Jo's Boys

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For the anime adaptation of the novel Little Men, see Little Women II: Jo's Boys. For the BBC adaptation, see Jo's Boys (1959 TV series).
Jo's Boys
Cover and spine, 1887 edition
AuthorLouisa May Alcott
CountryUnited States of America
LanguageEnglish
SeriesLittle Women
GenreChildren's literature
PublisherRoberts Brothers
Publication date
1886
Media typePrint
Pages375
(First edition)
Preceded byLittle Men 

Jo's Boys, and How They Turned Out: A Sequel to "Little Men" is a novel by American author Louisa May Alcott, first published in 1886. The novel is the final book in the unofficial Little Women series. In it, Jo's children, now grown, are caught up in real world troubles.

Plot[edit]

The book describes life at Plumfield, where Jo and Professor Bhaer continue to run an academy ten years after Little Men. The story also explores the lives of many past Plumfield residents. Tom, one of the original students, is so in love with another Plumfield student, Nan, that he has enrolled in medical school to follow her despite having no personal interest in medicine. Nan is clear that she wants to stay single and focus on her career.

Jo has earned plenty of money and notoriety publishing her stories, but is tired of the constant visits and letters from fans who expect someone different than she is. After an exasperating surprise visit from a group of fans, Dan, another original Plumfield student shows up on a visit from California. Those at Plumfield are fascinated by his wild personality and rugged good looks. A dance is held at Parnassus, the home of Amy and Laurie's family, before Dan goes off to try farming and Professor Bhaer's adopted son Emil goes back to sea.

The Lawrences then take Meg's youngest daughter Josie along on a vacation at the beach, where she discovers her idol Miss Cameron is staying next door. After biding her time, Josie earns an invitation to visit and receives advice from the actress. Back at Plumfield, Tom confides in Mrs Jo that in his efforts to impress Nan, he "accidentally" proposed to a girl named Dora, but he finds he is happier with her and quits medicine to join his family's business. Meanwhile, Demi shares with his mother, Meg, that after trying so many professions, he wants to go into publishing.

The story jumps to Emil, who is promoted after his hard work as a sailor. On his first voyage as second mate, he gets a chance to show his true strength when the ship sinks and the captain becomes badly injured. He later marries the captain's daughter. In Dan's travels out west, he ends up killing a man in self-defense, which is the one sin he and Jo always feared he would commit. He is sentenced to a year in prison with hard labor and avoids telling anyone out of shame, only sending short postcards home. After his release, he resolves to do something worthy of pride before revisiting Plumfield.

Nat, yet another of the original students, begins a musical career in Europe, nearly goes into debt, and refocuses on his studies. Back at Plumfield, Jo produces a play focusing on a mother as the hero of the story. Another production poses the residents of Plumfield as classic gods and goddesses. After Laurie's comments on Jo as Juno, she resolves to be a better wife to Professor Bhaer. Miss Cameron attends the event and compliments Josie's acting. Later, at the March sisters' sewing circle, they and the female students discuss their futures and the expanding opportunities for single women. At Class Day, Demi and Josie conspire to find out whether Alice Heath has feelings for Demi, and they settle on sending her three roses in various levels of bloom and asking her to wear one according to her feelings. Alice decides to wear all three, confirming their engagement.

News of Dan's injury saving men from a mining accident comes by newspaper and Laurie brings him back to Plumfield for recovery, after which Josie and Bess, Amy's young daughter, try to keep him entertained. Jo discovers Dan is in love with Bess and gently advises him not to act on it. The book ends by summarizing that all the marriages go well and Bess and Josie find success in the arts. Nan remains happily single and dedicated to her work and Dan dies defending the Native Americans he lives among. Demi finds success in publishing and Jo's son Ted becomes a clergyman. Alcott writes that this is the end of the March family's story.

Themes[edit]

Freedom[edit]

Miss Cameron, Dan, and Nan exemplify the freedom of unattachment in modern society.[1] Dan, one of the most developed characters in the book,[2] portrays an "untamed" hero figure. Free to do whatever he wants, he becomes both a savior and a murderer, the most attractive character at Plumfield, yet unworthy of marriage despite his love of Bess and imagining himself as her knight. His wandering, free lifestyle fails to keep him free of confinement and worthy of someone like Bess, instead leading to a lonely life and an early death. He exemplifies the hopelessness of satisfying all of one's personal desires.[3]

Single women and men also demonstrate a type of freedom in which they can achieve a different kind of success. Nan can focus completely on her work and Dan, despite his loneliness, is able to find his own peace. The book's narration generally minimizes marriage, not as a negative event, but as a side story to the characters exploring careers and retaining independence.[4]

Modern ideals[edit]

Although Alcott is more critical about modernity in other works, [5] Plumfield represents her idea of utopia as a school, home, and charity. The school teaches the March family's children, but also sponsors local boys and orphans. Alcott's father, Bronson Alcott, worked in education and also participated in establishing a utopian community in Massachusetts, which may have contributed to the exploration of these ideas in Jo's Boys.[6] Laurence College is described as a coeducational school with progressive politics and "new ideas of education", allowing students of any sex and color.[7]

