Little Women Inspirations: Friedrich Schiller (With Hejar Sinem) Part 2
Niina: Exactly, the proposal scene, it is often romanticized, you don’t really see how uncomfortable Jo feels that in the book, the way he’s treating her, that’s a problem. His apology in the book makes a lot of sense, because Laurie himself realized that it wasn’t a right thing to do.
Sinem: I also think it’s important that Louisa May Alcott did have Laurie apologize, it is also an ideal way of showing that men can change and better, and that they have to acknowledge it. I think any other author would just gloss over it, but I think it is very important that Louisa May Alcott didn’t gloss over it, and I think it’s also important that Louisa May Alcott did have Jo uncomfortable with Laurie being so possessive of her, because I mean, who wouldn’t feel uncomfortable when their friend would force them to do something they didn’t want?
Niina: Yes, it’s interesting, because in later chapter, I think it’s Under the umbrella, Friedrich says that he thinks he knows Jo very well, and that’s why he does not force himself to her. Then we have Laurie, who has known Jo since he was 15, and then he tries to force himself on Jo, and you would think that it would be the opposite.
Sinem: Yes, that is very much true, and I often have to say, I really love how Friedrich was introduced in New York, and I love how great his character was in this chapter, because when he comes to Orchard House to visit Jo, he at first doesn’t want to go inside, because she’s busy and all that stuff, but then he stays, because Jo looks at him in such a way, and because she just throws him into the house, he doesn’t change for Jo, he doesn’t pretend he is somebody else when he talks to Jo’s parents, he is still himself, and I also love that in this chapter, he looks at Laurie a great deal, and he also looks at Jo a great deal, and the fact that Jo is like, she has to keep her eyes focused, because her eyes wonder towards him, her eyes work constantly, which is very funny.
Niina: There’s something about him that speaks right to her soul, it reminds me of that part in New York, when he’s speaking about religion, and then in that chapter, he really becomes Jo’s hero, so there’s something similar that happens here.
Sinem: Yes, like I said, I really love Friedrich as a character, and I also love the fact that Louisa May Alcott didn’t just like gloss over the fact that Friedrich was visiting. It was a very important chapter, and it also let the audience know Friedrich even better, because he was there for Jo, but he wasn’t only nice to Jo, he was nice to everybody around her, because that is who he is.
Niina: You are pretty well educated when it comes to Louisa May Alcott. Would you like to tell a little bit, how you got introduced to Little Women and her writings?
Sinem: It happened like this. I wanted to read something in English, and I was like, why not try some classic out. It was the first time I kind of discovered it, but there were a few bad reviews, so I wasn’t sure, and I couldn’t get a reading extract of it, so I thought to myself, let’s wait a bit, but then when I got to the shop to look for some English book, there it was again, and it was like the whole version of it, several hundred pages, and I read a bit into it, and I was like, okay, this is the novel I really want to read, so I started reading and I fell in love with the writing, and then I read her other novels as well, and the one that also had a real big impact on me, besides Little Women was also ”Work”, because it is such an incredible novel. About Little women, the funny thing with it is, Meg is character similar to my aunt. Meg is really how I always imagined my own aunt to be, I have two of them, the older one especially, reminded me of her, and I have to say, I also love the fact that Louisa May Alcott included Henry David Thoreau to all of ther novels. I think that is where they start off. He is in every novel of hers, and then there are people who claim that she didn’t love him, but the fact is like, okay, if she only included Henry David Thoreau kind of character, for example, into Little Women, then maybe we could say, okay, she didn’t love him, but it is clear that she was very much in love with him, or had a crush on him, because that kind of character is in all of her novels, Mac. David, I wouldn’t say Tom in An Old-Fashioned Girl is completely like him, but when he matured, he also kind of becomes that kind of archetype, and I think it is really important.
Niina: I think Adam in Moods is also based on Henry David Thoreau.
Sinem: Yeah, right, I really forgot him.
Niina: Then there’s the German man in the Queen of Hearts, he’s based on Henry David Thoreau, so the list goes on and on. At some point maybe in this podcast, I will go through all of these Henry David Thoreau archetypes. Yes, you are correct, he appears in literal disguises in pretty much every single Louisa May Alcott novel or short story.
Sinem: Yes, and also in I believe in Long Fatal Love Chase, I think that’s what it’s called. In that one, Henry David Thoreau kind of archetype character is, I think, Father Ignatius. I can’t remember his name, but I think that was it, and he really reminded me of Friedrich, but I have to say, I still love Friedrich more, because I think to me, out of all the Henry David Thoreau archetypes, I think Friedrich is the one who speaks mostly to my heart, probably because he’s German and because he can talk German.
I always found it nice when she speaks German words. His language has English phrases and German sentences, I’m like, I can understand everything he says, and it is so cute.
Niina: Yes, and it’s adorable, because in Little Women he is still trying to study English, and he speaks the broken English, and then he throws these German words here and there. Then in Little Men, the narrator says that he has improved his English a lot, but he still uses some of his favorite German phrases, like Schatz and Mein Sohn.
Sinem: Yes, that is true, and I also have to say, I think it is also very important for him to actually use this kind of language. He has a very open vocabulary, I’d say, and I think it is also very important to note that he didn’t come to New York for himself. The reason why he came there was to provide for his nephews, and I think it also shows his very caring nature. It kind of a parallel to Louisa May Alcott, when she wanted to provide for her own nephews, and I think that was the reason why she started writing Little Men, she knew she wanted to write another book to the series, but she was like, okay, I have to provide for my nephews, because their father just died, and then she wrote Little Men, and that is just so sweet, and it’s also a wonderful parallel to how Friedrich came to New York to provide for his nephews, and when he looks for work, so he can provide a home for Jo.
Niina: That is true, I hadn’t thought about that before. That is a parallel between Louisa May Alcott and Friedrich’s character. Her brother-in-law, John Pratt, had died before she started to write Little Men.
Sinem: Whenever I read Little Men, I always cry at the passage where John Brooke dies.
