute in the end of Little Woman when Amy and Laurie are talking about let's pretend that Friedrich has a relative in Germany who leaves him tons of money.

Then they can show all the money to Joe and Fritz.

The Marches,

They don't really need Laurie's money.

Even when Laurie and Amy are married,

I think they do give some contributions to the Joe and Friedrich school.

Yeah,

No,

I never get the sense that they rely on Laurie's family for any sort of support.

I think after John passed away,

Maybe then,

To give Meg something to support the children.

But I don't think otherwise they really need financial help.

Everyone seems generally quite autonomous when we get round to the conclusion of the story.

And it's nice because then ultimately this state of desperation,

Of needing a rich husband,

I think that becomes,

It's out of the question by the end.

So,

And I like that.

It was a kind of a tension,

Not a big one,

But it was just kind of like,

Oh,

Well,

You they probably should marry,

Have an advantageous match.

And there's a lot of interesting arcs going on and interesting tensions that kind of resolve in interesting ways in this book,

Which was quite progressive for the time.

Oh yeah,

I remember reading that because Louisa May Alcott saw lots of very unhappy marriages when she was growing up.

All those marriages were arranged marriages.

So I think that's one of the main reasons why she's very much against arranged marriages in Little Women.

Eight Cousins is really interesting because Rose,

Who is the main character of the story,

She's sort of expected to marry a rich man,

And she's expected to marry some of her cousins.

Very controversial these days,

But she's expected to marry one of her cousins.

And she does have two cousins that she's very fond of.

Those are Mac and Charlie,

Very much similar to Lori and Fredrick,

I must say.

And eventually she does decide between the two.

But I think the reason why she is sort of ends up marrying one of her cousins is because there is this assumption that the money must stay in the family.

That's one of those sort of underlying themes in the book.

Yeah,

I mean,

Going back to Jane Austen,

That was a bit of a conflict at one point,

Right?

Yeah,

In the 19th century,

The whole arranged marriage thing was really common because either you wanted to keep the money in the family,

Or then if you were a woman and you came from a poor background,

The only way you could really get higher in the society was to marry someone who was rich.

How far we have come from those days.

I mean,

It resonates with me even now because I mean,

Even now we're not so much relying on marriage for advantage,

But I think there's still a bit of a social pressure around marriage and having a relationship,

But also the type of relationship that you do have,

The sort of person that you do marry.

I think it's still,

I think we've progressed a lot,

But I think that,

You know,

We still have a lot of baggage and convention around that,

Right?

You can get lots of pressure.

Why you are not dating?

Are you married yet?

When are you going to have babies?

It is really bad in Asian families in particular.

You think it would be a bit easier in Finland when we are so equal society,

Quote unquote.

I do get that from my older family members,

Not so much from the young ones.

I do feel that a bit from my family a bit.

I mean,

Because I was visiting relatives in Canada over the holiday,

Over the Christmas holiday,

And they're like,

Wow,

I mean,

You know,

With your education and then,

You know,

And after all that,

Or your looks aren't bad,

Your status should be so high,

You know,

You should be able to attract someone.

I think little women understand something that I feel like people don't even understand now,

Which is that just because you have those things,

It doesn't mean that you can automatically find the right person.

It's not like you have to do all of these things just so you can be a marriageable individual.

You know,

Back then it was just like,

Oh,

You need to be able to sing and be able to sew and look good and that sort of thing.

You know,

Now it's like,

Oh,

Well,

If you dress well and you,

Well,

I mean,

It was a priority back then,

But if you're well educated and cultivate yourself and play instruments and such,

Only one of those things changed actually.

But then,

You know,

You should be able to attract someone.

It feels like such a waste if you date a certain type of person.

And it's like,

Well,

You know,

That's not actually how relationships work.

You don't deserve a relationship necessarily because of those things,

Automatic attractors of the right person.

And that was something that this book understands and it just kind of brings some fresh frustration to me in my own personal life when I read this.