An Old Fashioned Girl

Holy sermonizing, Batman! This isn't just an old-fashioned story, it's an old-fashioned way to tell a story -- heavy-handed preachiness in which dear little Polly, daughter of a poor minister, inspires morality among wealthy Bostonians, pleases her elders with her goodness and simplicity, and spreads joy to everyone in her path. <br />As subtle as a tornado.<br /><br />If you can get past the preaching, the story has its charms. It shares some sweet elements with Little Women -- a spirited American girl grows up poor but virtuous and eventually inspires her childhood playmate to exchange his foppishness for manliness. Hmm, sorry. That still sound kinda preachy and old-fashioned. Should I be embarrassed that it appeals to me? <br /><br />I also need to make a confession about Alcott's sermons -- as unpopular as this book would be to modern teens, I still will want my daughter to read it some day (preferably before she masters the eye roll). Alcott's social commentary, though 150 years old, is spot-on. In fact, not much has changed beyond fashion (snoods and bustles, anyone? some fetching muttonchop sleeves?). We still complain about kids growing up too fast and then acting bored and disaffected when they reach young adulthood. We still live in a society of gossip, back-stabbing, idleness, selfishness, waste and excess. <br /><br />Also, Alcott hits on a middle political ground that appeals to me. Nowadays, my Republican friends rail about how the poor need to suck it up and work harder and stop bleeding the system with their laziness. My Democrat friends point out that anyone who says this is completely out of touch with those outside their own social class, many of whom only lack opportunity. Alcott manages to balance both sides in a traditional, common-sense American approach: her idea of virtue is to work hard, to value independence, to be content with little; and yet she also sees virtue as generosity, providing charity (money, work, food/clothing) to those in need, fostering sympathetic and active awareness of and kindness toward those outside your social class. (Granted, Republican Friends, all her needy characters are willing to work hard and only lack opportunity. Still, in this big, imperfect world where greed and selfishness and laziness are not limited to any one class, I'd rather err on the side of mercy...) <br /><br />Similarly, Alcott's old-fashioned-sounding ideas of femininity initially sound abrasive but have an appeal. She celebrates marriage as equal yoking that capitalizes on the complementary natures of men and women. But, at the same time, she shows that an admirable woman is one who is confident, capable, self-sufficient, never simpering or false or overly delicate. <br /><br />Uh oh. Now who's sermonizing? Sorry. She started it.

I'm one of the biggest fans of <i>Louisa May Alcott</i> after reading her <a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/1934.Little_Women" title="Little Women by Louisa May Alcott" rel="noopener">Little Women</a> when I was in high school. It was an amazing book that every girls and boys would love and cherish until end and it was one of the greatest classics that I read since I started reading. This time, <i> Louisa May Alcott</i> turned the old pages of this book into a magnificent old-fashioned story. Real and fluent in a way that every reader will appreciate the old ways and life of <i>Polly Milton</i>.<br><br>Me, myself is an old-fashioned. I lived in a rural area before, no high buildings, few population, more green and fresh air. Money and style were never been a priority of every citizen. We cherish every simple blessings that we receive. Until, I went to an urban city where money and stars are ready to explode and every people are trying to catch every piece of those shiny stone. A little poverty might not hurt ones interest if we just live in simple and with harmony. <br><br><blockquote> <img src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1380341494i/697603.jpg" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"> <br> <i>This is the welcome sign built nearby the boundary of my hometown with the strong green color and blue sky that made every people live with harmony with nature. If I'm not mistaken, the city had planted many trees last month to be recognize in the Guinness Book of Records.</i> </blockquote><br><br>Only few appreciated life in simple way and one of them is <i>Polly Milton</i>. When she was 14 she was invited by her friend <i>Franny Shaw</i> and to live with life in the city. Unfortunately, she was a girl with simple dresses and manner like an old-fashioned woman. She was rejected by many friends and people she met because of her taste in fashion as well as her point of view to simple life.<br><br>After the rejection, she went back to her hometown and continued her life as a provincial girl. After six years, she went back to Boston to help her brother <i>Will</i> to enter college by teaching music lesson to her students. But a great lost happened to the <i>Shaw</i>, as their business become bad and they have to live in small expense. The kids were forced to live with <i>Polly</i> and live with their small income.<br><br>Because of her selflessness and sacrifice, the Shaw brothers and sisters changed as the days came by and the simplest love become the greatest power to conquer poverty. <br><br><blockquote> <img src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1380341494i/697604._SX540_.png" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"> <br> <i>First illustrated pictures of Louisa May Alcott's book as drawn and published by Roberts Bros. in 1870. <b>Left</b>, Polly went to Boston again. <b>Right</b>, Tom went back to Polly's place when he succeed in looking a job in the West.</i> </blockquote><br><br>Like any <i>Louisa May Alcott</i> books, she always recognized her characters as old-fashioned in a way that they are simple, although through this book she emphasized it clearly the advantage of living with small poverty. No excess money to be used and to be contented in small things. But I must say, that the contentment of men never end as it is a continues process. At least in the end, she unleash the true essence of being simple not only for girls but to everyone.<br><br>Although, <i>Alcott</i>'s romantic interest of her characters were not interesting like in her other books. Purely, it was well written in an old-fashioned that looses the essence of writing it romantically or maybe she's not really a romantic writer itself and consider the words that her characters said as to be well-chosen. Other problem with it was too short and slow-paced that few may get interest to read this book.<br><br>Her interest of making girls to read her books were more distinguished since she used a strong female characters and extras as well as dictating female clothes and manners in her generation. Not recommended to male readers but more recommended to those girls who enjoyed reading classics, chic-lit and young adult novels, and to those guys who are curious to read this book. But I can't guarantee the reader's likeness because of its girly content.<br><br><blockquote> <img src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1380341494i/697605.jpg" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"> <br> <i>The city celebrated T'nalak Festival, a week long celebration to show case its town's beauty and culture by many forms of arts by street dancing, fashion walk and many more. The T'nalak Festival is celebrated starting July 18. A must visit festival every year!</i> </blockquote><br><br>Review posted on <b> <a href="http://oldfashionedreader.blogspot.com/2011/07/old-fashioned-girl-by-louisa-may-alcott.html" rel="nofollow noopener">Old-Fashioned Reader</a> </b>.<br><br><b>Rating</b>: <i>An Old-Fashioned Girl</i> by Louisa May Alcott, <b>3 Sweets</b><br><br><b>Challenges</b>:<br><i>Book #190 for 2011</i><br><i>Book #108 for <a href="http://bareadingchallenges.blogspot.com/p/off-shelf-challenge.html" rel="nofollow noopener">Off the Shelf!</a></i>

