Happy in One Another

One of the themes of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women is that riches do not bring happiness. The parents of the four girls had once been rich (before the story began) but due to misfortune became relatively poor. When Aunt March tried to adopt one of the children when these financial troubles came, the parents said, “We can’t give up our girls for a dozen fortunes. Rich or poor, we will keep together and be happy in one another.” They knew that happiness came from the quality of their family life, not the quantity of their possessions. But because of the change of the family’s fortune, the oldest daughter Meg had “a sense of injustice [that] made her feel bitter toward everyone sometimes, for she had not yet learned to know how rich she was in the blessings which alone can make life happy.” Jo remarked about her rich Aunt March, “I don’t envy her much, in spite of her money, for after all rich people have about as many worries as poor ones.”  Indeed, riches do not take away worries or problems or family challenges. The mother Marmee described what she hoped her daughters were learning about what really matters in life when she said this about her four daughters, “One discovered that money couldn’t keep shame and sorrow out of rich people’s houses, another that, though she was poor, she was a great deal happier, with her youth, health, and good spirits, than a certain fretful, feeble old lady who couldn’t enjoy her comforts, a third that, disagreeable as it was to help get dinner, it was harder still to go begging for it and the fourth, that even carnelian rings were not so valuable as good behavior.” As the daughters grew up, they learned that good character and a strong family were of far greater value than the possessions of the world. Marmee said this about her wishes for her girls, “I am ambitious for you, but not to have you make a dash in the world, marry rich men merely because they are rich, or have splendid houses, which are not homes because love is wanting. Money is a needful and precious thing, and when well used, a noble thing, but I never want you to think it is the first or only prize to strive for. I’d rather see you poor men’s wives, if you were happy, beloved, contented, than queens on thrones, without self-respect and peace.” These passages remind me of the Savior’s thought-provoking questions about wealth: “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26)

               The experience of the girls in Little Women helped them to understand what really matters and makes one happy in life. When Beth became very sick Meg began to understand where happiness came from: “Sitting alone with tears dropping often on her work, [she] felt how rich she had been in things more precious than any luxuries money could buy—in love, protection, peace, and health, the real blessings of life.” Meg eventually married a man named John who was relatively poor, and when Jo asked about whether she shouldn’t be marrying a rich man, her mother responded, “Money is a good and useful thing, Jo, and I hope my girls will never feel the need of it too bitterly, nor be tempted by too much. I should like to know that John was firmly established in some good business, which gave him an income large enough to keep free from debt and make Meg comfortable. I’m not ambitious for a splendid fortune, a fashionable position, or a great name for my girls. If rank and money come with love and virtue, also, I should accept them gratefully, and enjoy your good fortune, but I know, by experience, how much genuine happiness can be had in a plain little house, where the daily bread is earned, and some privations give sweetness to the few pleasures. I am content to see Meg begin humbly, for if I am not mistaken, she will be rich in the possession of a good man’s heart, and that is better than a fortune.” Unfortunately indeed, “rank and money” do not always come with “love and virtue” and rarely are a recipe for genuine happiness. As John and Meg adapted to their family life as a new couple, they learned to find joy even in their poverty: “This household happiness did not come all at once, but John and Meg had found the key to it, and each year of married life taught them how to use it, unlocking the treasuries of real home love and mutual helpfulness, which the poorest may possess, and the richest cannot buy.” Indeed, there is much of what matters most in life that money will never be able to buy.

               In the story the youngest sister Amy eventually married the long-time family friend Laurie who was extremely rich. But they chose to use their money to bless others instead of living extravagantly with it. Laurie described his feelings this way: “Rich people have no right to sit down and enjoy themselves, or let their money accumulate for others to waste. It’s not half so sensible to leave legacies when one dies as it is to use the money wisely while alive, and enjoy making one’s fellow creatures happy with it.” His words remind me of the wise counsel that Jacob gave to his people about riches: “But before ye seek for riches, seek ye for the kingdom of God. And after ye have obtained a hope in Christ ye shall obtain riches, if ye seek them; and ye will seek them for the intent to do good—to clothe the naked, and to feed the hungry, and to liberate the captive, and administer relief to the sick and the afflicted” (Jacob 2:18-19). We should seek the kingdom of God before anything else, and if God chooses to give us riches, we should use them do good in whatever way we can, just as Laurie described. Louisa May Alcott’s book is a welcome rebuff to the world’s incessant invitation to find happiness in money and possessions. This simple story reminds us that family, friends, virtue, and faith in God are of far greater value than anything that wealth can bring us.