Little Women Character Review: Beth March

*Warning: This post contains spoilers in regards to the narrative and characters from the book Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. Read at your own risk if you have not read the book or have seen any of the adaptations.

There is something to be said about a well written, human character. They leap off the page and speak to us as if they were right in front us, as flesh and blood human beings, instead of fictional creations.

In this series of weekly blog posts, I will examine character using the characters from Little Women to explore how writers can create fully dimensional, human characters that audiences and readers can relate to.

There is an old Jewish saying: may you live until 120.While the ideal is that we should all live into our golden years, the sad reality is that death can sadly strike the young as well as the old.

In Little Women, Beth March is the third of the four March girls. Unlike her sisters, she is a homebody who rarely socializes outside of her immediate circle. She always has a giving heart and a shoulder to lean on when needed. Beth is also an accomplished musician who likes nothing more than to play on the family piano.

The ying to Jo’s yang, she is the calm in the eye of the storm when Jo is temperamental and blowing up like a volcano. Unfortunately, Beth dies young after contracting an illness when she visited a family whose circumstances are much worse than the March’s.

To sum it up: Every story has a heart. It may make you laugh or it may make you cry, but it is always there. Beth is the heart of Little Women. She is the representation of all that is good in the world. Ultimately, that heart breaks when Beth dies, but it is always there, even if is there only in spirit.

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Thoughts On The NYC Injection Sites

It’s no secret that drug abuse and drug addiction is a plague on our society. Countless lives have been lost and/or destroyed to drug use or addiction.

Last week, New York City Mayor  Bill de Blasio announced that the city would soon be opening a handful of safe injection sites in various neighborhoods. The purpose of these establishments is not to encourage drug addiction and abuse, but to save lives. Those who choose to enter will be given clean needles and access to trained medical professionals who will provide the overdose reversing medication naloxone to those who overdose. Information about treatment options will also be available.

I can understand why some would argue that these sites only encourage illegal drug use. But I disagree. I disagree because there are too many people overdosing and dying for no reason. If someone overdoses while inside of one these establishments, not only will the staff able to revive them, but they will be encouraged to seek help. The easy way out of combating drug abuse and addiction is prison. But that has proved to be a fruitless solution that mingles with other issues to create a larger problem. What is needed, from my perspective is not only medical treatment, but an understanding of why people seek out illegal drugs.

Only then, can we fight a winnable war.

 

Throwback Thursday-The Terminal (2004)

For most people, airports are a place just to come and go. But it can also leave flyers stranded, trapped between where they are going to and where they were coming from.

In the 2004 movie, The Terminal, Viktor Navorski (Tom Hanks) is traveling through New York’s JFK airport when he learns that the fictional Eastern European country that he calls home experiences a political revolution. His passport is no longer valid. He cannot leave the airport, nor can he fly home. The only thing he can do is make himself comfortable until he can fly home. While he is waiting for the political situation in his homeland to clear up, he makes friends with the airport employees.

What I like about this movie is that it is simply entertaining. There is no overt political message or heavy-handed theme. It is just the story of a man who is trying to make the best of a bad situation.

I recommend it.