@r0sybumpsnbruises Little Women is perhaps one of my favorite books of all time. I love all the vast ways the characters can be interpreted, and how each readier connects with them differently. I know the most popular queer reading is Jo as lesbian, but her boyishness has always resonated with me, too, and I'm a trans man.
I distinctly remember being 13-14 years old and reading her say, "I can't get over my disappointment at not being a boy".Ā I felt so seen.Ā She insists on being called the shorter, masculine form of her name, dreams of running off with her best friend to Europe and posing as a man, and adopts unladylike mannerisms specifically because they distance her from femininity. Which was all just like me, at the time.Ā
Obviously, she's intended to be a woman, and I'd never want to take away from the feminist context in which the book was written. But growing up, she was the first character who I could look at and recognize a piece of myself. It wasĀ very special for me.
There is a lot of gender commentary and envy in Alcott's fiction, and not just from Jo. Laurie is written as fairlyĀ delicate, feminine, and just fascinated with the March girls. It's not an accident that his nickname is a girl's name, and Jo's a boy's.Ā