Death in The Nick Adams Stories and Little Women

Death is an important initiation experience for any character to endure. The weight of death’s importance comes from the fact that it is such a strong dictator in life. The actual death of another individual forces characters to face reality without romanticizing suffering but more importantly initiates what they are going to do until they die. In The Nick Adams Stories by Ernest Hemingway and Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, the experiences the March girls and Nick Adams have with death are very different. Nick, being male, is expected to react to death in a way that is completely opposite from the reaction expected in the March household. Understanding the character’s view on death is critical to understanding the actions they take in life. Examining Nick Adams and the March family’s view of death, how they cope with it, and the change they allow it to bring explains why they so highly contrast each other in the steps they take in life.
Death is Nick’s biggest fear. Death is not an end or a beginning but an experience he wants to avoid. Nick fears death mostly because he does not understand it. Hemmingway writes, “Then suddenly he was afraid of dying …Nick had realized that someday he must die. It made him feel quite sick. It was the first time he had ever realized that he himself would have to die sometime.’’ (14) This is the groundwork for Nick’s view of death. He has been allowed to simply ignore unpleasant thoughts so he never gives himself the chance to fully consider what he believes death is. All he knows is that he is afraid of it. Nick’s first experience with death is at the Indian camp when the father of the newborn child commits suicide. The picture of the man’s death is graphic and would provide good reason for a young boy to fear death but Nick has a different reaction to this experience. Seeing the man die makes Nick, “[feel] quite sure that he [will] never die.” (21) This grotesque scene should have unveiled the reality of death to Nick but he twists reality into something that is less offensive and something he can handle. After witnessing the suicide of the Indian man Nick gets to return to the safety of his father’s arms which may also give an explanation as to why Nick thought he could never die. Nick got to walk away from the death of the Indian man relatively unaffected. He was given an un-romanticized view of death but it was not a significant enough person in his life to make him grieve. From these two excerpts, it is easy to conclude that Nick’s view of death is underdeveloped and childlike.
Contrasting Nick Adams the March girl’s view of death stems from their faith. The preface of Little Women is an excerpt from John Bunyan’s Pilgrims Progress which clearly defines “the world which is to come” as “young damsels...prize.” (3) This quote explains the belief that the point of this life is to win the prize of eternal life so in many ways what the March family thinks about death dictates how they choose to carry out their life. Unlike Nick, the March family views death as a beginning of eternal life instead of just an end of life on earth. In death Beth is “well at last” (427) and that is when the family begins to recover and feel peace. To the March family, “their darling death was a benignant angel, not a phantom full of dread.” (427) While the March girls do not welcome death, they do not fear it as Nick does. Even Jo is consoled in Beth’s death because of her beliefs. She tells Beth, “I used to think I couldn’t let you go, but I’m learning to feel that I don’t lose you, that you’ll be more to me than ever, and death can’t part us, though it seems to.” (426) Losing Beth is Jo’s darkest time and yet her faith in the life death brings gets her through it.
Despite the views one has on death, finding some way of coping is an inevitable reaction. Nick is taught early on to avoid emotion. Whether it gets in the way of what needs to be done or simply degrades his manliness, he is encouraged to suppress any feelings he might have. When Nick is young this does not come naturally to him. In “The Killers,” Nick is anxious and dreading another man’s death. He says, “I can’t stand to think about him waiting in the room and knowing he’s going to get it. It’s too damned awful.” (69) If Nick was a female character, he would be comforted and encouraged to voice his grief. Instead, Nick is told, “Well…you better not think about it.” (69) The response Nick is encouraged to have to the man’s impending death could be compared to The Ostrich Effect or pretending that bad things aren’t actually happening. While this temporarily relieves his stress it has a very negative effect in the long run. Nick escapes being taught how to face grief and cope with it. When his father dies he goes back to setting aside his grief and focusing on seemingly meaningless details. Nick thinks about his father’s death but, “could not write about him yet, although he would, later, but the quail country made him remember him as he was when Nick was a boy and he was very grateful to him for two things, fishing and shooting.” (258) Writing about his father’s death is the one coping mechanism Nick could use but chooses not to. He instead shifts his attention to the skills his father taught him, the way he looked and smelled and the sharpness of his eyes. Nick automatically alters his focus to objects and simple experiences to avoid the sentimentality that could bring him pain.
