Plot Summary
The preface to Little Women contains no narrative action in the traditional sense. Instead, it presents an adapted passage of verse from John Bunyan's seventeenth-century allegorical novel The Pilgrim's Progress. The poem addresses the book itself, using the literary device of apostrophe, urging it to go forth and reveal its contents to all who welcome it. It expresses the hope that what the book shows its readers will bless them and inspire them to become better pilgrims in life. The passage specifically highlights the character of Mercy, a young woman who began her spiritual pilgrimage early, and encourages "young damsels" to learn from her example to value the world to come. The preface closes with the assurance that even "little tripping maids may follow God / Along the ways which saintly feet have trod."
Character Development
While no characters from Little Women appear in the preface, the passage establishes a crucial framework for understanding them. By selecting a passage about Mercy rather than Bunyan's male protagonist Christian, Louisa May Alcott signals that her novel will center on the spiritual and moral journeys of young women. The reference to "little tripping maids" and "young damsels" anticipates the four March sisters—Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy—each of whom will undertake her own pilgrimage toward virtue throughout the novel, striving to overcome personal faults such as vanity, temper, timidity, and selfishness.
Themes and Motifs
The preface introduces the novel's central motif of pilgrimage as moral self-improvement. By framing the story within the tradition of The Pilgrim's Progress, Alcott establishes that Little Women will be a domestic allegory in which the ordinary struggles of everyday life carry deep spiritual significance. The dual purpose of the book—to entertain and to instruct—is embedded in the verse itself, which asks that readers be both welcomed and made "better pilgrims." The theme of feminine virtue and growth is also foregrounded, as the passage deliberately elevates women's spiritual journeys to the same level of importance as the grand adventures of male characters in Bunyan's original work.
Literary Devices
The preface employs several notable literary devices. Apostrophe is used throughout, as the speaker addresses the "little Book" directly, personifying it and commanding it to go forth into the world. The passage functions as an epigraph, setting the thematic tone for the entire novel before the narrative begins. Allusion to The Pilgrim's Progress creates an intertextual framework that readers of Alcott's era would have immediately recognized, linking the March sisters' domestic lives to the grand tradition of Christian allegory. The word "adapted" signals that Alcott has deliberately reshaped Bunyan's text to suit her own purposes, focusing on female characters and youthful moral development rather than the adult male pilgrim's journey of the original.