An Old-Fashioned girl

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

An Old-Fashioned Girl is a novel by Louisa May Alcott. It was first serialised in the Merry's Museum magazine between July and August in 1869 and consisted of only six chapters. For the finished product, however, Alcott continued the story from the chapter "Six Years Afterwards" and so it ended up with nineteen chapters in all. The book turns around Polly Milton, the old-fashioned girl who titles the story. Polly visits her wealthy friend Fanny Shaw in the city and is overwhelmed by the fashionable and urban life they live––but also left out because of her "countrified" manners and outdated clothes.

[edit] Plot summary

Polly Milton, a 14-year-old country girl, visits her friend Fanny Shaw and her wealthy family in the city for the first time. Poor Polly is overwhelmed by the splendor at the Shaws' and their urbanized, fashionable lifestyles, fancy clothes and some other habits she considers weird and, mostly, unlikable. Fanny's friends reject her because of her different behavior and simple clothing, and Fan herself can't help considering her "weird" sometimes. However, Polly's warmth, support and kindness eventually win her the hearts of all the family members, and her old-fashioned ways teach them a lesson.

Six years later, Polly comes back to the city to become a music teacher and struggles with profession issues and all kind of emotions. Later in the book, Polly finds out that the prosperous Shaws are on the brink of bankruptcy, and she guides them to the realization that a wholesome family life is the only thing they will ever need, not money or decoration.

With the comfort of the ever helpful Polly, the family gets to change for the better and to find a happier life for all of them. A little later, and after being dumped by his fiancée, Fanny's friend Trix, Tom gets a job out West, with Polly's brother Ned and heads off to help his family and compensate for all the money he'd spent in frivolous stuff. At that point of the book, we see that Polly and Tom seem to have developed strong feelings for one another.

At the end of the book, Tom returns from the West and finally gets engaged to his true love, Polly.