iction pieces, she concentrates on what is more realistic and familiar. This gesture of maturity finally shows readers that Jo is now a grown up woman who knows what to make of her life. As the family gathers together one sunny afternoon, the cycle of growth and maturation is almost at completion. With children of their own, the remaining March sisters and their mother reflect on these past few years. Just as the tone in the beginning suggests vigor and curiosity of youth, the end promises the stability and tranquility of each woman's settled future. Louisa May Alcott ensconced this novel in heavy didactic undertones. This can be attributed to her family background, for she was the daughter of transcendentalist philosopher/teacher, Bronson Alcott. Without actually preaching morality outright, Louisa May Alcott cleverly created situations and variations in her plots that provided readers with an idea of following the right course through believable examples. This was a major reason for her wide spread popularity with children and parents alike. The protagonists in Little Women are by no means perfect, therefore children of almost all ages could relate to the flawed characters. On the other hand, parents wanted to buy Little Women so that their children could learn from the moralistic themes streamed throughout the book ("Louisa May Alcott" 8). This intimate knowledge of her youthful audience comes from the Alcott looking back at her own early days, and producing from her own experiences, realistic adventures for the characters in Little Women. Alcott wrote Little Women with the intent on it being a mid-nineteenth century apprenticeship novel for young ladies. The book can also be called a bidungsroman because the characters in it develop as the story progresses; they learn and become mature through a series of learning processes. Often time's novels in this genre are autobiographical, and Little Women is much an epitome of bildungsroman ...
