Freedom of Women in Language and Behavior
-Analysis of Jo March in Little Women
- DOI
- 10.2991/978-2-38476-440-2_77How to use a DOI?
- Keywords
- gender; language; behavior; Little Women; freedom
- Abstract
People’s language and behavior can be greatly influenced by gender differences. Female communication patterns have historically been characterized by tentative expressions and men use nonstandard language and more slang than women. However, with the development of society and the changes of cultural values, gender language develops and the language differences are not static. Women are asked to behave politely and humbly in the past but now they show more confidence. Gender differences in language manifest in many aspects, and literary works are no exception. In Little Women, Louisa May Alcott challenged traditional gender-based linguistic norms to present an independent and self-reliant girl Jo March who is fond of using slang, acts like a boy and treats herself as a boy. Jo uses masculine language and exhibits more male characteristics in communication. Jo’s unique character also reflects the profound exploration of female independence and freedom, and her thoughts and actions become a model for women to pursue self-worth and independent life.
- Copyright
- © 2025 The Author(s)
- Open Access
- Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.
Cite this article
TY - CONF AU - Weihua Wen PY - 2025 DA - 2025/07/10 TI - Freedom of Women in Language and Behavior BT - Proceedings of the 2025 11th International Conference on Humanities and Social Science Research(ICHSSR 2025) PB - Atlantis Press SP - 681 EP - 686 SN - 2352-5398 UR - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-440-2_77 DO - 10.2991/978-2-38476-440-2_77 ID - Wen2025 ER -