Jo March
The loud, ambitious second sister who hates being a girl, writes stories for money, and sells her own hair to fund a rescue. She loses a manuscript, a sister, and a suitor before finding that love and work can share a roof.
Who drives the story
Main characters
Meg March
The eldest, who envies luxury but chooses the poor tutor John Brooke and a small house called the Dovecote. She admits she does not love him passionately yet—and grows into the marriage anyway.
- Appears in:
- Part 1: Pilgrims Without Presents
- Part 3: Telegram, Fever, and a Proposal
- Part 4: Refusals, Loss, and Harvest
- Themes:
- Self-conquest as the real adventure
- Women's work, women's worth
Beth March
The shy one who fears people but not death, befriends old Mr. Laurence over a piano, and catches scarlet fever nursing the Hummels. Her quiet dying is the book's center of gravity.
- Appears in:
- Part 1: Pilgrims Without Presents
- Part 2: The Boy Next Door and the Burned Manuscript
- Part 3: Telegram, Fever, and a Proposal
- Part 4: Refusals, Loss, and Harvest
- Themes:
- Self-conquest as the real adventure
- Grief as a teacher
- Home as the true country
Amy March
The youngest artist, vain about her nose and hungry for polish, who gets the European trip Jo wanted. She reproves Laurie into becoming a man and marries him.
- Appears in:
- Part 1: Pilgrims Without Presents
- Part 2: The Boy Next Door and the Burned Manuscript
- Part 4: Refusals, Loss, and Harvest
- Themes:
- Self-conquest as the real adventure
- Women's work, women's worth
- Home as the true country
Laurie Laurence
The rich, lonely boy next door who watches the Marches from his window and barges into their lives. Rejected by Jo, he idles across Europe until Amy's scolding wakes him.
- Appears in:
- Part 2: The Boy Next Door and the Burned Manuscript
- Part 3: Telegram, Fever, and a Proposal
- Part 4: Refusals, Loss, and Harvest
- Themes:
- Women's work, women's worth
- Home as the true country
Marmee
The mother who hands her daughters Pilgrim's Progress instead of sermons and admits she fights her own temper. She backs Jo's refusal of Laurie when the world would not.
- Appears in:
- Part 1: Pilgrims Without Presents
- Part 2: The Boy Next Door and the Burned Manuscript
- Part 3: Telegram, Fever, and a Proposal
- Part 4: Refusals, Loss, and Harvest
- Themes:
- Self-conquest as the real adventure
- Poverty shared is poverty lightened
- Women's work, women's worth
- Grief as a teacher
- Home as the true country
Mr. Laurence
The stern, wealthy neighbor whose dead granddaughter's piano buys Beth's friendship. He funds Marmee's trip and thanks the Marches for bringing life back into his house.
- Appears in:
- Part 1: Pilgrims Without Presents
- Part 2: The Boy Next Door and the Burned Manuscript
- Part 3: Telegram, Fever, and a Proposal
- Themes:
- Poverty shared is poverty lightened
- Home as the true country
Also in the story
Supporting characters
Professor Friedrich Bhaer
The poor German boarder who tells Jo to write from her heart, not for profit. He proposes under an umbrella and co-founds her school for boys.
- Appears in:
- Part 4: Refusals, Loss, and Harvest
- Themes:
- Women's work, women's worth
How they are connected
Key relationships
She reproves Laurie into becoming a man and marries him.
She backs Jo's refusal of Laurie when the world would not.
The stern, wealthy neighbor whose dead granddaughter's piano buys Beth's friendship.
He funds Marmee's trip and thanks the Marches for bringing life back into his house.
Go deeper
Little Women themes & symbols
Self-conquest as the real adventure · Poverty shared is poverty lightened · Women's work, women's worth · Grief as a teacher
Themes explainedRead the full Little Women summary
The full story act by act, the ending explained and a quick quiz.
Open the summary