A STUDY ON THE CHARACTER OF JOSEPHINE MARCH

IN LOUISA MAY ALCOTT’S

LITTLE WOMEN

ABSTRACT

A STUDY ON THE CHARACTERS OF JOSEPHINE MARCH IN LOUISA MAY ALCOTT’S LITTLE WOMEN

The writer uses a raw material of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women as her study in this paper. She finds one of the major characters in Little Women, Josephine March, has a very unique personality. Different from all of her sisters, Jo, the name Josephine uses to call herself to make it sound manlier, doesn’t like the fact that she is born as a girl. On the first chapter she often complains about how she hopes to be a boy so she could go and fight with her Father. She is also a very smart girl who has a great talent in writing. She even has a job which is something rare for nineteenth century American girl. Her character and personality is strongly affected by the writer itself, Louisa May Alcott. This fact intrigues the writer to find out why Jo has that unique character and to analyze what factors influencing it and also to find the similarity between the character, Josephine March, and the writer, Louisa May Alcott. In carrying out her study, she uses a literary approach that is based on sociological theory namely Feminist theory and biographical approach. Both of this approach are used to point out why Jo March has a very unique behavior for a nineteenth century girl.

This study is conducted by means of the content analysis. The data for the analysis cover the behavior of Josephine March in the novel.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First of all, the writer would like to express her best gratitude to God for His blessing that she can finish her study. The writer also refers her great gratitude to both of her parents who have supported her study and given her encouragement to finish her study.

The writer would like to express her deepest thank to Mrs. Yokhebed Santoso, her advisor who has provided her time, advices and all necessary resources needed in her papers. Finally, she also thanks all of her friends who have given her encouragement to finish this paper.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I.            INTRODUCTION

I.1.    BACKGROUD OF THE PROBLEM

I.2.    THE PROBLEM STATEMENT

I.3.    OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

I.4.    IMPORTANCE OF THE STUDY

I.5.    SCOPE AND LIMITATION

I.6.    UNDERLYING THEORY

I.7.    ORGANIZING OF THE STUDY

II.            REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

II.1.  

III.            METHOD OF THE STUDY

III.1. DATA COLLEVTION

III.2. DATA ANALYSIS

III.3. ANALYSIS

III.4. CONCLUSION

IV.            ANALYSIS

IV.1. asd

V.            CONCLUSION

V.1. CONCLUSION OF

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

The writer of this paper divides this introductory chapter into seven parts. They are the background of the problem, statement of the problem, objectives of the study, importance of the study, scope and limitation of the study, the theory underlying and the organization of the study.

1.1.Background of The Study

Louisa May Alcott was an American writer who authored over 30 books and short-story collections and wrote poetry as well. Little Women, her most famous book, was a novel for girls. Written in 1868, it departed from the existing  practice of idealized and/or stereotypical children in books meant for young readers. Instead, it offered a fully realized young heroine in the spirited character of tomboy Jo March. Little Women remains a beloved classic of children’s literature today. Alcott is also remembered for her book Hospital Sketches, which she penned in 1863 based on letters she had written home while serving as a nurse in Washington, D.C., during the Civil War.

Little Women is one of Louisa May Alcott’s special novels. This novel was based on the life of Louisa May Alcott herself and also her three sisters. The four major character are a semi-portray of herself and her three sisters.

The writer is impressed by the novel Little Women and decides to analyze it because when she read it, she is really interested with the plot line and also the strong personality of each March siblings, especially Josephine March’s personality which the writer find really unique. Unlike her other three sisters, Jo act like a boy in her family when her Father has to go to the war. Moreover based on the background of Alcott’s biography, there are some similarity between the novelist and one of the major characters, Josephine March.

The writer wonders why Jo has a unique personality and behavior that doesn’t show that she is a nineteenth century American girl. Instead behaving well like a lady, Jo often complains how she wishes to become a boy so she could go to the war and help her Father. This action of her is so contradicted to how nineteenth century girls usually act.

