#dan kean

[kimorrow]

STOP SCROLLING!

let Luca and Alberto draw you in

Now. I can’t be the only one who was thinking of Dan and Nat from Louisa May Alcott‘s “Little Men” the whole time right?

Also, Tom and Huck

I cant be the only one, right?

You May now continue scrolling.

[the-other-art-blog]

My thoughts on Jo’s Boys: Chapter 4: Dan (DanxBess)

After my first reading of Jo’s Boys, I wasn’t a fan of the DanxBess ship. They come from radically different places and have radically different interests and ideas for the future. IMO, there was no way they could have make it work.

Bess, obviously comes from high society. Amy and Laurie raised her to be a proper lady. She is an artist, especially a sculptor and plans to go study to Rome for years. Moreover, she prefers to stay at home working on her art, rather than spending time outdoors. The only reason why she goes out is because Laurie asks her to do it. And she expects a gentleman to be her husband, as her parents.

Meanwhile, Dan is all about adventure. He has traveled the world and lived in the wilderness. He made friends with an Indian community. He is a good, hard-working, kind man, for sure. But it’s not enough to fit in Bess’ world.

One of them would have to follow the other, and sacrifice too much in the process. Basically, they would have to become someone else to fit into the other’s world, which reminds me of JoxLaurie.

And yet, looking at some of the lines I highlighted in the book I noticed this:

In chapter 4 Dan, there’s this exchange between them.

'I am going to Rome to study for years. All the beauty and art of the world is there, and a lifetime isn't long enough to enjoy it,' answered Bess.

'Rome is a mouldy old tomb compared to the "Garden of the gods" and my magnificent Rockies. I don't care a hang for art; nature is as much as I can stand, and I guess I could show you things that would knock your old masters higher than kites. Better come, and while Josie rides the horses you can model 'em. If a drove of a hundred or so of wild ones can't show you beauty, I'll give up,' cried Dan, waxing enthusiastic over the wild grace and vigour which he could enjoy but had no power to describe.

'I'll come some day with papa, and see if they are better than the horses of St Mark and those on Capitol Hill. Please don't abuse my gods, and I will try to like yours,' said Bess, beginning to think the West might be worth seeing, though no Raphael or Angelo had yet appeared there.

And this:

Bess was mourning about it [the boys leaving] today, though as a general thing she doesn't like boys unless they are models of elegance. She has been doing Dan's head, and it is not quite finished. I never saw her so interested in any work, and it's very well done. He is so striking and big he always makes me think of the Dying Gladiator or some of those antique creatures.

So, maybe Bess did have a crush on Dan? Amy and Laurie show their affection through their art. So it’s only natural that their child would do the same. 

Now I’m thinking of an AU where Bess went to Rome, came back and became part of an American movement such as the Hudson River School. Her art would focus on the incredible American landscapes.

Of course, Dan would have to see the real Bess, cause he always idolized her, more than anyone else. He had her on a pedestal. And that’s also one of the biggest problems between them. Also, this doesn’t take into account what happens later in the novel.

It’s a long shot, but it could be a nice fic!

[alujk]

Can we maybe stop watching many redo’s of little women and start to actually having something about little men and jo’s boys ? I’m kinda DYING to see them again in a full movie or a series 🥺💔

okay maybe I’m a dan kean biased 🥰+ I really couldn’t start reading the novel because i know dan’s destiny is miserable ☹️

[alujk]

Dan and teddy’s relationship is getting me EVERY TIME pls they’re so soft i wanna protect them

I love them so much tbh …

[librarylexicon]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Little Men - Louisa May Alcott, Little Women Series - Louisa May Alcott Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Dan Kean & Josephine March, Nat Blake & Dan Kean Characters: Dan Kean, Josephine March, Nat Blake, Friedrich Bhaer Additional Tags: Drama, Family, Angst, Fluff, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Canon Compliant Summary:

After the true culprit in the affair of Tommy's missing money is revealed, Dan and Mrs Jo have a heart-to-heart chat, in which Dan talks about his difficult life before Plumfield. What if he weren't as well-adjusted as he let on? Ties in with The Fiddler and the Fire-Brand, though both stories stand on their own.

