The Burned Molasses

The burned molasses, mentioned on page 5 and 6, illustrates May’s character, the importance of Louisa’s success, and foreshadows the bad reviews of her illustrations in Little Women. Part 1 begins with May making molasses candy on the stove for the family, demonstrating her care and devotion to them. Then Louisa walks in with the reviews and May becomes distracted as Louisa opens the newspaper to read the reviews of Little Women. Listening to Louisa, May forgets about the candy on the stove and it starts to burn. The burning candy symbolizes how important Louisa’s reviews are, that May would neglect the candy to read these reviews, yet also reveals that May is a little immature and careless. The smoke of the candy also foreshadows the bad news to come for May, as after dealing with the molasses, she reads her negative reviews.

The Check