Due to strong Protestant influences, nineteenth century American life stressed the importance of hard work, social propriety, and religious piety. With these social norms came rigid views of gender roles. Women especially were limited as to what their status was in this society. Louisa May Alcott's novel, Little Women, tries to illustrate a favorable portrait of the upstanding lives four young girls and their mother lead in their allotted roles in this patriarchal culture. The book becomes almost an instructional of how young ladies should act in order to gain respect, find husbands, and then experience happiness. In Little Women one of the March girls, Jo, is the most resistant to the fetters of this social dogma. Instead of relying on a man for her adult life, she desperately wants to be independent. In theory this should be a worthy goal for any person, but as the novel continues she gives up on this dream for the shackles of married life. In Alcott's repressive system Jo eventually realizes her mistake in wanting freedom, and succombs to societal norms by finding a husband. Although Jo begins as a free spirit unwilling to accept the stereotypical role as a female in late nineteenth century America, she ultimately bows to social norms. In doing so Alcott leaves the reader with only one possibility for the life of a young woman: dependence and acquiescence.

"I know they will remember all I have said to them, that they will be loving children to you, will do their duty faithfully, fight their bosom enemies bravely, and conquer themselves so beautifully, that when I come back to them I may be fonder and prouder than ever of my little women." (p. 12)