In her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel March,"" Geraldine Brooks takes characters from one of the most beloved children's books, Louisa May Alcott's ""Little Women,"" and uses them to illuminate the horrible, far-reaching effects of war. Brooks takes the March parents whose stories are only explored so far as they relate to the March sisters and deeply imagines their relationship and experiences of the Civil War.
The novel opens in the voice of Mr. March, who has left his family to volunteer as a chaplain for the union troops during the Civil War. Anyone familiar with Alcott's book immediately sees that the man who the four March girls saw as an unwavering pillar of morality and support is in fact a naive idealist searching for heroics and purpose in war. Mr. March, a staunch abolitionist and transcendentalist, finds, however, his ideals often don't match with the actions and motives of the Union army.
After Mr. March is injured, the narration switches to the voice of Mrs. March, known to her husband and girls as Marmee. Through her narration, one sees that their marriage is not the ideal, equal partnership that Mr. March believes it to be. Instead of being the proud, supportive wife he imagines, Marmee is in fact resentful of his abandonment of the family in search of heroics. Marmee's narrative makes a statement about gender and war that is still applicable today: while Mr. March is branded as a hero, Marmee is left alone to toil in poverty and raise their four daughters.
Despite the seemingly-gimmicky set-up of this novel, it in no way leans on the popularity or details of ""Little Women."" It thoroughly stands on its own, and though fans of Alcott's book may want to read it because of complexity and layers it adds to the original story, a previous knowledge of Alcott's book is unnecessary.
With ""March,"" Brooks examines the Civil War through the point of view of a small but important movement in American history, Transcendentalism. Just as ""Little Women"" is based on the childhood of Alcott and her sisters, the character of Mr. March in Brooks' novel is based on their father, Bronson Alcott, who in real life was close friends with Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson, important figures in the transcendentalist movement. Telling the story of the war from such a unique, idealistic perspective is fascinating and has been little explored in fiction.
Brooks perfectly captures the lush voice of 1860s Romanticism, and her details are accurate and truly envelop the reader in another time and place. The images are vivid, and one can almost see and smell 19th century Virginia and Concord, Mass. At times, however, the dialogue can fall into overly familiar clichés concerning slavery and feminism. For instance, the young Marmee says, ""Perhaps one day I will be entrusted with daughters of my own, and if so, I swear I will not see their minds molded into society's simpering ideal of womanhood. Oh, how I would like to raise writers and artists who would make the world acknowledge what women can do!"" One wonders if anyone, even budding feminists, truly spoke like this, or if these are just the words of modern feminists put into the mouth of a 19th century woman. Even more, one questions the figure of Grace Clement, a slave-girl who is articulate, wise and beautiful: one wonders if a slave could really be so literate and poetic, or if she is merely a figure used to make a modern point about feminism and racial equality.
Besides these minor distractions, Brooks' novel is engrossing and beautiful. It is a thorough, beautiful study of the affects of war on people with strong character, ideals and passions.
