【正文】 ociety in which women’s status was slowly increasing and let us know what kind of images women should have. Based on the analysis of the characters Jo, Meg, Beth and Amy, the thesis will explore the way they build up their images.Being the main character of Little Women, Jo is an outspoken tomboy with a passion for writing. Her character is based in large part on Louisa May Alcott herself. Jo refuses Laurie’s offer of marriage, despite the fact that everyone assumes they will end up together. In the end, Jo gives up her writing and marries Professor Bhaer, which can be seen either as a domestic triumph or as a professional loss, since Jo loses her headstrong independence. As she displays good and bad traits in equal measure, Jo is a very unusual character for nineteenthcentury didactic fiction. Jo’s bad traits—her rebelliousness, anger, and outspoken ways—do not make her unappealing。 women have equal rights in politics, economy and culture. The National Foundation for Women Business Owners reported that between 1987 and 1994, the number of womenowned business grew by 78% and womenowned firms accounted for 36% of all firms (Net. 2). Changes in female’s mindWomen in working appear to have a personalvalue structure different from that of nonworking women。s town hall to sew Union uniforms and bandages. As soon as she turned thirty, old enough to enlist as an army nurse, she prevailed upon family friend Dorothy Dix to waive the ban on admitting single women (Brook, 1984).She once campaigned for women39。t I a woman? I have borne thirteen children, and seen most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother39。ll have to scratch a living from the soil. Nothing will e easily not even childbirth.s intense romantic yearnings. Her childhood would be peopled with the most important activists of the abolition movement as well as the era39。 rather make her unique. Jo is a likely precursor to a whole slew of lovably flawed heroes and heroines of children’s books, among them Mark Twain’s Tom Sawyer.Being the third March sister, Beth is very shy and quiet. Like Meg, she always tries to please other people, and like Jo, she is concerned with keeping the family together. Beth struggles with minor faults, such as her resentment for the housework she must do. Beth resembles an oldfashioned heroine like those in the novels of the nineteenthcentury English author Charles Dickens. Beth is a good person, but she is also a shade too angelic to survive in Alcott’s more realistic fictional world. With Beth’s death, Alcott lets an old type of heroine die off. The three surviving March sisters are strong enough to live in the changing real world.Beth is close to Jo。Striving for equality has been shown by the growing economic independence of women. The importance of female images in Little Women to modern societyThe images from the females in March family are worth learning in modern society.From Jo, we can see that striving for independence through the acquisition of a job can show one’s personal values. When a woman cannot be independent in economy, her husband will subconsciously think his wife is lower than him in the family, because he thinks that she has no economic source and her living has to depend on him. Therefore, woman must listen to her husband and accept all requirements he asks. Naturally, equality cannot exist between two genders in society. Judging from this, to keep the independence in economy is extremely important to females through working, which is the basis to acquiring equality.Women should keep selfrespected images. As a matter of fact, modern society is rich in material (Bush, 1996). Many people are crazy for gorgeous clothing, glittering jewellery, famous and precious cars, all of which are so attractive. However, being in front of temptation, not all the girls like Meg, who can be selfrestrained, can give it up. Many of them choose to give their bodies and betray to obtain the luxury. Even though Meg has a good looking, she knows how to restrain herself from vanity. As she realizes that physical things cannot make her happy, even not suffice for her mental world. Love can not be scaled by money。 and smiled with her eyes full as she examined her presents, and read the little notes which acpanied them”(Alcott, 2005:16). When Jo hears the news that her father get wounded in the civil war, Jo cuts off her long , chestnut brown hair — “her one beauty”(Alcott, 2005:127) as Amy calls it — and sells it to a wig shop to get money for her mother to visit their father.Actually, Jo could have not sold her hair to get money, she could have borrowed money from her aunt who doesn’t favour Jo’s father with joining the army. Jo prefers to make effords by her own ability, which tells us that receiving other’s help is not the good way to solve problems which should be solved by one’s hands. To learn independence and selfrespect is the most important thing in growing up. a sisterTh