dual personalities

Lately, Little Women has been popping up in my mind quite frequently. At a recent dinner party, one guest confused Little Women with Little House on the Prairie. (Here’s where I say, see, having a PhD in nineteenth-century women’s fiction is a wonderful party trick.) I also recently searched the Baby Lit archives to see which classics they’ve got, since Moby-Dick was a real hit with the little man. Perhaps Lottie would respond well to the March sisters?

Little Women has also been buzzy because Greta Gerwig has directed a new film adaption of the novel with a 21st-century cool-girl cast.

I mean, I just watched this now and thought, “Laura Dern is in this too? And Meryl Streep?” Make that “multi-generational cool-girl cast.”

Mostly, I realized, Little Women has been on my mind because it begins in December.

As young readers like to know ‘how people look’, we will take this moment to give them a little sketch of the four sisters, who sat knitting away in the twilight, while the December snow fell quietly without, and the fire crackled cheerfully within. It was a comfortable room, though the carpet was faded and the furniture very plain, for a good picture or two hung on the walls, books filled the recesses, chrysanthemums and Christmas roses bloomed in the windows, and a pleasant atmosphere of home peace pervaded it.

Appropriately, Gerwig’s film will be released on Christmas Day.

I did not actually read Little Women until graduate school — it was not a formative novel from my childhood or anything. So when I read the text, I was more focused on Louisa May Alcott and my research topic (domesticity and religion) and less so on a “which March sister are you” approach. Perhaps that is why I’m not so jazzed about Gerwig’s adaptation as my peers on the internet. Given how I responded to Lady Bird (I felt precisely 7 years younger than Gerwig and 7 years out of touch with the very specific high-school nostalgia in which that film indulged), I doubt I’d relate to whatever Gerwig’s version of this novel might be.

Having skimmed this piece, it seems there’s a chance Gerwig is trying to get at…something? I can appreciate the line, “As a girl, my heroine was Jo…As a woman, it’s Louisa May Alcott,” though I’m not sure I believe it. Ultimately, my guess is that this new version will be a 21st-century story and not a 19th-century one.

If you hadn’t guessed already, my plan is just to reread the novel itself. Why mess with it?

*Jo March, Chapter 4 of Little Women

Over the long weekend, I invited the wee babes over to play with my dolls and change them into their Christmas outfits. Mostly, this was an excuse for me to get out the dolls and look through their accessories. I’m talking, of course, about my American Girl Dolls circa the 90s.

Three are mine and two are Susie’s. I accidentally cropped out Kirsten in her cute outfit!

I loved my dolls. I had Kirsten (the prairie doll whose family immigrated from Sweden), Felicity (growing up in Colonial times), and Molly (the WWII-era doll). Classics. Susie had Samantha (the Victorian-era doll and one of the original three), and Kit (the depression-era doll). I will also add that I knew how lucky I was to have so many dolls and so many of their things. I appreciated them, I played with them, and I took care of them.

In preparation for the visit, I read the first book in each series for Kirsten, Felicity, and Molly. And boy they were different. As an immigrant from Sweden, Kirsten’s story begins on the ship over to America! (you have to use the exclamation point because they were so excited to get here). Once in America, the family has to travel by train and riverboat to Minnesota where they are meeting family members. On the journey, Kirsten’s best friend dies of cholera. I was so surprised.

In contrast, the conflicts in the Felicity and Molly books seem much less high stakes, although the contrasts to our privileged lifestyles now still seemed stark. For instance, WWII-era Molly is not allowed to let the Victory Garden radishes grown by the housekeeper go to waste and thus cannot be excused from the table until she finishes them. Likewise, her mother believes it would be wasteful to use fabric to make a fancy dress for a halloween costume, so Molly and her friends settle for hula skirts made from newsprint.

Kit is featured here wearing a dress made by my great-aunt Suzanne based on the pattern for Kirsten’s birthday dress. Lottie declared her “ready to go” when she gave her Molly’s schools satchel that looks like a purse.

Anyway, as usual when you invite almost-three-year-olds over, what they found most interesting was not what I wanted to focus on, but rather the rubber fish in Kirsten’s fishing basket and her honey jars. I got that full set of accessories when I quit sucking my thumb. While they played, I changed the dolls into their Christmas outfits (and didn’t take a good picture because I was running around).

Visiting the American Girl Doll website is kind of depressing these days. The original idea is so lost–through these dolls and stories we were able to learn about how young girls lived in different times. The characters were all independent thinkers, despite and within the confines of their time. Throughout the series, the characters all faced adversity of some kind–but through their intelligence, quick-thinking, and sometimes asking for help, they rose above it and solved their problems. No victims here–something that is important for young girls to read!

It was fun to have an excuse to dig into the boxes, though, and I’m sure next year, the wee babes will be more help!

*Rumer Godden, The Doll’s House

Is there anything like a long weekend to restore the soul? Ours was lovely, from start to finish. I teleworked on Wednesday and didn’t think about work again until this afternoon. What a joy!

We did a good amount of relaxing…

Thanksgiving included lots of sofa lounging with the dog

indulging ourselves…

Pumpkin pie and fresh whipped cream!

accomplishing chores…

DN anchored a bookshelf into a stud. Very resourceful with the headlamp, yes?

and getting into the spirit of things.

I love this marching-band stitched table cloth underneath the tree

My collection of “woodland creatures” (per DN) adorns the TV “mantle”

It’s always fun to remember what one acquired last year

All done up!

Our apartment is now feeling very twinkly and tidy. I should mention that DN also steam-cleaned our sofa, but I’ve spared us all photos of that particular task.

I will admit that I did some “Black Friday” online shopping, but not too much. I’m only a little alarmed about the amount of cardboard boxes that have been arriving. (At least we have recycling at our building, now!) However, I am happy to report that on Friday we went antique shopping in Baltimore, where there are aisles upon aisles of brown furniture to be had. China hutches for $300! Secretaries for less! This picture is actually of the front of the store, where they have the more modern pieces that I guess they think are more likely to sell. I like heading to the back.

I zoomed in on this photo and now regret not checking out those twin lamps.

I am just trying to make my mother proud, obviously.

*Del Griffith, Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. For whatever reason, during this year’s viewing, the 80’s sentimental music that cuts in for Del’s touching monologue 100% got me.