Other more modern ideas such as dieting and temperance appear in Jo's Boys. Jo suggests root-beer instead of alcohol to some of the boys, lecturing them on health. Dan's exploration of the west presents similar stories to the dime novels of the day. Celebrity culture also began to emerge, showing up in the book as Miss Cameron. Faster photography allowed for amateurs, like Demi, to try their hand at the art. Throughout the novel, Alcott contrasts new and old, modern and old-fashioned.[8]

Gender roles[edit]

Critics disagree on whether Plumfield is a "feminist utopia" or whether Alcott is more focused on addressing social constraints placed on women of the time.[5] Women's expanding rights to work, receive an education, and live independent of a husband or family show up in the paths of the different female characters in the novel. Nan chooses her career over ever having a family and Daisy focuses mainly on having a family. Alice and Jo work on balancing both career and family, and Josie and Bess are said to have successful careers and "worthy mates". The novel also discusses women's responsibility to employ their right to vote. Jo encourages the female students of Laurence College to consider what they will do with their lives if they never marry. The ensuing conversation explores the idea that the role of women in society is decreasingly based on rank and more based on skill.[9] Jo also shares her conviction that women diagnosed with "nervous exhaustion" or a "delicate constitution" can be cured by studying and putting their mind to work.[10]

The feminism in the novel is contrasted with the plays put on by Jo and Laurie at Plumfield in which motherhood is the focus and interests diverging from domestic ideals are discouraged. Additionally, Jo's achievement of her childhood dreams of money and fame contrasts with her settling as the matron of Plumfield and its students.[11] Amy is said to have succeeded where Jo hasn't in combining her familial and artistic efforts, suggesting to the reader that women can have a family without giving up the development of their talents.[12] Alcott also develops the importance of the mother's moral guidance on their sons, emphasizing that only women can balance men's impulses.[13]

Vocation[edit]

Jo's Boys goes in depth into different characters' attempts to find the right direction in life. Both Dan and Demi try multiple different careers throughout the story before ending up somewhere they feel content. Other characters pursue careers in law, business, art, acting, music, medicine, religion, and education. Tom's story emphasizes finding a career one is "well-suited" for.[14] Both Demi and Tom only find their professions after considering marriage, finding more thought-out career paths with the stability to support a family.[15]

Classic mythology[edit]

Continuing the contrast of modern versus old-fashioned, Alcott frequently alludes to Greek and Roman mythology. Ted is often directly compared to Mercury. Dan notices a "gleaming and white" statue of the beautiful Galatea just as Bess is frequently described as fair and white. These allusions serve to emphasize the present rather than romanticize the past. Alcott puts a modern twist on the story of Galatea and Pygmalion, whose statue comes to life in answer to his prayers. Rather than fulfilling Dan's desire for Bess, Alcott turns the story towards denial to protect innocence. "The Owlsdark Marbles" is another direct use of mythology to comment on society. Bacchus becomes the subject of lecture on temperance and Minerva holds a shield for "Woman's Rights" and advertises the duty of women to "vote early and often".[16]

Author-audience separation[edit]

Alcott's treatment of Jo's fame establishes separation between an author and their audience. Jo expresses frustration that her readers want to connect with what they imagine her to be despite not knowing her at all. More so in Jo's Boys than in some of her other pieces commenting on the author-audience relationship, Alcott points out a divide between Jo's imagined audience and the readers' engagement with her books. Alienation emerges when fans are disappointed about their interactions and Jo comes to resent them.[17]

Composition and publication history[edit]

Louisa May Alcott wrote the novel while living at the Thoreau-Alcott House on Main Street in Concord, Massachusetts. She bought the home for her sister Anna Alcott Pratt in 1877, though she moved in as well in the 1880s.[18]

Adaptation[edit]

Nan is the focus of Japanese animated television series Little Women II: Jo's Boys (Wakakusa Monogatari Nan to Jou Sensei). Additionally, Little Men (1940 film) is loosely based on Jo’s Boys.

References[edit]

  1. ^ Eiselein 2006, p. 100.
  2. ^ Black 1982, p. 16.
  3. ^ Eiselein 2006, p. 91.
  4. ^ Eiselein 2006, pp. 100–101.
  5. ^ a b Eiselein 2006, p. 85.
  6. ^ Vöő 2018, p. 620.
  7. ^ Eiselein 2006, pp. 93–94.
  8. ^ Eiselein 2006, pp. 86–88.
  9. ^ Eiselein 2006, p. 94.
  10. ^ Keyser 1983, pp. 459–460.
  11. ^ Keyser 1983, pp. 457–458.
  12. ^ Keyser 1983, p. 463.
  13. ^ Vöő 2018, pp. 619–621.
  14. ^ Eiselein 2006, p. 95.
  15. ^ Vöő 2018, pp. 629–630.
  16. ^ Eiselein 2006, pp. 88–89.
  17. ^ Eiselein 2006, pp. 98.
  18. ^ Ehrlich, Eugene and Gorton Carruth. The Oxford Illustrated Literary Guide to the United States. New York: Oxford University Press, 1982: 45. ISBN 0-19-503186-5

Sources Cited[edit]

External links[edit]

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