The Detached Philospher

In Louisa May Alcott's novel 'Little Women', the role of the detached philosopher seems to fall upon all the men in the novel at one point or another. Joe's father Mr.March is a chaplain for the Union army, but he is also as the head of his household depicted as a man who sets the spiritual and intellectual guidance for the March women... including Marmee. John Brooke (Meg's future husband) serves as a tutor, companion, and clerk/bookeeper all the while maintaining his own philosophies, while Laurie and Mr. Bhaer are perhaps the ideal embodiments of the philosopher: one is wealthy and distributes charity without a care in the world, while the other is a European tutor who is not so financially sound.
It is interesting that in Alcott's novel all the men at some point are depicted as intellectual thinkers for the women, and none are really depicted in blue-collar manual labor positions as was common for men at the time.

--Rachel Robles