Therefore, in carrying out her study, the writer will use a literary approach and biographical approach. For the literary approach, the writer will use social factor, more specifically she will use the Feminist theory. Feminist theory is the extension of feminism into theoretical or philosophical discourse. It aims to understand the nature of gender inequality. The strange behavior of Josephine March encourage the writer to find out what social factors affect it through Literary and Biographical approach

1.2.Problem Statement

Despite the growth of industry, urban centers and immigration, America in the late 19th century was still predominantly rural. Seven out of ten people in the United States lived in small towns with populations under 2500 or on farms in 1870. In Indiana, the 1880 census reported a population of almost 2 million residents, about 55 per square mile, 1,010,000 men and 968,000 women. About three out of four people lived in rural areas. The nineteenth century American women were tied to house and children, doing endlessly unacknowledged work, and little opportunity for outside contact or variety of experience.

Josephine March is one of those nineteenth century American girls. All her other sisters acts just like the other girls at that time should act, especially her little sister, Amy March. But, unlike them, she acts like a boy and even her other sisters consider her as their ‘brother’. She also often hopes to be a boy instead of a girl. But in the end, Jo’s behavior change after she falls in love with Mr. Bhaer.

On the basis of the above background, the writer wants to analyze what factors make Jo acts oppositely from the other nineteenth century American girl and to find the influence Alcott gives to her character, Josephine March. The problem of the study can be formulated as follow: 1. What kind of changes occur in Jo’s behavior? 2. What factors that makes Jo acts oppositely from the other nineteenth century American girl? 3. What kind of influence that Alcott gives to her character, Josephine March?

1.3.The Objective of The Study

This study is geared to the following objectives:

1.      To find what kind of changes occur in one of the major characters of Little Women, Josephine March’s behavior.

2.      To find out the factors that makes Jo acts oppositely from the other nineteenth century American girl.

3.      To find the influence given by Louisa May Alcott to her character, Jo.

1.4.The Importance of The Study

The writer hopes that this paper will broaden the other students’ horizon toward the study of literary in relation to the application of literary works: such as, in examining the personality and behavior of the character in the novel through literary field from the Sociological factor namely feminist theory. We also can study about the relation of the social factors with the behavior and personality in a character and also the influence given by the story writer to her/his character. Finally, this study will show that social factors have a great effect on people’s behavior.

1.5.The Scope and Limitation of The Study

In doing this research, the writer limits this study to one of the major characters, Josephine March, in Little Women because Jo shows a strange and unique behavior compare to the other characters.

She also limits her data to both sociological factors and biographical factors. The sociological factors are limited to the personality and behavior of Jo March toward the other participants. The writer will use only the feminist theory to show the change in Jo March’s behavior through the novel.

1.6.Underlying Theory

The study is based on the Sociological theory or more specifically it is based on the feminist theory. Feminist theory is the extension of feminism into theoretical or philosophical discourse. It aims to understand the nature of gender inequality. It examines women's social roles, experience, interests, and feminist politics in a variety of fields, such as anthropology and sociology, communication, psychoanalysis, economics, literature, education, and philosophy. Feminist theory focuses on analyzing gender inequality. Themes explored in feminism include discrimination, objectification (especially sexual objectification), oppression, patriarchy, stereotyping, art history and contemporary art, and aesthetics.

1.7.The Organization of The Study

This paper consists of five chapters. Chapter one is introduction that talks about the background of the study, problem statement, objective of the study, the importance of the study, that scope and limitation of the study and the organization of the study. Then, the review of the literature is in the chapter two. Chapter three is research method and the analysis of the novel can be founded in chapter four. The last chapter consist the conclusion of the study.

CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

In doing the research, the researcher tries to relate the literary work and theories which enable her to approach her problem in the study. Because of that reason, she tries to search for relevant theories that help her to answer the question of her problem.

Here, the writer of the paper realizes that she should stand on some theories related to her study so she can analyzes the relationship between the data and the objectives of the study. In this chapter, she reviews some relevant theories, namely: Sociological theory and Biographical theory.

2.    

2.1.   Sociological Theories

The Sociological Theories are analysis based on the idea that art is a way of making a political statement, and that examination of a text will reveal some of the social, economic and political structures of a particular culture. This chapter will only presents the Feminist Theory which will be used by the writer on her study.

Feminist theory is one of the major contemporary sociological theories, which analyzes the status of women and men in society with the purpose of using that knowledge to better women's lives. Feminist theorists have also started to question the differences between women, including how race, class, ethnicity, and age intersect with gender. Feminist theory is most concerned with giving a voice to women and highlighting the various ways women have contributed to society.

