There is nothing fundamentally different from Jo March who hated the sight of John Brooke and me, vehemently shutting down all talks of my sister’s marriage. Long before Meg and Brooke get engaged, Jo feels a restlessness in the air. She gets the feeling that something is about to change forever. Jo vehemently rejects the idea of childhood ending and who can blame her? The parallels between Jo not wanting to give up Meg and me not wanting to give up my sisters are not unnoticeable. But, there are differences. Jo and Meg are inter-dependent. They live in the same house. Jo’s daily life will undoubtedly be disturbed by Meg’s departure. That is not the case for me. My sister lives elsewhere and I barely see her. And if she got married, it wouldn’t majorly affect my life in any way. Why then do I relate so strongly with Jo? This stubborn denial of inevitable change can be seen in both of us. We are both in the same boat, Jo and I. We’d rather jump to the other side and get it over with, than stand in this cusp of adulthood. All around us are talks of change. Meg blushes at the mention of John’s name. My sister is taken to an astrologer by my mother. Laurie’s friends are smitten with Amy. My other sister gets a call from her future mother-in-law. All around us are changes; changes happening too soon and too fast. After years of being treated like children, here we are, suddenly being treated like adults. Was there a memo and if so, why didn’t I get one? I wish I didn’t know the cost of 8 grams of gold and I wish I didn’t know how much wedding halls are charging these days. I wish my mother would go back to disciplining us instead of sharing stories of matrimonial bliss. I wish people would stop calling our parents to remind them of our age and I wish our biggest problem would still be how to watch IPKKND during exams. Is it too much to ask for children to remain children? Stop pulling us over to the other side. Let us remain here for as long as we can. Change is terrible and there is nothing we can do about it, but move on bravely, like Jo March did.
