Currently Reading: Little Women ("Playing Pilgrims" to "Meg Goes to Vanity Fair")

I don't do ball gowns, tea parties, and all that glitter. The spirit of womanly poise has long ago abandoned my complicated human parts (to the delight of my father who swears that he shall use a bolo to lacerate the life out of anyone crazy enough to propose marriage to his only daughter). Hence, reading Louisa May Alcott's Little Women is like watching a unicorn throw up.

Not that the classic novel is too cheesy; after all, an allowable level of romance is expected of novels its age (the book says it was published in 1994). Little Women is refreshing actually, much like a quiet Sunday afternoon.

The first few chapters so far have presented themselves as unique short stories, each with its own moral. The wisdom is plain and simple, but resonates beyond its years.

From chapter five (Being Neighborly):

...children should be children as long as they can. 

From chapter seven (Amy's Valley of Humiliation):

You have a good many little gifts and virtues, but there is no need of parading them, for conceit spoils the finest genius. There is not much danger that real talent or goodness will be overlooked long; even if it is, the consciousness of possessing and using it well should satisfy one, and the great charm of of all power is modesty. 

From chapter eight (Jo Meets Apollyon):

My dear, don't let the sun go down upon your anger; forgive each other, help each other, and begin again tomorrow.

*** 

Watch and pray, dear, never get tired of trying, and never think it is impossible to conquer your fault. 

From chapter nine (Meg Goes to Vanity Fair):

Learn to know and value the praise which is worth having, and to excite the admiration of excellent people...

*** 

To be loved and chosen by a good man is the best and sweetest thing which can happen to a woman... 

Everything seemed old-fashioned, from the concept of good manners to womanhood. Still, no matter how conservative the novel sounds, it kind of makes me long for that period in time when the glory of life's simplicity was fed by clear cut societal demarcations.

That era when women were supposed to be demure and beautiful and pleasant, and being a gentleman was more than just the occasional holding out the door for a lady. When little girls learned knitting and baking and playing the piano, and young boys sent flowers to their friend's mother. When proper education was a requirement to matter in a society.

I'm all for women empowerment and the dynamism of modern day advancements. But sometimes, I just envy the ease of old-fashioned things.