THE ANALYSIS OF MORAL MESSAGECONTAINED ON

“LITTLE WOMEN” NOVEL BY LOUISA ALCOTT

Imam Nawawi
Universitas Putra Batam (UPB), Batam, Kepulauan Riau, Indonesia
[email protected]

Abstract
This study examines a moral lesson found in the novel "Little Women" by American white writer
Louisa May Alcott Thelife lessons depicted in the novel of little women is one in which people
interact with each other through actions and behaviors. Through these morals, it also aims to study
the roots of these morals as part of social values as well as the society of mid-19th century mirrored
in the novel. There are characters that have trouble controlling their emotions, write purely for
financial gain, argue and believe that money is the source of happiness in the home, are obstinate,
enjoy freedom, speak harshly, and harm his brother's assets, among other traits. First, the characters
are praising God, referencing religious figures, and praying, as may be seen at a look, and the main
character claims that their wish would come true. and always gratitude to the god that has. Second,
the characters taught the readers love themselves and be courge, not feel inferior, be confident and
solve problems by themselves and the experience as a life lesson. Third, the novel informs all
readers always be kind to all that needs our helping and sharing. And the lessons that can be learned
reading little women’s novel reminds us all to slow down, take a look arround, be thankful for what
we have, and always stand up for ourselves. In this study, descriptive qualitative, and study's focus is
on the novel's moral components. Reading, making notes, and referring to quotes, words, remarks,
and activities relating to the study's problem is all part of the data collection process and practice
reading technique by reading the novel. and all the data used in this study are written texts. The
novel itself is regarded as the primary data, with books, journals, and many other written materials,
including internet-based items, handled as secondary data. The steps in this library research are data
collection, data selection, and data analysis.
Keywords: Moral velue, little women

1. INTRODUCTION
The topic of literature always generates a lot of interest for further discussion.
Through reading literary works like prose, poetry, and drama that we can both
enjoy and learn from, we can have a better grasp of culture and history around the
world and learn about living in an earlier time period. Also, we can learn about the
author's worldview from literary works, which can help us understand more about
the events of the time, such as the social conditions the author experienced and
which are described in the novel or other literary works. Literature is also an idea
that writers' imaginative minds create and then translate into written art. Several
facets of life and its issues that are depicted in literature serve as inspiration for
writers. According to Cuddon (1998:471), the term "literature" is in use to refer to
works that fall into the key genres of epic, drama, lyric, novel, and short story.
According to Klaler (2004:1), literature is typically understood to be the sum of all
written expression, with the caveat that not every written work may be referred to
as literature in the strictest meaning of the word.
Characters in literary works frequently mirror and resemble real human life, as well
as being related with it (Nurgiyantoro, 1994:168). A piece of literature's content can
be expressed by using sociological knowledge because there are typically multiple
characters in every story. The performers of a tale are the characters. Character
consists of several types, namely: (1) The main character, the character most told in
the story a literary work, either as the perpetrator of the incident or who is subject
to incident sanctions. A figure of the main role plays an important role and becomes
the core of the story. This character can protagonist and antagonist. (2) Additional
figures or subordinate figures, do not play a role full and appear only a few times in
the story as a helpful accompaniment to the main character (Nurgiyantoro,
1994:176). Characters always have ties to the author and the setting they inhabit,
according to the conventions of characterization. A person's place or position in a
social group in relation to other groups within a bigger group is also referred to as
their social status. There are many different ways to communicate literary works,
including through novels, poetry, poems, rhymes, and others. The purpose of novels
as literary works is to be enjoyed. The lessons of books can be applied to daily life
by reading. This is so that readers' minds can be expanded and their horizons of
knowledge and experience can be broadened by the novel's life lessons. The values
presented in a literary work are implicitly given by the author, therefore when
reading or comprehending one, care must be taken to base one's knowledge on an
observant mind, which is perceptive enough to see what is presented in the literary
work. Also, among readers who enjoy literature, novels are a particularly popular
genre. As a novel's story is typically based on a mirror of human existence, it is
intended that readers will comprehend the moral of the tale.
The novel is the most comprehensive literary work with a more extensive
explanation of the theme, story, characters, and setting, so the writer picks the book
as the subject of research. The novel is the most comprehensive literary work with a
more extensive explanation of the theme, story, characters, and setting, so the writer
picks the book as the subject of research. Little Women, a book by Louisa May
Alcott, first published in 1868. The troubles, challenges, and traits that affect young
women's lives in society are illustrated in this book. Being good mothers and wives,
taking care of the home, cooking, caring for children, serving their husbands, and
other duties place a double weight on women. Women have the same rights that
men do to pursue their goals in life, including employment and education. Jo, Meg,
Amy, and Beth March, the sisters of the March family, are described in this book.
They battled the discrimination against women at the time because they were born
into a low-income family during the 19th century's wartime. Children's books rarely
contain straight forward, common place tales that can amuse young readers. Some
of it urges readers to reflect about how women were portrayed in the nineteenth and
early twentieth centuries, like in Louisa May Alcott's Little Women, which raises a
significant issue. Children's books rarely contain straightforward, commonplace tales
that can amuse young readers. Some of it urges readers to consider a serious issue, like
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott and the Emily Series by Lucy Maud Montgomery,
which challenges them to consider how women were portrayed in the late nineteenth
and early twentieth centuries.
According to Kenny (through Nurgiyantoro 2009: 320), moral tales are typically
meant to make suggestions on particular, useful moral lessons. The author's
deliberate advice on different topics of behavior and social manners is provided in
 this book. The reader is undoubtedly given a very helpful and beneficial moral by
the fictional work. The reader will benefit from the moral in "Little Women" in a
similar manner. The lesson presented in this book has a strong connection to the
battle for survival. Little Women's story covers a variety of fascinating life issues
and moral lessons that readers can learn from. many aspects of life, society, and
dreams are shown in stories. and making it simpler for readers to locate the moral
principles at issue. Little Women is a popular novel about a woman's struggle in life
and her thoughts on suicide. Because the plot is so lighthearted, readers enjoy it.
The author is interested in studying any moral principles in the book Little Women,
how the main character deals with challenges in their life, and how the author
transmits a moral message in Little Women based on the things that have been
addressed.

2. LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 NOVEL

A novel is one of important literary work because authors can develop a theme
through his depiction into a sequence of words. Little (1970:68) states novel is
narrative text with long-form prose that has characters and fictional events. A novel
can portray the world living phenomena adapted from the author's description,
imaginations, experiences, dialogues, and many thus explore basic human in depth.
We can very easily distinguish between novels and other literary works because
novels have a special power in building stories. That is the capacity to create a
subject and his world to be very complex, detailed, and interesting with very
straightforward and easy to understand language so that we can feel the author's
imagination. So, tight language is not necessary. However, it is more difficult
because the novel contains greater elements of organization and is written to a large
sequence of events (Stanton, 1965:44). According to Nurgiantoro (2010:10), the
novel is an essay in the form of long prose that tells a number of stories about a
person's life and surroundings while emphasizing the personality and nature of the
perpetrator. The work of fiction is constructed using building elements, specifically
intrinsic and extrinsic elements. The novel is made up of two components: intrinsic
and extrinsic components, both of which have a significant impact on the
development of literature (Simaibang, 2017:105). The novel is a genre of literary
work that is written as a narrative with some conflict in the life stories of the story's
protagonists. A novel has a theme that the author develops using their descriptions,
fantasies, experiences, characterizations, dialogue, and other means of expressing
the theme and moral principles. Every book has a specific message that the authors
are meant to convey. With the course of events in the novel, they undergo thought
and concept transformation. On large canvases, paintings of the civilization have
been created (Little, 1970: 105).The social background has a significant impact on
social beliefs because it is the primary factor in their formation. By reading a novel,
readers not only had the pleasure of appreciating the plot, but they also became
aware of the implications that the novel was implying. Despite the absence of an
image to aid in their understanding, readers were able to picture the situation as
they followed the story's progression. This helped us comprehend human emotions,
as well as other people's suffering and curiosity. Also, novel-length fiction could
teach readers about comparable ideals and culture. Because the author of the story
constructed the development of the characters who were highly intricate and had
numerous issues, readers could increase their comprehension such as morals.

