Jo/Laurie Goodness

[emeraldzen1]

So everyone, this is my very first attempt at posting on livejournal. I find this site pretty confusing overall, so lets see how it goes! But I figured, why not make my first post Little Women and Jo/Laurie related as currently its my fav fandom and my fav couple :)

The first entry is re: a kiss between my fav couple...and the second is a ridiculous

Comments

[arithanas]

I must be the only reader since the publication of the novel unsurprised by Jo and Laurie taking different paths. *covers her head with her arms*

Hold the stoning, please! Let me explain! :P

All jokes aside, I understood that Jo and Laurie didn't mean to be together, even before Brooke and Meg married. I love the proposal scene, part of me was hurt when Laurie asked the question, because, even at 8, I knew that the answer was to be "No, thank you, but no"; Jo was strong, she had ideals, she had goals: She need no husband! Of course, she must refuse Laurie. The heart wrench I felt was for poor Laurie. I even sob a little in the library, and I shouted at the book in the part about the umbrella, I felt betrayed. That was my little 8-y-o self.

I refuse to pick up Little Women again until I was 14 when Little Men came to my way. I had to re-read Little Women and I saw things different, Wow! Jo and Laurie had chemistry! there was intimacy, there was passion, there was... I lack a better word: élan; but, by then, I knew that was not

[emeraldzen1]

Lol, its all good. One of the great things about this community is taht we all have different perspectives on so many things, even my fav ship

[arithanas]

I advocate for the death of the author, any day of the week and twice in cases like these. Speculation is fun, but wonder how much of the author's life is reflected in the work makes lose some of the original text.

It is true that we all write what we know and we wrote to those who we know, But, hypothetically speaking, if Laddie and Louisa had "improper relations" in those two weeks without a chaperon in Paris, remorse had made her flatly reject the idea that Jo was romantically involved, if the sense of decorum won the battle. And, even if Louisa considered those two weeks all the romance she need in her life, perhaps by adverse reaction, she decided to make Jo a pillar of virtue, in order that no one suspected her. That hypothetical scenario makes me question what right do I have to speculate on her life

[emeraldzen1]

Arithanas, I'm not sure I understand your post fully, but I think you might be stating that its not useful to speculate and we should take the text as is. If that is your perspective, I guess I have to disagree. I think half the fun is speculation...is it useful at all because will we ever know? No, but I find it enjoyable anyways...This includes speculation on Louisa and Laddie and how much of their relationship made it in LW and how it affected how she handled Jo and Laurie's relationship

[chiana606]

I don't see it as at all far-fetched for Laurie to try kissing Jo during the proposal scene. He'd worked himself into a right and proper passion, and seemed likely to do all kinds of reckless things. He was rash and in love and not necessarily thinking with the most logical part of his brain. That's not saying I think Jo would have approved at all. I imagine Laurie kissing her would freak her out quite a bit. The only time that he does kiss her in the novel (bashfully after she flies at him <3) she's unsettled by it and very quick to put a stop to it.

Maybe the reason that Louisa struck that out of the proposal scene was to give Jo a break? Or maybe because she was writing a kids book and didn't want the passion to boil over in something that was likely to be read by eight-year-olds.

[emeraldzen1]

Chiana I agree with you that maybe Louisa didn't want a children's book to have a passionate kiss and the hugely emotional aftermath... to make the proposal scene with a kiss realistic, you are right, she would have had to have some intense drama following with Jo physically pushing Laurie away and likely freaking out in shock and disbelief...All too much for a kid's story...

The other kisses in the book are either just alluded to or when actually described sweet and contained...And the first time Laurie kisses Jo (when Beth is ill) is an amazing scene, but it is only a kiss on the head (cheek?) after all...

[chiana606]

Not directly related, but Jo/Laurie blather from me because I enjoy it.

I wonder how much Jo's refusal of Laurie and acceptance of Bhaer had to do with timing. She did say to Marmee that she might have agreed to Laurie's question if he asked again and wasn't pursuing Amy, not because she loved him any more, but because she "cared more to be loved". I suspect if he'd shown up in Concord right after Beth died, he might have stood a chance. Which isn't to say that it necessarily would have worked out well at all, or that Jo wouldn't have had any regrets (My inner Jo/Laurie shipper wants to think it would be awesome eventually... but even my inner shipper can't stop from adding that eventually. I think they'd have a lot to work out before it would be a good marriage.). I also wonder if Bhaer had asked for Jo's hand at a different time, what her reaction would have been. For example, if Bhaer had asked her right before she left New York, or even immediately upon arriving in Concord. Luckily Bhaer had wisdom enough *not* to do

[emeraldzen1]

Haha, I also enjoy a good Jo and Laurie discussion (obviously!) and oh totally! I think timing made all the difference in the world...Poor Laurie, if only he just had waited...but from his perspective he'd been waiting for years already...and yes, I agree that if Jo had said yes b/c she felt lonely, it would have taken a good bit of time for them to build a truly strong marriage, but it could have been such a beautiful thing once they got there :)