Social inequality between March and Laurence's family in Louisa May Alcott's Little Women

This study analyzes the representation of social inequality in Little Women by Louisa May Alcott by focusing on the social and economic differences between the March and Laurence families and their effects on daily life, social positions, and life opportunities. The research employs New Criticism to examine intrinsic elements of the text, including characterization, symbols, motifs, and class-based conflicts, while Marxist theory is used to explain how class structure, economic conditions, and access to material resources shape social relations within the novel. This study employs a descriptive qualitative method to analyze the data. The data obtained in the novel are in the form of words, phrases, sentences, quotations, or characters’ thoughts. The descriptive qualitative method is helpful to analyze these kinds of data because the method allows the researcher to interpret a deeper meaning of the data. The researcher uses secondary data obtained from previous e-journals and articles related to Little Women novel to enrich the primary data. The findings reveal that social inequality is represented through contrasting economic conditions, living standards, and social positions of the two families. The March family is depicted as a lower middle class household that depends on labor, self discipline, and moral values to survive economic hardship, whereas the Laurence family represents the upper class, characterized by economic comfort, social freedom, and structural privilege. Furthermore, social inequality is manifested in daily social life through unequal access to education, security, and social mobility. These conditions significantly influence the characters’ development, as the March sisters internalize simplicity, independence, and moral restraint, while the Laurence family embodies social protection and freedom derived from wealth. The study concludes that Little Women consistently reflects and critiques social inequality by demonstrating how class structure shapes individual life choices and social outcomes in nineteenth century American society.