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So I recently discovered Geraldine Brooks and I think I may be in love. I finished March this week and, honestly, I did not enjoy the book as much as I enjoyed [b:A Year of Wonders|6137066|It's a Baby Boy! The Unique Wonders and Special Nature of Your Son from Pregnancy to Two Years|Stacie Bering|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1347976502s/6137066.jpg|6315764] but it was still fantastic. Little Women (the book) is not a favorite of mine; the characters are just so unbelievably good. I hate Beth. There I said it out loud. I know it’s blasphemy but I hate her. Jo and Amy and Meg were much more interesting characters because they had flaws but even these three are still a little too sweet for my tastes. On the other hand, Little Women (the 1994 film) is a favorite of mine. I grew up watching this movie and it’s my go-to I-need-a-good-cry movie. I cry every time Beth dies; I can’t help it. I also swoon over Laurie and I smile giddily when Jo ends the movie under Professor Bhaer’s umbrella. I feel like I grew up with the March sisters and, as I’ve aged, my opinions and reactions to the film and its characters have evolved and changed.
March is a retelling of Little Women but it’s told from the POV of Mr. March who is away at war. I don’t remember anything at all about Mr. March in the book and he’s really only talks in one scene in the movie so I was interested to hear Ms. Brooks’ take on this mostly silent character. Brooks bases Mr. March on Bronson Alcott which makes sense but I’ve never had a high opinion of Mr. Alcott and I did not enjoy Mr. March’s characterization either. He’s far too idealistic and he ends up being more than a little whiny. He seems to suffer from an extreme case of “White Man’s Burden” which is just kind of disgusting. I enjoyed the ending when Grace Clement--a former slave who March has been pining for/lusting over/exoticizing for 18 years--finally tells him that her people are capable of taking care of things themselves. They do not need him to look after them and she does not need him to patronize her and to feel sorry for her. The best thing that March can do for the black man is to try to help white society accept them and to help create an integrated society. Grace was an excellent character. She was a strong woman in a difficult and terrible position but she was so much stronger and much more capable than Mr. March could ever hope to be. I would have enjoyed seeing the story through her point-of-view.
About two-thirds of the way through the book, the point-of-view shifts to Marmee, the beloved and wise matriarch of the March family. Mr. March has been injured and Marmee leaves her daughters alone in Concord to tend to her husband at a Union hospital in Washington, DC. In the book, Marmee is portrayed as an angelic mother and wife who always guides and molds her daughters with Christian charity. She is disgustingly good. In the film, Susan Sarandon plays Marmee as a proto-feminist. She is a good Christian woman but she sees the inequalities (both racial and gender inequalities) around her and instructs her daughters to not be confined to society’s expectations of them. Brooks writes Marmee as a short-tempered woman with high expectations of herself and society. She wants to change the world and she chafes at a dispassionate society. Mr. March urges her to control her temper and Marmee has become--at least on the surface--a calm, wise matriarch. Underneath the self-control, she burns and rages at the injustices around her and at her husband’s incompetent handling of the family’s finances. She manages the family burdens well and does not let her husband know that she is angered by his decision to join in the war effort. I really enjoyed how Brooks contrasts how March sees his wife: a calm, docile, uncomplaining mother who looks on adoringly as he marches off to war vs. the reality of Marmee’s own feelings: she seems to be barely in control of her emotions and is hiding her “true nature." She loves her husband but resents his actions and the burdens they have unfairly placed on her.
Brooks creates such strong female characters. I love Marmee and Grace and the last third of the book feels the strongest because they begin to define the narrative. Mr. March is so weak; I almost find him contemptible. He would be nothing without the women around him. Not that Mr. March is a poor character. He just lives in his own world of white male privilege and, even though he wants to help and has strong moral convictions, he really doesn’t understand the burdens placed on slaves or even white women of the time. He has confrontations with both Marmee and Grace at the end of the book but I worry that his character still hasn’t been shaken enough by their revelations. I do not know if he fully comprehends and appreciates the wisdom of the women in his life.
March is a retelling of Little Women but it’s told from the POV of Mr. March who is away at war. I don’t remember anything at all about Mr. March in the book and he’s really only talks in one scene in the movie so I was interested to hear Ms. Brooks’ take on this mostly silent character. Brooks bases Mr. March on Bronson Alcott which makes sense but I’ve never had a high opinion of Mr. Alcott and I did not enjoy Mr. March’s characterization either. He’s far too idealistic and he ends up being more than a little whiny. He seems to suffer from an extreme case of “White Man’s Burden” which is just kind of disgusting. I enjoyed the ending when Grace Clement--a former slave who March has been pining for/lusting over/exoticizing for 18 years--finally tells him that her people are capable of taking care of things themselves. They do not need him to look after them and she does not need him to patronize her and to feel sorry for her. The best thing that March can do for the black man is to try to help white society accept them and to help create an integrated society. Grace was an excellent character. She was a strong woman in a difficult and terrible position but she was so much stronger and much more capable than Mr. March could ever hope to be. I would have enjoyed seeing the story through her point-of-view.
About two-thirds of the way through the book, the point-of-view shifts to Marmee, the beloved and wise matriarch of the March family. Mr. March has been injured and Marmee leaves her daughters alone in Concord to tend to her husband at a Union hospital in Washington, DC. In the book, Marmee is portrayed as an angelic mother and wife who always guides and molds her daughters with Christian charity. She is disgustingly good. In the film, Susan Sarandon plays Marmee as a proto-feminist. She is a good Christian woman but she sees the inequalities (both racial and gender inequalities) around her and instructs her daughters to not be confined to society’s expectations of them. Brooks writes Marmee as a short-tempered woman with high expectations of herself and society. She wants to change the world and she chafes at a dispassionate society. Mr. March urges her to control her temper and Marmee has become--at least on the surface--a calm, wise matriarch. Underneath the self-control, she burns and rages at the injustices around her and at her husband’s incompetent handling of the family’s finances. She manages the family burdens well and does not let her husband know that she is angered by his decision to join in the war effort. I really enjoyed how Brooks contrasts how March sees his wife: a calm, docile, uncomplaining mother who looks on adoringly as he marches off to war vs. the reality of Marmee’s own feelings: she seems to be barely in control of her emotions and is hiding her “true nature." She loves her husband but resents his actions and the burdens they have unfairly placed on her.
Brooks creates such strong female characters. I love Marmee and Grace and the last third of the book feels the strongest because they begin to define the narrative. Mr. March is so weak; I almost find him contemptible. He would be nothing without the women around him. Not that Mr. March is a poor character. He just lives in his own world of white male privilege and, even though he wants to help and has strong moral convictions, he really doesn’t understand the burdens placed on slaves or even white women of the time. He has confrontations with both Marmee and Grace at the end of the book but I worry that his character still hasn’t been shaken enough by their revelations. I do not know if he fully comprehends and appreciates the wisdom of the women in his life.