2.4 MORAL

Morals have a greater social element to values and tend to have a very broad
acceptance. Morals are far more about good and bad than other values. According
to Hurlock Elizabeth (1997:386), "moral" is derived from the Latin term mores,
which denotes manners, customs, and folkways. Moral behavior is conduct that
complies with the moral standards of the social group. It is regulated by moral
conceptions, or the rules of conduct to which members of a culture have grown
accustomed and which establish the expected behavioral patterns for all group
members. Moral issues arise from what people's actions and behaviors have caused
in society. According to Barcallow (1994:2-4), moral questions touch both action
and character; they come up when people are faced with decisions like "what
should I do (or not do)," "how should I act," etc. The most fundamental moral
dilemmas occur when people's decisions will either increase or decrease the well-
being of others, resulting in either injury or profit. The well-being at stake can
include both physical and psychological harm, including (1) the emergence or
intensification of painful psychological states like loneliness, fear, depression,
hopelessness, despair, unhappiness, anxiety, and sadness, as well as (2) the
deterioration of positive psychological states like self-confidence, self-respect,
happiness, and a sense of self-worth. Nurgiyantoro (1995:324) states that moral
values in the literature include those that are related to the individual human, to
God, and to social life, including that life's link with nature.
a. From of moral values with God
God is the source of all of life's moral principles. Morriston (2001:128) said
that God's commands are the only ultimate source of all moral standards and
obligations. Additionally, every religion offers moral precepts that serve as a
guide for its followers' behavior. God's moral principles are typically found in
religions. Praying to God is, in essence, a type of moral value. It implies that
we, as God's creatures, the human race, should be continually begging and
thanking God for the bounties bestowed upon us by abstaining from all
forbidden behaviors and adhering to all directives.
b. From of moral values in human life with itself
Moral Principles in Human Life as well by using all of their potential, skills,
and abilities without harming others, it will inspire people to reach pleasure
and perfection in their personal lives. Responsibilty is a moral value that
pertains to the human person. Responsibility, in the words of Lickona
(1991:72), is the capacity to react or respond. It denotes that duty is oriented
toward others through paying attention to them and actively addressing their
needs. Responsibility also highlights our duty to look out for one another. The
capacity for responsibility can be used to gauge human qualities. Wherever he
is, he must account for all that was done by humans. As a result, every human
being must assume responsibility at some point in their lives.
c. From of moral values in the social life
 As social beings, humans interact with other people on a daily basis in both
family and societal settings. Therefore, in order for things to go as planned and
without any misunderstandings, humans must comprehend the applicable rules.
We refer to these as societal moral values. Human conscience is closely related
to social moral principles. Humans can distinguish between those who are kind
and those who are bad thanks to conscience. Daniel (2008:136) claims that in
addition to the things we have already done, our conscience is also awakened
by the things we plan to do or refrain from doing. We can infer from the
following assertion that our conscience has the power to influence how we act
and what we do. The conscience can also elicit very intense emotions in us.

3. RESEARCH METHOD
A descriptive qualitative methodology is used in this study. According to
Hikmawati (2020), Qualitative research is an inquiry process of understanding
based on distinct methodological traditions of inquiry that explore a social or
human problem. By conducting qualitative research, a researcher generates
descriptive data on the person or activity that was the subject of the novel. The data
in this thesis are quotes, sentences, statements, and actions by the main character in
little women’s novel, a work of genre fiction with 257 pages and 23 chapters, was
written by Louisa M. Alcott and published by Global Grey in an illustrated version
in 1868.
This study's focus is on the novel's moral components. Reading, making notes, and
referring to quotes, words, remarks, and activities relating to the study's problem is
all part of the data collection process and practice reading technique by reading the
novel. The entire novel's main aim was to inform readers about identification in
general. The first, learning about identification in general was the novel's main
objective. The novel's moral themes are then thoroughly read through and
evaluated. The second part is recording, which is carried out by paraphrasing or
directly quoting from the literature under review after thoroughly reading the
information. The data analysis method used in this study is descriptive qualitative
because the data demands descriptive explanation. The description process is used
to identify all of the research's objectives, and the steps that follow are taken. To
facilitate further analysis of the data, the results are first compared to one another
and then divided into existing categories. Little Women was an instant commercial
and critical hit, and readers clamored for more information about the novel's moral
lesson. Also, the research methodology employed in libraries is used, and all the
data used in this study are written texts. The novel itself is regarded as the primary
data, with books, journals, and many other written materials, including internet-
based items, handled as secondary data. The steps in this library research are data
collection, data selection, and data analysis. The analytical-descriptive method,
which is also utilized in this study, analyzes and presents all the data in a
descriptive manner. In this situation, in addition to the literary approach, historical,
social, and cultural approaches are applied.

4. RESULT AND DISCUSSION

The aims of the research are to find out the moral massage on “little women”
novel. Every novel always gives the message that make us interested in watching it.
The message of the novel also make us learn about everything that can change our
life to be the better.