Cute story but I did not enjoy it as much as <a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/1934.Little_Women__Little_Women___1_" title="Little Women (Little Women, #1) by Louisa May Alcott" rel="noopener">Little Women</a>.

I could never quite stomach <i>Little Women</i>, as a child or adult, but <i>An Old-Fashioned Girl</i> has all the positives of LW with less sentimentality, a <i>proper</i> romance with the <i>right</i> person, and social commentary I found much more powerful and direct than LW's. I loved it when I was young, reread it many times, and loved reading it to the girls.<br /><br />Then when I was doing my second-time round studying, and we read <i>Portrait of a Lady</i>, I had a Moment of profound significance. Okay, neither profound nor really significant, but I liked my Moment. Just as James "rewrote" <i>Middlemarch</i>'s Dorothea on her honeymoon in Rome in <i>Portrait</i>, I think Alcott "rewrote" Isabel Archer's sitting alone pondering by the fire scene with Polly doing exactly that in the "Nipped in the bud" chapter. Which made me very happy, even though I could find no evidence for the argument that it was an intentional homage. (A few years later I did an essay on AOFG and that was fun too.) (Well, writing the essay wasn't fun, but the research and thinking about how so many authors were writing interactively in the nineteenth century and how very much that included those who sometimes or always wrote for younger readers.) <br />

<img src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1445891897i/16714342.jpg" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"><br><br><img src="https://images.gr-assets.com/hostedimages/1380315844ra/689211.gif" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CN3wNgf_EI">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CN3w...</a><br><br><img src="https://images.gr-assets.com/hostedimages/1445881218ra/16713584.gif" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy">Description: <i>Tells the story of Polly, the old-fashioned girl, her friendship with the wealthy Shaws of Boston and the lessons she learns about happiness and riches.</i><br><br><img src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1445891897i/16714343.jpg" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy">