[librarylexicon]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Little Men - Louisa May Alcott, Little Women Series - Louisa May Alcott Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Nat Blake & Dan Kean Characters: Dan Kean, Nat Blake Additional Tags: Friendship, Drama, POV Third Person, Male Friendship, POV Male Character, Platonic Male/Male Relationships, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Homelessness

Summary: 'And yet, he sometimes wondered where Dan was now, whether he had enough to eat and where he slept at night. Dan was tough, but he was the best and only friend Nat had ever had.' A series of seven vignettes about the unlikely friendship between Plumfield's newest boys: the fiddler and the fire-brand, otherwise known as Nathaniel Blake and Daniel Kean.

[nobodysuspectsthebutterfly]

Onion was talking a bit about Little Women, and how it would cause such amazing shipping wars if it were published today... and it reminded me of Jo's Boys, and Bess and Dan, and how that was probably my very first Sansan-ish tragic OTP. Just look at this:

(cut for spoilers, though if you liked Little Women you really ought to read Jo's Boys, and Little Men before that)

He faced Mrs Jo's room, but never seemed to see her, for his eyes were on the slender figure before him, with the pale winter sunshine touching her golden head, and the delicate hands that shaped the clay so deftly. [...] Something in the big eyes, bigger and blacker than ever in the thin white face, fixed, so steadily on one object, had a sort of fascination for Mrs Jo after a time, and she watched the changes in them curiously; for Dan's mind was evidently not on the story, and he often forgot to laugh or exclaim at the comic or exciting crises. Sometimes they were soft and wistful, and the watcher was very glad that neither damsel caught that dangerous look for when they spoke it vanished; sometimes it was full of eager fire, and the colour came and went rebelliously, in spite of his attempt to hide it with an impatient gesture of hand or head; but oftenest it was dark, and sad, and stern, as if those gloomy eyes looked out of captivity at some forbidden light or joy. This expression came so often that it worried Mrs Jo, and she longed to go and ask him what bitter memory overshadowed those quiet hours. She knew that his crime and its punishment must lie heavy on his mind; but youth, and time, and new hopes would bring comfort, and help to wear away the first sharpness of the prison brand. It lifted at other times, and seemed almost forgotten when he joked with the boys, talked with old friends, or enjoyed the first snows as he drove out every fair day. Why should the shadow always fall so darkly on him in the society of these innocent and friendly girls? They never seemed to see it, and if either looked or spoke, a quick smile came like a sunburst through the clouds to answer them. [...] But as she looked and listened she remembered the streak of sentiment and refinement which lay concealed in Dan like the gold vein in a rock, making him quick to feel and to enjoy fine colour in a flower, grace in an animal, sweetness in women, heroism in men, and all the tender ties that bind heart to heart; though he was slow to show it, having no words to express the tastes and instincts which he inherited from his mother. Suffering of soul and body had tamed his stronger passions, and the atmosphere of love and pity now surrounding him purified and warmed his heart till it began to hunger for the food neglected or denied so long. This was plainly written in his too expressive face, as, fancying it unseen, he let it tell the longing after beauty, peace, and happiness embodied for him in the innocent fair girl before him. The conviction of this sad yet natural fact came to Mrs Jo with a pang, for she felt how utterly hopeless such a longing was; since light and darkness were not farther apart than snow-white Bess and sin-stained Dan. No dream of such a thing disturbed the young girl, as her entire unconsciousness plainly showed. But how long would it be before the eloquent eyes betrayed the truth? And then what disappointment for Dan, what dismay for Bess, who was as cool and high and pure as her own marbles, and shunned all thought of love with maidenly reserve.

and

[...] He had learned self-control in a stern school, and would have got through the hard moment bravely, only, when he took both hands, saying heartily: "Good-bye, Princess. If we don't meet again, remember your old friend Dan sometimes," she, touched by his late danger and the wistful look he wore, answered with unusual warmth: "How can I help it, when you make us all so proud of you? God bless your mission, and bring you safely home to us again!" As she looked up at him with a face full of frank affection and sweet regret, all that he was losing rose so vividly before him that Dan could not resist the impulse to take the "dear goldy head" between his hands and kiss it, with a broken "Good-bye"; then hurried back to his room, feeling as if it were the prison-cell again, with no glimpse of heaven's blue to comfort him. This abrupt caress and departure rather startled Bess; for she felt with a girl's quick instinct that there was something in that kiss unknown before, and looked after him with sudden colour in her cheeks and new trouble in her eyes.

and finally

Dan never married, but lived, bravely and usefully, among his chosen people till he was shot defending them, and at last lay quietly asleep in the green wilderness he loved so well, with a lock of golden hair upon his breast, and a smile on his face which seemed to say that Aslauga's Knight had fought his last fight and was at peace.

*sobs forever*