AS SEEN ON TV: JO MARCH

JO MARCH

AS SEEN IN:

'Little Women'

AS PLAYED BY:

Susan Dey

TV DIMENSION:

Earth Prime-Time

JO MARCH

AS SEEN IN:
'Little Women II: Jo's Boys'
"Wakakusa monogatari nan to Jô sensei"

AS PLAYED BY:
Eiko Yamada

TV DIMENSION:

The Tooniverse

CREATED BY:

Louisa May Alcott

From Wikipedia:

The second-oldest of four sisters, Jo March starts out as a tomboyish, hot-tempered, fifteen-year-old girl. She loves activity and can't bear to be left on the sidelines; it drives her crazy that she can't go and fight in the Civil War alongside her father, who has volunteered as a chaplain. Instead, Jo has to stay at home and try to reconcile herself to a nineteenth-century woman's place in the domestic sphere, which is extremely difficult for her. She's clumsy, blunt, opinionated, and jolly. Her behavior is often most unladylike – she swears (mildly), burns her dress while warming herself at the fire, spills things on her only gloves, and barely tolerates her cranky old Aunt March. She's so boyish that Mr. March has referred to her as his "son Jo" in the past, and her best friend Laurie sometimes calls her "my dear fellow."

Jo also loves literature, both reading and writing it. She composes plays for her sisters to perform and writes stories that she eventually gets published. She imitates Dickens and Shakespeare and Scott, and whenever she's not doing chores or washing the poodle, cleaning the parrot Polly's cage, sewing towels (for Aunt Josephine March) she curls up in her room, in a corner of the attic, or outside, completely absorbed in a good book.

Jo hopes to do something great when she grows up, although she's not sure what that might be – perhaps write a great novel. Whatever it is, it's not going to involve getting married; Jo hates the idea of romance, because marriage might break up her family and separate her from the sisters she adores.

Jo is being set up for a meaningful journey of self-discovery and surprises. By the end of the novel, her dreams and dislikes are turned topsy-turvy; her desire to make her way in the world and her distaste for staying at home are altered forever. She does not find romance in the places that readers expect, but she did find it. She also realizes that romantic love has its place, even though it changes the relationships one already has. As Jo discovers her feminine side, she also figures out how to balance her ambitious nature with the constraints placed on nineteenth-century women.

From the source:

       Meg, Beth, and Amy were sitting together, late in the afternoon, when Jo burst into the room, looking excited and demanding breathlessly, "Has anyone taken my book?"

Meg and Beth said, "No." at once, and looked surprised. Amy poked the fire and said nothing. Jo saw her color rise and was down upon her in a minute.

"Amy, you've got it!"

"No, I haven't."

"You know where it is, then!"

"No, I don't."

"That's a fib!" cried Jo, taking her by the shoulders, and looking fierce enough to frighten a much braver child than Amy.

"It isn't. I haven't got it, don't know where it is now, and don't care."

"You know something about it, and you'd better tell at once, or I'll make you." And Jo gave her a slight shake.

"Scold as much as you like, you'll never see your silly old book again," cried Amy, getting excited in her turn.

"Why not?"

"I burned it up."

"What! My little book I was so fond of, and worked over, and meant to finish before Father got home? Have you really burned it?" said Jo, turning very pale, while her eyes kindled and her hands clutched Amy nervously.

"Yes, I did! I told you I'd make you pay for being so cross yesterday, and I have, so..."

Amy got no farther, for Jo's hot temper mastered her, and she shook Amy till her teeth chattered in her head, crying in a passion of grief and anger...

"You wicked, wicked girl! I never can write it again, and I'll never forgive you as long as I live."

Meg flew to rescue Amy, and Beth to pacify Jo, but Jo was quite beside herself, and with a parting box on her sister's ear, she rushed out of the room up to the old sofa in the garret, and finished her fight alone.

BCnU!