Daisy chain | Yttria A.

Posted by Yttria on Thursday, August 15, 2013 // 11:37 // 0 comments (+)

A girl. Yes, it is a very soft, simple word and seems to be unharmful. Something to do with flowers, sweets, songs, rosy cheeks, birds, kitties, lovely dolls, fine dresses, and all sorts of happiness. Well, I agree not all girls would dig those, these are only common worldly things to define a young girl. At least for this book.

I've finally finished reading Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott. I knew this old classic novel when I was still a little girl, we used to read the short version from the book full of illustrative pages our parents bought us. Now the book had gone, I assume the pages had been ripped and scattered and gone forever. We never remembered it for some time, until my sister bought the actual proper book from local bookstore, and later I found the second-hand book. The book is different from the book my sister've found. It's the first story version, the shorter one that tells a family story of one year. I somehow surprised that the first publication of the book was in 1868. Super old...

It tells us about March family; the sisters with their mother and father, which story taken in a year in the life when their father's away in the Civil War. The sisters and their mother work hard in order to maintain a happy and peaceful house, while waiting patiently for their father to come home. The story focused on the life of the sisters; their troubles and joys throughout the year in facing several life problems generally occured in lower-middle class families during wars in that era.

I assure people who read this story will grow sympathy for the sisters. Each sister has different and unique character, which then I identified were common personalities of young girls. The oldest named Meg, who is the prettiest among the sisters. She has a puppy dream of marrying rich guy and live the glory of luxurious life, and loves to be praised and admired. The second sister named Jo, who is a blunt, energetic, and tomboy girl, who happened to be the smartest. Her passion in writing leads her to start a career as a novice writer. She may be very tough, but on the other hand she is also quick tempered and careless. She is willing to sacrifice for people that she loved, although it often leads her to troubles. The third sister named Beth, who is a loving, caring, and shy little girl. She is a good caretaker of the house and is very dilligent and loyal. She's never loud about anything, but she thought about others all the time, that sometimes she forgot to think about herself. And the youngest named Amy, who is the most knowledgeably, talkative, but lovable little girl, who dreams of becoming an artist. She wants to be accepted as proper grown-up girl in front of her friends as well as her sisters, which makes her a little bit selfish sometimes. And these lovely girls have a thoughtful and cheerful mom, Mrs. March, whom they always called Marmee.

The sisters have both good and bad attitudes, but all of them are good-natured and humble at heart. They all would feel content just by being together with their mother and singing to songs. From the story, it can be clearly seen that both the father and mother brought up their daughters with nurtured love, patience; all are wisely given. Mrs. March really knows how to make the girls happy in spite of poverty they were facing. She helps their daughters to see, act, and live with humility and dignity. For instance; she teaches them with better lesson; when the girls failed or did bad habits, she admits to the girls that in the old days she also had faults or failures just like them, and then tried to mend it, and strengthened her will to fix it. Sharing the same experiences and how to solve it; that would do the trick. Let the sun go down on your anger, she once said to her quick tempered second-oldest daughter.

There is also a little experiment given by Mrs. March; she gives the sisters holiday a week long, without any daily house-working tasks to do. By the end of the week, the sisters starts to feel something's in trouble. Without the housekeeping works, all seem to be unfinished and in terrible conditions. The mother - who initiated the experiment - then comforts and reminds them about the important of routine works we do on daily basis, "Don't you feel that it is pleasanter to help one another, to have daily duties which make leisure sweet when it comes, and to bear and forbear, that home may be comfortable and lovely to us all?". I couldn't agree more, there's also a saying of this in my homecountry "bersakit-sakit dahulu, bersenang-senang kemudian".

Teenage might be the period of complicated and sensitive mind of young girls. Each of the sisters were trying to deal with this phase, while facing several problems of life. They learn how to cope with poverty at that time when their beloved father's away to the war. But a mother truly understands what her daughters need. Mrs. March is a very loyal and generous woman. She keeps her little daughters safe and good for their father. She wants them to be beautiful, accomplished, and good; to be admired, loved, respected; to have a happy youth, to be well and wisely married, and to lead useful, pleasant lives, with as little care and sorrow to try them as God sees fit to send.

I think a woman (or in this case a young girl) would probably has personality of the sisters as told in this book. Some are more dominant, some are hidden. And true, that all girls have their own castles in the air, containing all their rosy hopes and wishes for the future. It doesn't matter what personalities they might have or kind of castles they might own in mind, because they are basically come naturally to a young woman; based on the upbringing from her parents, surroundings, and society. What matter is how she tries to deal with the personalities and dreams she naturally had. How she is going to control the attitudes, balance them with her wishes, and nurture them wisely.

Another good point from the book is the message to care about one another. To live sociably means to live with other people, and of course start from the nearest; neighbour. People need to keep the relationship going at least with the nearest neighbours. It's good to know that they can be closest company and big help when needed. It is good to keep in touch and maintain their feelings. You will never know who will be right there and help you when in the future you get troubles. But of course we have to choose family first instead of neighbours. The bonds between each member in family stand upon trust. Rich or poor, we will keep together and be happy in one another. They know and understand all each other's strengths and weaknesses but still be the ones who will be right next to each other and love them the way they are, time to time. They care about each other, and that is what's important to a family.

I find the use of English in this book is fascinating, very humble and heart-warming. We could feel how classic this book is by just simply reading it. Also the story seems to be simple and true. All pretty things are delightfully described in the book, they are girly and old-fashioned at the same time.

In my opinion, the true message of this story is about being modest and grateful about the life that's been given by being content and enjoying every single moment, despite the sad things that happened in life. "Have regular hours for work and play; make each day both useful and pleasant, and prove that you understand the worth of time by employing it well. Then youth will be delightful, old age will bring few regrets, and life become a beautiful success, in spite of poverty". Another Marmee or Mrs. March wise-and-lovely saying to the girls, of how to enjoy life.

You, and I, and all (little) women in the world will grow a little bit older every single day, and soon to be a Marmee. Facing many changes in lives, experiencing another kind of sorrow and happiness; that surely will make us more human, time to time. "Leave these things to time. Make this home happy, so that you may be fit for homes of your own if they are offered you, and contented here if they are not. One thing remember, my girls; Mother is always ready to be your confidante, Father to be your friend, whether married or single, will be the pride and comfort of our lives".

Book cover photo taken from Jackie Magpie.

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Hello! My name is Yttria. Here's where I share some of my photoworks, sketches, stories and quick thoughts. Some are just doodles and mumbles. Hope you enjoy it.

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