While Nick’s coping mechanism is avoidance of pain, the March girls are encouraged to cling to their faith and face the grief head on. Jo is aware that Beth will die soon and instead of running away, she stays by her side and takes care of her. When Beth is aware of her soon coming death, Jo often finds her “reading in her well-worn little book” and trying to “fit herself for the life to come, by sacred words of comfort, quiet prayers, and the music she loved so well.”(424) Beth doesn’t try to avoid the fact that her young life is being cut short. Instead she embraces it, grieves for it, and then makes the best of it. Although the March family is terrified to lose Beth they recognize the reality of her death and find joy in the belief that they will see her again one day. Jo recognizes her mothers, “…tears… and broken whispers” and believes they are “more eloquent than prayers, because hopeful resignation went hand-in-hand with natural sorrow.” (441) This “hopeful resignation” was an important realization for Jo. It establishes that although there is much sorrow in the inevitable ending of life, there is a glimmer of hope in the belief of eternal life. This belief helps the March family face their grief unashamed and cling to the promise that one day they will be reunited with Beth.
The final significance of death within Little Women and The Nick Adams Stories is the change it brings. Death is not a positive teacher for Nick but it does help shape him into the unsentimental man he was always supposed to be. Nick resents sentimentality and the weakness it brings. He says, “All sentimental people are betrayed so many times” (258) which is proof of the change in Nick’s character. But Nick’s lack of emotion began before the death of his father. War hardened Nick and made death a regular and uneventful occurrence. When Nick sees a battle scene with dead bodies scattered all around, he analyzes what he thinks happened by, “the position of the dead.” (154) He does not grieve or fret about the death of the people he simply gives an unfeeling analysis of the scene. Nick relays information about how, “the hot weather had swollen them all alike regardless of nationality” (155) in a way that seems cold and reveals his new calloused personality. This temperament is once again shown when Nick is discussing what the placement of his grave should be with his son. Nick’s plan is to “arrange it” so it is in, “some convenient place in America.” (268) The topic of Nick’s death should not be so free of feeling but because he ignored his pain so much in his earlier years, he became a hardened man. In Little Women, on the other hand, bad proves to be a better teacher than good. Jo growing into a young woman is a constant struggle throughout the book and an unsuccessful one until the death of Beth. Watching Beth deal with suffering teaches Jo more than, “the wisest sermons, the saintliest hymns, [and] the most fervent prayers that any voice could utter.” Jo finally sees “the beauty of her sister’s life.” It was, “uneventful, unambitious, yet full of genuine virtue.” Beth’s death was a turning point in the life of Jo. Seeing that Beth’s humble life was in fact a meaningful one makes Jo realize that the worth of her live does not come from the adventures she has but in the person she is. Jo finally realizes that this “true success…is possible to all.” (424) For the first time Jo believes that she too can be like Beth and grow into the little woman her father wishes she would be. Contrary to The Nick Adams Stories death in Little Women brings about a, “waking up of sentiment.” (447) Jo allows herself to feel pain and be comforted in the, “shelter of her mother’s arms” (441) but then to move on and grow into the person she promised Beth she would be. Jo has “had the bitter” and, “now comes the sweet.” The growth Jo experiences from dealing with Beth’s death is a very positive change. She becomes a successful writer because “there is truth” in her writing instead of a drive for “fame or money.” (444) Although death is a negative experience for the March family it brings about the most effective form of inspiration. In the Nick Adams Stories and Little Women it is important to understand the characters view of death because it is so strongly linked with how they decide the actions to take in life. The difference in how Nick Adams and March’s view death is largely due to their differing beliefs. While the March girls are continually striving to be good Nick is searching for what is comfortable. Nick never speaks of a hope for life after death, but Heaven is the March’s hopeful destination. This differing belief comes up again with the coping mechanisms in the two stories. While Nick avoids grief, the March girl’s face it and cleave to their faith. The experience of death makes Nick a cold person who lacks in emotion while death allows the March girls and especially Jo to grow into the person she was meant to be. While the two stories contrast each other in almost every aspect, they come together in the inevitable fact that the view of the end dictates the steps of the present.