The novel is set in 1860s Massachusetts during the Civil War. The town remains unnamed, which evokes a sense of generality; the same joys and trials that befall the March family likely happened to many others of their station. Much of Part I revolves around the March family home. The home represents not only the domestic sphere but also the moral one. Chapters 1 and 23, the first and last chapters of Volume I, begin at Christmastime. Circular structure creates a sense of completeness and marks the passage of one year in the girls' adolescence. While the girls hold down the home front, learning how to be "little women" from their exemplar, Marmee, their father serves as a chaplain in the war.
The setting broadens in Volume II as the girls travel away from home and find romantic partners. This section begins three years after the end of Volume I and was initially titled Good Wives. The widening view, from the individual and the family to society and the world at large, typified the nineteenth-century novel. It also creates excitement about the girls' uncertain yet promising futures and stands in stark contrast to the cozy, comfortable first volume. Alcott was inspired by her hometown and family experiences to write this story.