Little Women is one of those novels in their lifetime. It’s a true classic for so many
reasons. The researcher re-read recently the novel after the movie came out, and
each time discover a new little nugget of wisdom or life lesson. Even though it was
set in the 1860s, it’s still relevant for encouraging girls to be strong women today.
1) Good behavior and God
a. Gratitute
“Then it was that Margaret, sitting alone with tears dropping often on
her work, felt how rich she had been in things more precious than any
luxuries money could buy- in love, protection, peace, and helath, the real
blessing of life” – Little Women

A loving sister and daughter, Margaret. She tries her hardest not to be unhappy
with what she has, but she just can't help it. She admires her wealthy friends'
designer clothes, lavish parties, and freedom from work so they may attend
theaters, parks, and pricey dinners. Until Beth got ill, Margaret, who always
has a hidden need for more, is unaware of how blase she was. She doesn't grasp
the meaninglessness of all the world's possessions until after her sister has
passed away.
2) Values of morality in the course of human life
a. Be sure what you say has meaning.
“I like good strong worlds that mean something” – Little Women

b. You can handle whatever life throws at you as long as you try.
“I am not afraid of stroms, for I am learning how to sail my ship” – Little
Women

For the four March sisters, Marmee serves as their genuine moral compass.
Because of the fact that her husband serves as a chaplain for the Union army,
Marmee is essentially a single parent most of the time. She must manage a
dangerous world on a meager budget while also maintaining the stability of her
family. She runs an emotionally charged household with four teenage children
while navigating an uncertain environment on a limited budget and continuing
to instill principles in her daughters

c. Let go of expectations
“But don’t let it spoil you, for it’s wicked to throw away so many good gifts
because you can’t have the one you want” – little women

Laurie, who has been in love with Jo for many years, is told by Amy that he
can love Jo indefinitely if he so chooses. "But don't let that spoil you," she
 continues, "since it's terrible to throw away so many beautiful presents just
because you can't have the one you want. Listen, I believe Jo should have
married Laurie as much as the next person, but I've come to terms with the fact
that it's not meant to be. And like Amy says, I've given up on expectations and
welcomed change. Is there a problem more emblematic of being human than
letting go? Don't let the one thing you thought you wanted ruin everything else
in your life that is going well

d. Maintain a balanced lifestyle.

“Have regular hours for work and play; make each day both useful and
pleasant, and prove that you understand the worth of time by employing it
well” – little women

As a workaholic, I can't help but feel this. But, Marmee is correct as usual.
Making the most of every moment we have is important since we never know
how long we will be on this planet.

e. If you can’t love yourself, how in the hell are you gonna love anyone else.
“Be worthy love, and love will come” – little women

The Little Women quote, “Be worthy love, and love will come” is as
applicable today as it was in 1860. We can’t expect someone to come along and
save us or make us whole. We have to be fully satisfied and sure of ourselves
as individuals before we can truly experience everything that love has to offer
us.

3) Values of morality in relation to society

a. Kindness is the greatest value
“The humblest tasks get beautified if loving hands do them” – Little
Women

The passage in the novel where the girls discover their mother (Marmee)
has left and is assisting with a delivery? Despite having nothing themselves,
they decide to bring their modest Christmas feast to an impoverished
family's home. One of Marmee's guiding principles in raising her girls is
kindness, and as a result, they learn how to incorporate kindness into their
daily lives.

The character in the Little Women literature is trustworthy, willing to make

sacrifices, has a big heart, is self-assured, and converses about people who were
able to get past their defects. The mother counsels the youngster and provides a
positive role model. Insightful discussions and arguments regarding marriage are
abundant in Little Women, which is beneficial to young people.
 There are characters that have trouble controlling their emotions, write purely for
financial gain, argue and believe that money is the source of happiness in the home,
are obstinate, enjoy freedom, speak harshly, and harm their brother's assets, among
other traits. First, the characters are praising God, referencing religious figures, and
praying, as may be seen at a look. The main character claims that their wish would
come true and always gratitude to the god that has. Second, the characters taught
the readers love themselves and be courge, not feel inferior, be confident and solve
problems by themselves. And the experience as a life lesson. Third, the novel
informs all readers always be kind to all that needs our helping and sharing.

4 CONCLUSION
Based on the analysis of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women, it is seen that Louisa
May Alcott has used her novel to express her thoughts for young adult girls. Louisa
May Alcott’s Little Women can be considered different at the time. The difference
lies in the characters she created as multidimensional, who have problems and
flaws, compared with those of Louisa’s contemporaries. Many lessons are open for
people to draw. Those that could be seen clearly in this novel are to be dutiful, to be
selfless, to be hard-working, to be self-examining, and to be true to heart based on
the events happening in four little women’s life.
In this study, the researchers concluded that; First, the novel is the work of someone
who can come from the experience of someone or the author herself, or comes from
the imagination of the writer to create a story where the literary works must have
moral messages to be conveyed by the author. Second, moral messages can be
obtained from various literary works including novels. Third, the novel has several
moral messages obtained by strong women, love, togetherness, honesty,
independent, discipline, wise, kindness, courge and diligent. Forth, reading little
women’s novel reminds us all to slow down, take a look arround, be thankful for
what we have, and always stand up for ourselves

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