Update 2019: I love it even more.<br /><br />——————————<br /><br />2018<br />I went into this book knowing it would be good, and needing “a little old-fashioned,” (to shamelessly quote Phil Coulson), but I had no idea that it would take me on such a roller-coaster of emotions. I experienced just about every feeling under the sun while reading <i>An Old-Fashioned Girl</i>... and that's the true magic of storytelling. <br /><br /><b>Polly</b><br /><i>"I don’t want a religion that I put away with my Sunday clothes, and don’t take out till the day comes round again; I want something to see and feel and live by day-by-day.”</i><br />This girl is one of Alcott’s characteristic strong-yet-feminine heroines, and I liked her more and more as the story progressed. She was a lot like Meg from <i>Little Women</i>, and to be honest, a big chunk of the book was like an extended version of Meg’s visit to the Moffats. But instead of succumbing so much to peer pressure, Polly brought her good old-fashioned sunshine into the worldly-minded house of the Shaws. That said, she was still an imperfect human being, and I loved that.<br /><br /><b>Tom</b><br /><i>“… I’m only a curse instead of a comfort.”</i><br />Tom reminded me so much of Laurie, that I couldn’t help but love him. His character arc was one of the most poignant in the book (although his sister Fanny did a fair amount of growing too), and by the end he’d gone from a harum-scarum boy, to an unmistakable dandy, and finally, to a man.<br /><br />Another thing I have always liked about Alcott’s writing is her witty descriptions. I found myself frequently stopping to chuckle, smile, or simply ponder a phrase or idea. There <i>was</i> a fair amount of “moralizing,” as some of her characters would put it, but I never found it overpowering. We need more old-fashioned girls (and boys) in the world.<br /><br />In closing, if you like sweet, simple tales of love, friendship, and remembering the important things in life, this book is for you.

This book, <a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/781557.An_Old_Fashioned_Girl" title="An Old-Fashioned Girl by Louisa May Alcott" rel="noopener">An Old-Fashioned Girl</a>, by my favorite author, <a href="https://goodreads.com/author/show/1315.Louisa_May_Alcott" title="Louisa May Alcott" rel="noopener">Louisa May Alcott</a>, is another one of my favorite books. It shows that even though one may know that following the status quo is not the right thing to do, and that one must act differently to be a good person, how very hard that is to do! The main character, Polly Milton, experiences this when she sees her very fashionable friends. Polly learns that one must be true to oneself, and with love, common sense, and a good conscience, this burden will become lighter. Even though this book was written a long time ago, it’s reoccurring message, “modesty has gone out of fashion,” hasn’t changed. If you too have the same struggles, you will be reassured by reading this book. Five stars all the way!

This will forever be one of my favorite books (tying with <i>The Scarlet Pimpernel</i>). I love and relate to Polly so, so much and I think her plight of having to remain secure in who she is, is something girls of today can still relate to. None of the characters are perfect, but their interactions and desire to be better makes the book very compelling as it follows Polly's visits to her (very different) friend, Fanny's, house. It's similar to some of Alcott's other works because of the strong life lessons and family values that come through the anecdotal storytelling, but much shorter and simpler than <i>Little Women</i>. While the book itself is definitely old-fashioned, this world could do with some of that, especially in the areas of friendship despite differences and security despite ridicule.

I read 'Little Women' a long time ago and loved that book. Ok, I was much younger then. However, I cannot help but being disappointed by 'An Old-Fahsioned Girl'. The story is very sweet but marred by the narrator's preachy comments. They intrude on the story so much.<br />I could not help smiling at times at some of them. 'Plus ca change'! Blaming the youth for their apparent lack of purpose and superficiality etc. Glad to know that our well meaning set have been at it for more than a century now. :P<br />Looking at the date when the book was written - 1869 - it did advocate some more 'advanced' ideas about women's independence, that was nice. I am sure quite forward for the age.

