Little Women and the Word: What Would Alcott Think?

Last updated on: March 28, 2016 at 10:25 am by Lori Erickson

Little Women and the Word: What Would Alcott Think? 2016-03-28T10:25:59-06:00 Lori Erickson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Book When I was growing up, I was one of Jo’s girls. If you’re a fellow fan of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women, you’ll know exactly what I mean by that. The strong-willed, passionate Jo was my favorite of the four daughters whose lives fill the book, which I’d read at least a half dozen times.

Through my blog I’ve gotten to know someone even more passionate about Alcott’s book than me: Susan Bailey, who has the blog Louisa May Alcott is My Passion. On it she explores not only the books written by this beloved author, but also the lives of those in Alcott’s family and literary circle. With Henry David Thoreau as a teacher, and Ralph Waldo Emerson as a family friend, who can imagine the interesting childhood Alcott had.

Susan Bailey has a new book: Louisa May Alcott Illuminated by The Message. It’s part of a series called Literary Portals to Prayer, which is meant to encourage a kind of literary lectio divina, which is a form of contemplative reading that is a pathway to prayer.

It’s a creative idea, isn’t it? Other authors in the series include Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Herman Melville, and William Shakespeare. Passages from each author’s works are matched with verses from The Message, which is a version of the Bible in contemporary language by Eugene Peterson.

In the introduction to her book, Bailey writes that in her her time, Louisa May Alcott was not considered religious; neither she nor any member of her family had any formal affiliation with a church. And when Little Women was published, it wasn’t considered a suitable book for Sunday school libraries because it wasn’t explicitly Christian.

But spiritual themes are woven through the book, especially in the grappling Alcott does with the suffering and death of virtuous people (if you, like me, sobbed at the death of Beth, you know this is true).

Here’s an example from the matching of passages:

(image from Wikimedia Commons)

Louisa May Alcott (image from Wikimedia Commons)

From Little Women, the last days of Beth:

It was well for all that this peaceful time was given them as preparation for the sad hours to come, for by-and-by, Beth said the needle was `so heavy’, and put it down forever. Talking wearied her, faces troubled her, pain claimed her for its own, and her tranquil spirit was sorrowfully perturbed by the ills that vexed her feeble flesh. Ah me! Such heavy days, such long, long nights, such aching hearts and imploring prayers, when those who loved her best were forced to see the thin hands stretched out to them beseechingly, to hear the bitter cry, Help me, help me! and to feel that there was no help. A sad eclipse of the serene soul, a sharp struggle of the young life with death, but both were mercifully brief, and then the natural rebellion over, the old peace returned more beautiful than ever. With the wreck of her frail body, Beth’s soul grew strong, and though she said little, those about her felt that she was ready, saw that the first pilgrim called was likewise the fittest, and waited with her on the shore, trying to see the Shining Ones coming to receive her when she crossed the river.

And from Psalm 66:

Bless our God, O peoples!
    Give him a thunderous welcome!
Didn’t he set us on the road to life?
    Didn’t he keep us out of the ditch?
He trained us first,
    passed us like silver through refining fires,
Brought us into hardscrabble country,
    pushed us to our very limit,
Road-tested us inside and out,
    took us to hell and back;
Finally he brought us
    to this well-watered place.

An intriguing idea for a book, no? And there’s no better person to write it than Susan Bailey.

Books

Literary Portals to Prayer

Louisa May Alcott

Louisa May Alcott Illuminated by The Message

Susan Bailey

Previous Post

March 24, 2016

The Really Crazy Thing We Do On Maundy Thursday

Next Post

March 30, 2016 Changing Climate, Observed From an Iowa Woodland

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Aging & Spirituality Amish Anabaptists Animals Apocalypse Archeological sites Art and Spirituality Awards Belgian Holy Sites birds Blessings Books Buddhism Business & Spirituality Callings Cats Celtic Cemeteries Children Christianity church Colorado Creation Death Desert Spirituality Easter Economics Education & Spirituality Egypt Episcopal Church Faith Fear Films First Nations Food Forgiveness Germany God Good & Evil Good Friday Grace Gratitude Happiness Healing Hildegard of Bingen Hinduism History Holy Rover blog Holy Sites Holy Week Horses Iceland Illness Images of God Indigenous Spiritualilty Interfaith Interfaith Dialogue Iowa Islam Israel Japan Judaism LDS Church Lent Machu Picchu Martin Luther Media Meditation Monasteries Museums Music Music and Spirituality Musings Mysticism Native American Nature New Age New Zealand Norse History/Culture/Spirituality Orthodox Paradox Paranormal Peru Philosophy Pilgrimage Poetry Politics Pop Culture Pilgrimage Sites Prayers sermons Silence Social Media Spiritual writers Spirituality and Food Spirituality and Social Media Stone Circles Thomas Merton Turkey Uncategorized Unconventional Holy Sites Utopian communities Videos Virgin Mary Wicca Work World War I Writing Zen

Select a Month August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What nation conquered the Northern Kingdom of Israel?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Philistia Babylon Assyria Egypt