Yes, the quote at the wedding is "It wasn’t at all the thing, I’m afraid..." and then you have Meg kissing Marmee. The rest of the world may not see it this way, but Louisa in her heart of hearts is on Jo's side here: it's a damn tragedy that Meg had to get married and break up the family. (Notice she's not nearly so upset when Jo moves to New York or Amy goes to Europe: you could see that as breaking up the family, but they're doing it for Art, after all!)
I think perhaps I've been a bit hard on John Brooke in the past, for really no better reason than the fatal crime of being boring; on previous readings I've thought he was unnecessarily harsh/scolding to Meg here. But two weeks at the seaside worth of money is a pretty big expenditure! Given their financial circumstances, it's high enough that a couple probably ought to talk about it before making the outlay.
And yes, Amy and Jo's different philosophies are so interesting! It's especially striking because their goals are so similar, and similarly unconventional: they both want to be artists in a world that has decidedly mixed feelings about women artists. But they take such different approaches. Jo is unconventional in basically every way, whereas Amy tries to be perfectly conventional otherwise. You just imagine someone from another 19th century novel visiting her in her atelier and being relieved that, "though an artist, Miss March is a thoroughly charming and feminine young lady, as at home in a fashionable drawing room as she is in her studio."
Disappointed though Jo is, I think she would have found going to Europe with Aunt Carrol a poisoned chalice: yes, she's in Europe where she's always wanted to go, but with an aunt who is going to demand FAR more conventional behavior than her family ever has. She's just not built for the position of companion. Whereas the job suits Amy to a T: she's good at it and she gets a certain pleasure out of being able to do it well.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2022-02-27 06:31 pm (UTC)I think perhaps I've been a bit hard on John Brooke in the past, for really no better reason than the fatal crime of being boring; on previous readings I've thought he was unnecessarily harsh/scolding to Meg here. But two weeks at the seaside worth of money is a pretty big expenditure! Given their financial circumstances, it's high enough that a couple probably ought to talk about it before making the outlay.
And yes, Amy and Jo's different philosophies are so interesting! It's especially striking because their goals are so similar, and similarly unconventional: they both want to be artists in a world that has decidedly mixed feelings about women artists. But they take such different approaches. Jo is unconventional in basically every way, whereas Amy tries to be perfectly conventional otherwise. You just imagine someone from another 19th century novel visiting her in her atelier and being relieved that, "though an artist, Miss March is a thoroughly charming and feminine young lady, as at home in a fashionable drawing room as she is in her studio."
Disappointed though Jo is, I think she would have found going to Europe with Aunt Carrol a poisoned chalice: yes, she's in Europe where she's always wanted to go, but with an aunt who is going to demand FAR more conventional behavior than her family ever has. She's just not built for the position of companion. Whereas the job suits Amy to a T: she's good at it and she gets a certain pleasure out of being able to do it well.