为何乔不嫁给洛里?——评《小妇人》的伤感结局

Why Didn't Jo Marry Laurie?——A Critique of the Sad Ending of Little Women

在露易莎.梅.奥尔科特的著名小说《小妇人》中,女主人公乔拒绝了完美的邻家男孩———洛里的爱,而嫁给了父辈的贝尔教授。这个令人伤感的结局给一代代的读者们带来了无穷遗憾,也引起了批评家们的激烈争论。本文认为,她的拒绝不仅来自于她的叛逆性格,她对自由、女性空间和男性力量的深切而本能的欲望,而且来自于她偏执狂般的维护一个充满慈爱、自我满足的女性社区的欲望。她的拒绝是自我挫败式的,但也确实张扬了自己的个性。故事的结局是一个叛逆和现实之间对抗的无奈的妥协。

In Little Women, the famous novel by Louisa May Alcott, the heroine Jo refused love from Laurie, an ideal lover and soul mate, and eventually married the father figure Professor Bhaer. The sad ending of the novel brings about infinite sorrow to generations of readers, and also heated discussions in the critics. To me, her refusal stems not only from her rebellious nature, her deep and instinctive desire for liberty, female space and male power, but also from her monomaniacal desire to preserve a nurturing and self-sustaining female community. Her refusal is self-defeating on the one hand, and is self-assertive on the other. The ending of the novel is a helpless compromise between her rebelliousness and reality.