Disinterest in Little Women

I thought about beginning with a joke about personal disinterest in Louisa May Alcott’s “Little Women.” It would have poked at the practical value of a didactic book aimed at girls in the mid-nineteenth century in 2017. Then I couldn’t think of a joke, so what’s left is a vague statement of intent.

Non-jokes aside, I think there is immediate value in Alcott’s notion of ‘disinterest.’ Just so we’re on the same page: Disinterest today generally means a lack of interest, and its connotation is typically negative. A country disinterested in the welfare of its people is not a just one. A student disinterested in her studies is not a good one. A reader disinterested in a book is probably not a reader of that book at all, unless that book is part of a curriculum.

But Alcott seems to posit that ‘disinterest’ is a kind of virtue. ‘Disinterest’ to Alcott doesn’t mean ennui or callousness, but rather represents what we know today more or less as ‘selflessness.’ While it’s an act partially defined by disinterest in one’s personal well-being, it's mostly defined by interest in another’s well-being.

Let’s take a look at where that happens in the book. Right out the gate, we see the March girls’ disinterest. Days before Christmas, they sacrifice their own presents to buy gifts for their mother instead. They are, with the exception of Amy, who seems reluctant to relinquish her yuletide spoils, disinterested in their own material desires and instead shift that interest onto that of their mother.

We see again this disinterest in the following chapter, when the girls give up their Christmas breakfast to the poor family down the street. 

Why does Alcott choose to define 'disinterest' in this way? It probably stems from basic Christian values. This is a book derived partially from Pilgrim’s Progress, after all. But to attribute Alcott’s notion of ‘disinterest’ exclusively to Christian values probably misses some of the nuance.

“Little Women” advocates for treating the world like one single home. Strangers should care for strangers. Empathy should be given to all. And maybe most interesting here is that women should provide this compassion; it's mostly the women in "Little Women" who are 'disinterested.' I think the general notion of a maternal attitude (best exemplified by Marmee) and ‘disinterest’ probably share some significant ideological overlap, and I hope I’ve adequately explained why thus far.

Moving into the final pages of the novel, I wonder if Alcott’s male characters will codify a similar, gender-specific attitude. If Alcott’s women are partially characterized by moral disinterest, what virtue will her male characters show, and how will that help make the world a better home?