There are four main types of feminist theory that attempt to explain the societal differences between men and women:

·         Gender Differences: The gender difference perspective examines how women's location in, and experience of, social situations differ from men's. For example, cultural feminists look to the different values associated with womanhood and femininity as a reason why men and women experience the social world differently. Other feminist theorists believe that the different roles assigned to women and men within institutions better explain gender difference, including the sexual division of labor in the household. Existential and phenomenological feminists focus on how women have been marginalized and defined as the “other” in patriarchal societies. Women are thus seen as objects and are denied the opportunity for self-realization.

·         Gender Inequality: Gender-inequality theories recognize that women's location in, and experience of, social situations are not only different but also unequal to men's. Liberal feminists argue that women have the same capacity as men for moral reasoning and agency, but that patriarchy, particularly the sexist patterning of the division of labor, has historically denied women the opportunity to express and practice this reasoning. Women have been isolated to the private sphere of the household and, thus, left without a voice in the public sphere. Even after women enter the public sphere, they are still expected to manage the private sphere and take care of household duties and child rearing. Liberal feminists point out that marriage is a site of gender inequality and that women do not benefit from being married as men do. Indeed, married women have higher levels of stress than unmarried women and married men. According to liberal feminists, the sexual division of labor in both the public and private spheres needs to be altered in order for women to achieve equality.

·         Gender Oppression: Theories of gender oppression go further than theories of gender difference and gender inequality by arguing that not only are women different from or unequal to men, but that they are actively oppressed, subordinated, and even abused by men. Power is the key variable in the two main theories of gender oppression: psychoanalytic feminism and radical feminism. Psychoanalytic feminists attempt to explain power relations between men and women by reformulating Freud's theories of the subconscious and unconscious, human emotions, and childhood development. They feel that conscious calculation cannot fully explain the production and reproduction of patriarchy. Radical feminists argue that being a woman is a positive thing in and of itself, but that this is not acknowledged in patriarchal societies where women are oppressed. They identify physical violence as being at the base of patriarchy, but they think that patriarchy can be defeated if women recognize their own value and strength, establish a sisterhood of trust with other women, confront oppression critically, and form female separatist networks in the private and public spheres.

·         Structural Oppression: Structural oppression theories posit that women's oppression and inequality are a result of capitalism, patriarchy, and racism. Socialist feminists agree with Karl Marx and Freidrich Engels that the working class is exploited as a consequence of the capitalist mode of production, but they seek to extend this exploitation not just to class but also to gender. Intersectionality theorists seek to explain oppression and inequality across a variety of variables, including class, gender, race, ethnicity, and age. They make the important insight that not all women experience oppression in the same way. White women and black women, for example, face different forms of discrimination in the workplace. Thus, different groups of women come to view the world through a shared standpoint of "heterogeneous commonality."

2.2.   Biographical Theories

According to A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature: Fourth Edition the Historical-Biographical approach can be defined as the approach that "...sees a literary work chiefly, if not exclusively, as a reflection of the author's life and times or the life and times of the characters in the work" (Guerin, 22). Understanding the social structure or way of life of a certain time period give the reader a greater knowledge base from which to draw conclusions and better understand the story. Discovering details about the author's life and times also provide similar ways to further develop ideas about a story.

Like any critical methodology, biographical criticism can be used with discretion and insight or employed as a superficial shortcut to understanding the literary work on its own terms through such strategies as Formalism. Hence 19th century biographical criticism came under disapproval by the so-called New Critics of the 1920s, who coined the term "biographical fallacy" to describe criticism that neglected the imaginative genesis of literature. Notwithstanding this critique, biographical criticism remained a significant mode of literary inquiry throughout the 20th century, particularly in studies of Charles Dickens and F. Scott Fitzgerald, among others. The method continues to be employed in the study of such authors as John Steinbeck, Walt Whitman and William Shakespeare.

CHAPTER III

METHOD OF STUDY

This paper uses the research technique of content analysis method because the raw material for the study is Alcott’s Little Women and not to mention, the reason for the study is to find out the change in Jo’s unique behavior and also its change from her childhood time to the time when she gets married.

According to Borg and Gall(1980: 511-512)