PERJUANGAN EKONOMI: PERAN KEMISKINAN DALAM PEMBENTUKAN KARAKTER TOKOH DALAM NOVEL "LITTLE WOMEN" KARYA ALCOTT = THE ECONOMIC STRUGGLES: POVERTY AS A CHARACTER-BUILDING FORCE IN ALCOTT’S "LITTLE WOMEN"

Poverty is a fundamental social issue that influences not only material conditions but also emotional and moral development. In literary works, economic hardship is often portrayed as a driving force that shapes characters’ values, decisions, and resilience in overcoming life’s challenges. This study aims to examine how poverty functions as a character- building force in Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women, focusing on the March sisters: Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy. It analyzes how each character responds to economic hardship and how their struggles contribute to their personal growth, values, and resilience. This study employed a qualitative descriptive method, with Little Women as the primary data source. Robert Chambers’ theory of poverty is applied to analyze how the March sisters experience and respond to poverty, focusing on its multidimensional aspects such as material deprivation, powerlessness, vulnerability, dependency, and isolation. The results of this study show that poverty in Little Women is not only a source of hardship but also a driving force for character development. The March sisters, guided by their mother’s wisdom and emotional strength, transform their struggles into opportunities for growth. Their close-knit family bond and supportive social environment help them navigate feelings of powerlessness, dependency, and isolation, allowing them to build resilience and a strong sense of purpose. This study concludes that poverty can foster character- building when combined with strong family support and personal resilience, as shown by the March sisters’ ability to transform hardship into strength in Little Women.

Keyword : Poverty, Family, Character-building, Little Women.