WOMEN’S STRUGGLE IN LOUISA MAY ALCOTT’S LITTLE WOMEN

Abstract

Little Women is a novel that discusses the lives of women and their struggle for equality. This paper aims to describe the struggle of women to get their rights as seen from the female characters in the story. The researcher uses a liberal feminism approach. To analyze the data, the writer uses the descriptive qualitative method. The research data were taken from the novel Little Women and several journal and article references related to the topic of discussion. The questions raised in this study are 1.) How are female characters depicted in the novel, and 2.) How are they struggling to get their freedom and rights? The results of the analysis show that female characters are described as different characters but show the same thing that they are struggling to get freedom, happiness, and the things they want. To get freedom and happiness, they do different struggles. Like Josephine, for example, besides struggling to get an education, she also shows her talent as a professional writer by publishing her writings. During the civil war in the United States, women's lives were not easy and freedom in the public and domestic spheres was still dominated by men. However, the female characters in this novel are described as independent and determined women who struggle to realize their desires and are equal to men.

Keywords: feminism, women’s struggle, women's liberalism, Little Women