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A review by junibjones
So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix by Bethany C. Morrow
5.0
So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix is Bethany C. Morrow’s unique retelling of the classic Little Women. Set in North Carolina at the tail end of the Civil War, the March women are living on Roanoke Island while the March patriarch is off fighting for the Union. A budding freedmen colony, the men (and Joanna) build houses while eldest sister Meg commands an airless tent from which to teach anyone willing to learn their letters. Bethlehem and Amethyst—Beth and Amy respectively—are the two youngest sisters. While not biologically related, Amy was taken in once the Marches reached The Big House on their way to Roanoke. Beth spends her time going back and forth to the mainland because she doesn’t own a sewing machine and dreams of being a seamstress.
Roanoke Island is their life; their home after their life before. Jo has flashbacks of slavery, of being a plaything for a young white girl. She got the education afforded to the daughter of a plantation owner and has the mind of a writer. Beth is afflicted with a mysterious illness—fatigue, fainting spells , the works—and there have been no white doctors who have been able to diagnose her. It’s only after another family moves into the March’s home that the man, Orange, recognizes her illness and aids in her recovery. Meg dreams of being a wife and mother and finds her answer in a young man named Wisdom.
I loved this take on Little Women. I thought it was so important that all the sisters survived considering how often black characters--particularly women--are viewed as expendable in media. The plot still dealt with the themes of the original but focused on them specifically through the lens of the black community. The Marches are women who take pride in their connection to their community with the understanding that their own self sufficiency is just as important. Their individual dreams are buoyed by the support of their sisters and there’s an emphasis on achieving their goals no matter what*.
*The caveat here is their status as freed people. Slavery hangs over their heads like a traumatic cloud and the older March women are cognizant of the potential of it beginning again. They’re rightfully worried that the Union will lose and their chains will once again not be far behind. Mamie is rightfully protective of her girls, especially young Amethyst. She bristles at the idea of her youngest being offered opportunities to learn to dance in Boston--at first I thought it was due to the offer being given by a white woman who was in Roanoke as a missionary teacher. Her reasoning is steeped in her slavery experience and her deep mistrust of white people.
There’s a recurrence of saviorism--both white and otherwise--throughout the book. It’s honestly so blatant. There are numerous examples offered of white people treating black people with the lowest amount of respect and then expecting a gold star in return. The plantation owner’s daughter announces that Jo is “hers” and would leave with her when she married--separating her from her family in doing so--but isn’t she so magnanimous for offering to take Jo’s ‘mute’ sister with them? Constance Evergreen expresses just how Amy’s education should be taught and that the North is the only place her education and training could flourish. The wealthy black women--northern women born free--in Jo’s salon offered to publish her work but only after critiquing her writing. They wanted stories of her own slave experience, but told her that she sounds too educated for the narrative to be believable. Their readers would think she was lying because, colloquially, she didn’t sound like a slave. I thought modern day white saviorism was bad--lookin’ at you, The Blindside--but now that I’m thinking about it, of course it would’ve been worse immediately following the Civil War. Black people are finally free*!
*except for those in Galveston, Texas who spent two extra years under slavery because NO ONE TOLD THEM.
Roanoke Island is their life; their home after their life before. Jo has flashbacks of slavery, of being a plaything for a young white girl. She got the education afforded to the daughter of a plantation owner and has the mind of a writer. Beth is afflicted with a mysterious illness—fatigue, fainting spells , the works—and there have been no white doctors who have been able to diagnose her. It’s only after another family moves into the March’s home that the man, Orange, recognizes her illness and aids in her recovery. Meg dreams of being a wife and mother and finds her answer in a young man named Wisdom.
I loved this take on Little Women. I thought it was so important that all the sisters survived considering how often black characters--particularly women--are viewed as expendable in media. The plot still dealt with the themes of the original but focused on them specifically through the lens of the black community. The Marches are women who take pride in their connection to their community with the understanding that their own self sufficiency is just as important. Their individual dreams are buoyed by the support of their sisters and there’s an emphasis on achieving their goals no matter what*.
*The caveat here is their status as freed people. Slavery hangs over their heads like a traumatic cloud and the older March women are cognizant of the potential of it beginning again. They’re rightfully worried that the Union will lose and their chains will once again not be far behind. Mamie is rightfully protective of her girls, especially young Amethyst. She bristles at the idea of her youngest being offered opportunities to learn to dance in Boston--at first I thought it was due to the offer being given by a white woman who was in Roanoke as a missionary teacher. Her reasoning is steeped in her slavery experience and her deep mistrust of white people.
There’s a recurrence of saviorism--both white and otherwise--throughout the book. It’s honestly so blatant. There are numerous examples offered of white people treating black people with the lowest amount of respect and then expecting a gold star in return. The plantation owner’s daughter announces that Jo is “hers” and would leave with her when she married--separating her from her family in doing so--but isn’t she so magnanimous for offering to take Jo’s ‘mute’ sister with them? Constance Evergreen expresses just how Amy’s education should be taught and that the North is the only place her education and training could flourish. The wealthy black women--northern women born free--in Jo’s salon offered to publish her work but only after critiquing her writing. They wanted stories of her own slave experience, but told her that she sounds too educated for the narrative to be believable. Their readers would think she was lying because, colloquially, she didn’t sound like a slave. I thought modern day white saviorism was bad--lookin’ at you, The Blindside--but now that I’m thinking about it, of course it would’ve been worse immediately following the Civil War. Black people are finally free*!
*except for those in Galveston, Texas who spent two extra years under slavery because NO ONE TOLD THEM.