My Top 5 Influential Women in Fiction - Number 3

Number three goes to Jo March from Little Women. The novel was written by Louisa May Alcott in 1868, outlining the every day lives of four sisters, Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy, as their father fights in the civil war. A highly anticipated first novel for Louisa, it was followed closely by her second novel and it's sequel, Good Wives, in 1869.

I haven't mentioned this book in my blog before, and it was only when I was putting together this countdown that I realised that. I was surprised as this book was such a massive part of my childhood. As a child, I was overly chatty, clumsy, and slightly over-confident for my age. I was never quiet when I was supposed to be, unless I had my head stuck in a book, and I always made sure that I shared my opinions. If you've read Little Women, you're probably beginning to understand why I related to Jo, out of the four sisters, in particular. 

Jo is the second child out of the four, she's a tomboy, she thinks she knows best, she's opinionated, but she's happy, nothing gets her down. I am fond of Jo because of her ambition. In the time the book is set, women did 'women's jobs', they weren't meant to write novels or fight in the army, but Jo didn't care that she wasn't meant to, she still wanted to. Although whilst growing up she was never specific about what she wanted to do, she always wanted to do something 'great', and low and behold, she went on to have a novel published. 

Jo has a strong relationship with her sister, Beth. Beth is shy, gentle and kind, and their relationship works because they are complete opposites. Beth reminds Jo of the qualities that don't come naturally to her, yet she also helps her to become more comfortable in her own skin. Their relationship was the one that I enjoyed most throughout the novel, the one that I felt was the deepest and the most genuine. 

Jo's character was actually based on Louisa May Alcott herself. Louisa never married, but through pressure from her publishers, she was steered into providing Jo with a romance. This wasn't something she had originally planned for Jo, so in order to play with the publishers, and her readers, she didn't give Jo the romance that everybody was expecting - Laurie - she married her off to a secondary character, Mr Bhaer. Although I'm amused by Louisa not giving into expectations here, I was never a fan of this coupling. Jo should have married Laurie, they were a perfect match, contrasting yet so similar at the same time. And Laurie and Amy were never a believable pair. 

That small hiccup aside, this story truly is a classic. For me, Jo made the book, without her it just wouldn't have had the personality, the longevity or the punch that it did.