A lcott prefaces Little Women with an excerpt from John Bunyan?s seventeenth-century work The Pilgrim?s Progress, an allegorical novel about leading a Christian life. Alcott?s story begins with the four March girls?Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy?sitting in their living room, lamenting their poverty. The girls decide that they will each buy themselves a present in order to brighten their Christmas. Soon, however, they change their minds and decide that instead of buying presents for themselves, they will buy presents for their mother, Marmee.