From Jo March to Jane Bennet — A Letter
In the best stories, the characters are as real to us as our closest friends and relatives. Real enough to write a letter to another character in a completely different book.
Women often think aloud, looking for inspiration or a common ally. This piece takes a minute to wonder what if Josephine March, the standout sister of Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, wrote a letter to Jane Bennet, the quiet counterpart to the heroine Elizabeth in Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Jane’s gentleness makes the perfect sounding board for Jo, who writes her in a fit of rage. Jane is best known for almost losing her Mr. Bingley when she held her heart too close for him to see. In contrast, Jo wears her writer’s heart on her sleeve.
Dear Jane,
A familial tempest blew through Concord today. My sister Amy has done the most dreadful thing. I write to you, seeking your patient ear and kind advice. I cannot feel patient or kind at this very moment. Not after what she did.
I will not keep the shock any longer — she burned my book. In a fitful, childish pout, she fed my hard-earned pages to the kitchen fire.
My anger simmers still and that is why I cannot write to your sister Elizabeth. Proud Lizzie and I are two fearsome spirits when someone does us wrong. She would commiserate and scrawl wildly across a letter to me as her solidarity took root.
I hope your gentleness can dampen my scorched pride.
The book was a few fairy tales I intended to finish before Father returns from the war. Meg thinks it flippant but Marmee and Beth understand that it’s a sprig of hope. Writing is not simply my pastime like Beth’s piano or Amy’s silly collection of limes. It’s a desire to see my name in print, to see the words “By Josephine March” next to some glorious, smart collection of stories for others to read. These few tales meant a great deal to me, however thin the manuscript may have looked.
Amy burned it because she was cross with me over not being invited to the theater. There are just some things the younger sisters should not do before the older. Don’t you agree?
I know about the trials Lydia has brought upon your family. You have experience dealing with younger sisters who tag along, tripping your hem. How did you overcome Lydia’s elopement and flaunting of it when she returned? Have you managed to forgive her?
This afternoon at tea Amy did try to apologize. She said she was “very, very sorry.” It is unfortunate that “very” is the smallest slip of a word. Still feeling quite stern, I replied that I would never forgive her as long as I live.
Marmie said wisely that I should not let the sun go down on my anger. So here I wallow on the velvet sofa in my attic room where I write and think and act. All the fight has gone out in me. While I dearly miss my book — and cannot even begin to think about rewriting it — I cannot bear to expend as much energy on holding a grudge.
Do you think Amy deserves my forgiveness? What would you do if it were Lydia?
We’ve had early spring sun lately and I think I shall ice-skate tomorrow. Maybe I’ll invite Laurie, my dear friend from next door. Fresh air and conversation will help me decide to forgive Amy — or not — and perhaps bring to mind some of the sentences now burned away. Hopefully, I can remember them long enough to put down and not lose them on the walk back from the pond.
Yours,
Jo March
This letter was originally published by 26, a writer’s collective.
26 writers were invited to take part in Dear 26. Each of those 26 writers was randomly assigned a letter from the alphabet. They each then chose two fictional characters whose names (either first or last names) begin with the same letter of the alphabet. Each writer then created and crafted a letter from one character to another.
Characters chosen came from novels, plays and poems, and the texts are not necessarily contemporaneous in time, although some are. Thus, if Zaphod Beeblebrox needed to write to Zorro, he could.
The result is 26 extraordinary letters between literary characters, written by 12 writers from NZ and 14 writers from around the world: the UK, USA, Eire, Northern Ireland, India, The Czech Republic, Switzerland, and Australia.
