Examples of classics where this happens?

[laura]

Hi there!,

I’m on the new side of good reads and I’m not sure if this is the right place to ask this (sorry if it is, just ignore me). I am just wondering if any of you have examples of classic novels where the woman in the novel doesn’t want to get married for the whole book but does at the end anyways. I am trying to come up with ideas to write an essay on for school and this was my first thought. I have been told it needs to be an older novel and a “true work of literature” in my teachers words. I had the idea of little women but I need another to compare it to. Once again, ignore me if this isn’t the right place to post this but if you have any suggestions it would be much appreciated.

Thanks!<3

[Barbara]

Little Women came up in my mind when I first read your message. Jo didn't want to get married, and neither wanted her sisters to get married too. If I am not wrong, she ended up getting married to an older man, a teacher, and most of her sisters have husbands too.

[Karin]

Barbara wrote: "Little Women came up in my mind when I first read your message. Jo didn't want to get married, and neither wanted her sisters to get married too. If I am not wrong, she ended up getting married to ..."

Yes, you are correct--three of the sisters got married; Jo was the one who didn't want to and married that older man who was a teacher originally from Germany. There are others, but not many that were written back then; this is the one I would have suggested as well.

Little Women

And if you like it, later you could read the sequel by the same author, Jo's Boys which is set in the school she and her husband later start.

[Jennifer]

So...... by way of comparison, you could also use a book where the female character didn't want to get married but ended up doing it near the BEGINNING of the book, and how that didn't work out well -- maybe to show that choosing not to until it was right was the better choice? If so, The Man of Property is a classic by a Nobel Prize winning author, written nearly a hundred years ago, and is an excellent example of this.

[Michael]

Try reviewing Jane Austin's books. Pride and Prejudice is my favorite.

[Barbara]

Karin wrote: "Barbara wrote: "Little Women came up in my mind when I first read your message. Jo didn't want to get married, and neither wanted her sisters to get married too. If I am not wrong, she ended up get..."

Yey Karin! But one thing about the book, one of the sisters doesn't get married because something happens to her at an early age, right? I have Jo's Boys on the list, and because of your message now I am feeling like reading it (:

[Corina]

I'm not 100% sure on this but I think North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell. I can't remember if she specifically was completely against getting married.

[Karin]

Michael wrote: "Try reviewing Jane Austin's books. Pride and Prejudice is my favorite."

It's a great book, but the women do want to get married in this one :)

[Karin]

Barbara wrote: "Karin wrote: "Barbara wrote: "Little Women came up in my mind when I first read your message. Jo didn't want to get married, and neither wanted her sisters to get married too. If I am not wrong, sh..."

(view spoiler)[Yes, Beth eventually dies from a bad heart that she got after having scarlet fever. (hide spoiler)]

[laura]

Thank you everybody for the replies!!. I will definitely be looking into the books you recommended, this was very helpful😊. Thanks again<3

[nx74defiant]

Emma in Jane Austen's Emma, Emma states she has no interest in romance for herself and has no need for marriage.