<i>An Old-Fashioned Girl</i> was my second favorite of Alcott’s after <i>Little Women</i> in my adolescence, occasionally even taking the top spot. Reading it now, I can appreciate how much it formed me, how I think about womanhood, and what I look for in a heroine. In many ways this novel is Alcott’s most Austenesque, intentional or not. Gentlefolk in reduced circumstances? A poor but worthy cousin? Still waters that run deep in the swirl of society? No wonder I was primed to love Fanny Price after growing up with Polly Milton!<br /><br />What I love about <i>An Old-Fashioned Girl</i> is Alcott’s subversion. Polly seems quaint and old-fashioned, but those values prepare her for a newfangled life. Chapter 13, “The Sunny Side,” is one of my all-time favorite chapters of Alcott’s, up there with “Camp Laurence.” Polly is the most modern character in the book. She eschews the different expressions of Victorian womanhood in the Shaw household: Grandma, who is nice enough but takes a backseat in household matters; Mrs. Shaw, who also is not present to her household and who is constantly laid up with unspecified complaints; Fanny, who is left to herself and unsatisfied with the whirl of materialism and flirtations that make up “good” society. Instead, Polly lives independently and supports herself, which, if not uncommon in that day, was at least strange for people of the Shaw’s status. Polly survives where Fanny couldn’t because of her “old-fashioned” training in housekeeping. She has forward-thinking opinions about the poor and women’s rights, even about womanhood itself. She is old-fashioned in the sense that she knows how to keep house and isn’t invested in industrial-age materialism, but many of her values are modern for her day. Holding both old-fashioned and newfangled goodness without conflict in one character is Alcott's great gift here.<br /><br />For me, "The Sunny Side" saves Polly from being that worst of heroines, the Not Like Other Girls™ individualist who has no community because she is so superior to other women. I wish Alcott had spent the whole novel with the women of “The Sunny Side,” but at least we get this glimpse into Polly’s life. These women want the vote, they live independently, and live in community with one another. Alcott presents an alternative vision to the frantic world of society, the world of communal artistry. Sadly, this only seems accessible to women who have some artistic talent, as Fanny feels keenly.<br /><br />At times, Polly reminded me of what Alcott’s sister Lizzie might have been. A musician, ever sweet and the peacekeeper of the house--though Polly is very human, she has that idealized place that Lizzie held in the Alcott house. Polly is also musical, giving music lessons and singing/playing. In the same paragraph she is described as shy and social. There’s also an interesting character, Jane, who is rescued from a suicide attempt and rehabilitated by some kind friends. I’m not super into biographical interpretation…but Polly and Jane together put me in mind of Lizzie, and Alcott perhaps imagining what her sister might have been like without her psychological and physical problems.<br /><br />Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed reading <i>An Old-Fashioned Girl</i> again. I kept expecting my reactions to be different from my adolescence but they were not. I still don’t love the first seven chapters, and the book doesn’t get truly enjoyable for me until Polly returns “Six Years Later.” And at the end of the day, <input type="checkbox" class="spoiler__control" aria-label="The following text has been marked spoiler. Toggle checkbox to reveal or hide." onchange="this.labels[0].setAttribute('aria-hidden', !this.checked);" id="0ae306bf-326c-41fd-be65-a38f2234606c" /><label aria-hidden="true" class="spoiler" for="0ae306bf-326c-41fd-be65-a38f2234606c">Polly marries her cousin</label> and we all know how we feel about that. <input type="checkbox" class="spoiler__control" aria-label="The following text has been marked spoiler. Toggle checkbox to reveal or hide." onchange="this.labels[0].setAttribute('aria-hidden', !this.checked);" id="30143dcd-a680-49c0-b5f7-b00958eda4eb" /><label aria-hidden="true" class="spoiler" for="30143dcd-a680-49c0-b5f7-b00958eda4eb">Another <i>Mansfield Park</i> connection, no? I also find Tom a bit boring; he leaves the narrative just when he gets interesting, and I'd love to see what his and Polly's lives are like in the west with Ned and Maria.</label> Yet, if you love the part of <i>Little Women</i> where Jo sojourns in New York City, you’ll likely find much to love in the latter two-thirds of <i>An Old-Fashioned Girl</i>.<br /><br />I also treated myself to the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CN3wNgf_EI" rel="nofollow noopener">1949 musical comedy film</a>, which turns Polly into a Disney princess. She sings at all times without reason; she has an animal companion; there’s a washing-up song complete with pots and pans making the tune. Unfortunately, the audio quality is not great. Like other literary adaptations from the 1930s and 1940s that I’ve seen, the original material is not cherished by the scriptwriters. (At least it begins with Polly’s return, where it could have only adapted the first part of the book, which is my least favorite.) Yet, the film is completely hilarious and worth its seventy-five-minute runtime for a good laugh.<br /><br />Maud: “Betty Sanderson’s sister is going to marry a doctor, so she can be sick for nothing. But if Polly marries a minister, she can be good for nothing!”<br />The Shaws, as one: “<i>Maud</i>!”<br /><br />Fanny: “Cooking? What can <i>you</i> cook?”<br />Maud: “Fudge!”<br />Mrs. Shaw: “AAAUGH” *cue smellings salts*<br /><br />-----<br /><br />“They were girls still, full of spirits fun, and youth; but below the light-heartedness each cherished a purpose, which seemed to ennoble her womanhood, to give her a certain power, a sustaining satisfaction, a daily stimulus, that led her on to daily effort, and in time to some success in circumstance or character, which was worth all the patience, hope, and labor of her life.” (244)<br /><br />“...being brought up in the most affectionate and frank relations with her brothers, she had early learned what it takes most women some time to discover, that sex does not make nearly as much difference in hearts and souls as we fancy. Joy and sorrow, love and fear, life and death, bring so many of the same needs to all that it is a wonder we do not understand each other better but wait till times of tribulation teach us that human nature is very much the same in men and women.” (311)<br /><br />“Never mind what the business was--it suffices to say that it was a good beginning for a young man like Tom, who, having been born and bred in the most conservative class of the most conceited city of New England, needed just the healthy, hearty social influences of the West to widen his views and make a man of him.” (319)<br />