The story follows the lives of the four March sisters—Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy—and details their passage from childhood to womanhood during and after the Civil War.
Louisa May Alcott's beloved 1868 novel is about the four March girls - Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy - who are growing up in Massachusetts during the Civil War. As the novel opens, their father is away at war, and the girls are struggling to be good and to reconcile themselves to their relative poverty. Each has her trials to deal with, and they are encouraged by their loving mother - Marmee, and by their friendship with their neighbor, Theodore "Laurie" Laurence.
Alcott’s inspiration for Little Women came from her life experiences when she was younger. The setting is in Massachusetts, the state where she grew up. The characters in the story represent her sisters, mother, and herself. Each one was given the same traits/personality as her sisters. Each sister has a flaw. Amy is selfish, Beth is shy, Meg is vain, and Jo is outspoken and tomboy-ish.