When Alcott describes the girls' appearances, she often uses similes to enhance her descriptions. In Chapter 4, Amy compliments Meg's outfit by comparing her to an angel:
"Never mind, you’ve got the tarlatan for the big party, and you always look like an angel in white."
The color white not only looks good on Meg; it also symbolizes purity, innocence, and angelic beauty. It enhances her looks and subtly marks her potential to develop into an ideal woman.
By contrast, Jo has no appreciation for clothes beyond their practical use (or, in the case of her writing cap, symbolic significance). When Jo makes fun of Laurie for following the latest fashions, she compares him to a scrubbing brush:
Just now it’s the fashion to be hideous, to make your head look like a scrubbing brush, wear a strait jacket, orange gloves, and clumping square-toed boots.
Jo playfully scorns physical adornment, and Laurie takes her critique with good humor. The scrubbing-brush simile is also charged with Jo's fondness for Laurie, which she often expresses through banter. While their banter often seems flirtatious, they do not end up together because Jo continues to resist partnership until the final chapters of Little Women.
Alcott often compares the March household to a beehive in order to show how busy and productive it is. In Chapter 23, the narrator describes a scene of kindness and solidarity:
Like bees swarming after their queen, mother and daughters hovered about Mr. March the next day, neglecting everything to look at, wait upon, and listen to the new invalid, who was in a fair way to be killed by kindness.
Here, Marmee is the "queen" bee, and the girls follow her example as they dote on Mr. March. All of their attention remains on their recently-returned father. They work hard to make sure he feels loved, comfortable, and welcome in the home after his long stint as a chaplain in the war.
Bees first appear in a description of Beth. Despite the fact that she can't go to school, she still devotes much energy to tidying the family home. She refuses to let her physical ailments limit her. In Chapter 4, the narrator describes Beth as a "busy bee":
Beth went faithfully on by herself and did the best she could. She was a housewifely little creature, and helped Hannah keep home neat and comfortable for the workers, never thinking of any reward but to be loved. Long, quiet days she spent, not lonely nor idle, for her little world was peopled with imaginary friends, and she was by nature a busy bee.
This is technically a metaphor, but the bee represents the same set of values as before. Beth's productive "housewifeliness" is a virtue. Regardless of her ailments, Beth follows her mother's example and remains active in her own way.
In Chapter 15, the March family receives a telegram that their father has fallen ill. Alcott uses two powerful similes to describe the aftermath of reading the telegram:
Everyone scattered like leaves before a gust of wind, and the quiet, happy household was broken up as suddenly as if the paper had been an evil spell.
The first simile, which compares the girls to leaves, evokes a feeling of helplessness and loss of control. The March family is usually tight-knit and communicative, but they "scatter" when they receive news of their father's illness. They briefly lose their optimism as everyone retreats into their own worries. By contrast, the scene in which Mr. March returns home finds the family buzzing with excitement and once again united in mutual love and affection.
The second simile, which compares the telegram to an "evil spell," suggests that the paper has powers beyond its small purpose of conveying information. It also suggests that the March family is powerless to change their father's plight. While they successfully hold down the home front, they have no way to access or fully understand what goes on during the war. The same technology that brings them news of their father also helps facilitate a deadly war. This tiny piece of paper has the effect of an evil spell because it contains some of the worst possible news that makes the Marches feel hopeless.
Alcott often compares the March household to a beehive in order to show how busy and productive it is. In Chapter 23, the narrator describes a scene of kindness and solidarity:
Like bees swarming after their queen, mother and daughters hovered about Mr. March the next day, neglecting everything to look at, wait upon, and listen to the new invalid, who was in a fair way to be killed by kindness.
Here, Marmee is the "queen" bee, and the girls follow her example as they dote on Mr. March. All of their attention remains on their recently-returned father. They work hard to make sure he feels loved, comfortable, and welcome in the home after his long stint as a chaplain in the war.
Bees first appear in a description of Beth. Despite the fact that she can't go to school, she still devotes much energy to tidying the family home. She refuses to let her physical ailments limit her. In Chapter 4, the narrator describes Beth as a "busy bee":
Beth went faithfully on by herself and did the best she could. She was a housewifely little creature, and helped Hannah keep home neat and comfortable for the workers, never thinking of any reward but to be loved. Long, quiet days she spent, not lonely nor idle, for her little world was peopled with imaginary friends, and she was by nature a busy bee.
This is technically a metaphor, but the bee represents the same set of values as before. Beth's productive "housewifeliness" is a virtue. Regardless of her ailments, Beth follows her mother's example and remains active in her own way.
When Alcott describes the girls' appearances, she often uses similes to enhance her descriptions. In Chapter 4, Amy compliments Meg's outfit by comparing her to an angel:
"Never mind, you’ve got the tarlatan for the big party, and you always look like an angel in white."
The color white not only looks good on Meg; it also symbolizes purity, innocence, and angelic beauty. It enhances her looks and subtly marks her potential to develop into an ideal woman.
By contrast, Jo has no appreciation for clothes beyond their practical use (or, in the case of her writing cap, symbolic significance). When Jo makes fun of Laurie for following the latest fashions, she compares him to a scrubbing brush:
Just now it’s the fashion to be hideous, to make your head look like a scrubbing brush, wear a strait jacket, orange gloves, and clumping square-toed boots.
Jo playfully scorns physical adornment, and Laurie takes her critique with good humor. The scrubbing-brush simile is also charged with Jo's fondness for Laurie, which she often expresses through banter. While their banter often seems flirtatious, they do not end up together because Jo continues to resist partnership until the final chapters of Little Women.
