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Little Women
Trailblazers · 4th–6th
When Jo carries the vote by reminding the club how much Laurie does for them and then opens the closet where he has been listening all along, is the welcome the sisters give him really their own choice?
The tension The chapter sets a private, proper circle against an open one. The Portfolio shows what the club protects: a place where every sister is teased by name and takes it well, which is exactly the laughter Meg fears from an outsider. Jo's winning argument is gratitude, which the narrator calls an artful allusion to benefits conferred, and Beth's brave second vote comes from being told they ought to. Then the closet opens on a boy who has heard everything. Laurie answers by taking the blame, playing humble servant, and building a padlocked post-office with a key for each nation, and the narrator says no one ever regretted it. Whether a good outcome settles a rigged vote is left to the reader.
Notice what the Pickwick Club protects, and how Laurie comes to be let in.
Spring comes, and each sister has her own plot in the garden. On Saturday evenings the four meet in the garret as the Pickwick Club, where Meg reads the weekly Portfolio aloud. Jo proposes Laurie, Meg and Amy vote no, Jo's reminder and Beth's brave second vote change it, and Jo opens the closet door. Laurie takes his seat as Sam Weller and presents the post-office in the hedge.
Start with the Portfolio's Hints column and ask what it would feel like to have your own faults joked about in front of your sisters.
Retell The student tells the Saturday meeting back in order: the paper, the proposal, the votes, the closet, and the post-office.
Imitate the author After copying the passage, the student writes two sentences in the same pattern, giving a reason why a friend should be welcomed.
Debate Take sides: after the closet opens, is Laurie's welcome still the club's own choice? Each side must use at least one quote from the chapter.
Purpose Close by asking why Alcott lets the club vote twice before she opens the closet.
Easier Read the two votes aloud together and talk through discussion questions 2 and 3 only.
On level Talk through all five discussion questions, then have the student write one critical-thinking answer with two pieces of evidence.
Harder Ask the student to find one more place where someone's yes depends on a reminder or a nudge, and to add it to a critical-thinking answer.
1. The club ties on badges “with great solemnity,” yet its paper mourns a missing cat in verse. What is the mood in the garret?Tone
What it asks It asks the student to hear the joke and the feeling together in the way the club runs its meeting.
It is mock-serious and playful: the girls enjoy acting grown-up and making big ceremonies out of small things.
Mr. Pickwick put on a pair of spectacles without any glasses, rapped upon the table, hemmed
tie a black ribbon to her basket, set aside her dish, and weep for her as one lost to us forever
Under the play there is real affection for the little group, and pride in keeping it going.
None gone from our small band
Our club unbroken be
A strong answer The meeting is a game of being solemn: a president in spectacles with no glass, badges tied round heads, and a cat mourned with a black ribbon. But the ode also hopes that none will be gone from the small band and that the club will be unbroken, so the joking sits on top of something the girls care about. A strong answer hears both and uses a line from each.
2. Meg worries that Laurie will laugh at their paper and make fun of them afterward. What does she seem to be protecting?Inference
What it asks It asks what Meg values about the club that an outsider's laughter could spoil.
She is protecting a private, proper place of their own: she votes No with Amy, and Amy, speaking as Mr. Winkle, calls it a ladies’ club.
Meg and Amy were contrary minded
This is a ladies’ club, and we wish to be private and proper.
She is protecting the paper itself, where the sisters tease one another about their faults and feel safe doing it.
in which they good-naturedly reminded each other of their faults and shortcomings
I’m afraid he’ll laugh at our paper, and make fun of us afterward
A strong answer Meg votes No with Amy, and Amy, as Mr. Winkle, gives the reason that it is a ladies’ club that wants to be private and proper. But the paper Meg is reading holds jokes about every member's faults, taken in good part because the readers are the four sisters. She pulls at her little curl as she does when doubtful, so she is uncertain, not hostile. A strong answer says what a stranger's laugh could do to that kind of teasing.
3. Beth first says a timid “Ay,” then “we ought to do it, even if we are afraid.” What moves her?Character
What it asks It asks what pushes the shyest sister to speak up, and whether it is Jo's speech, her own wish, or both.
Jo's reminder of all Laurie does for them turns Beth to a sense of duty.
We can do so little for him, and he does so much for us
This artful allusion to benefits conferred brought Tupman to his feet
Beth was already leaning toward yes, and Jo's words only give her courage to say it.
followed, to everybody’s surprise, by a timid one from Beth
Yes, we ought to do it, even if we are afraid.
A strong answer Beth says a timid “Ay” before Jo makes her speech, to everybody's surprise, so she was already inclined to welcome him. After Jo's reminder of what Laurie does for them, Beth gets to her feet and says they ought to do it even if they are afraid. A strong answer says which mattered more for Beth, the wish or the reminder, and can allow that both were at work.
4. When Laurie says Jo “is not to be blamed,” Jo answers, “you know I proposed the cupboard.” Why might each of them want the blame?Moral reasoning
What it asks It asks what the two are doing when each claims responsibility, and whether it is loyalty, honesty, or fun.
Each is protecting the other, and neither wants the friend to take the scolding alone.
is not to be blamed for the base stratagem of tonight. I planned it, and she only gave in after lots of teasing.
Come now, don’t lay it all on yourself; you know I proposed the cupboard
It is part of the joke: they are playing roles and enjoying the trick, not really afraid of blame.
Snodgrass, who was enjoying the joke amazingly
Never you mind what she says. I’m the wretch that did it, sir
A strong answer Laurie says Jo gave in after lots of teasing, and Jo says she proposed the cupboard herself, so each offers to take the blame. It might be loyalty, with neither willing to leave the other to be scolded. It might be fun, since both are in character and Jo is enjoying the joke amazingly. A strong answer says which is more convincing, and can notice that Mr. Pickwick's awful frown only produces an amiable smile.
5. Why might Alcott end the chapter on the post-office and the love-letters to come, instead of on Laurie's welcome at the club?Author's choice
What it asks It asks what the last paragraph does that the club scene does not, and what the reader carries out of the chapter.
It shows how Laurie's welcome works out: a busy, cheerful exchange between the two houses.
No one ever regretted the admittance of Sam Weller
The P.O. was a capital little institution, and flourished wonderfully
It looks ahead with a wink, reminding the reader that these games belong to childhood and will not stay small.
never dreaming how many love-letters that little post-office would hold in the years to come!
A strong answer The closet scene ends in noise and applause, and the last paragraph turns to what came of it: a member no one regretted and a post-office that carried everything from pickles to puppies. The final sentence then looks ahead without naming anyone. A strong answer says what the ending adds, such as the welcome lasting, or a hint of change, and stays with what the chapter actually tells us.
1. The opening tells us each sister's garden reflects her character. Choose Jo or Beth. Using two pieces of evidence, explain how her garden fits her.
What it asks It asks the student to match a garden to a sister and to back the match with two separate details.
Jo's garden fits her: it is an experiment, and it serves an odd, cheerful purpose.
Jo’s bed was never alike two seasons, for she was always trying experiments
this year it was to be a plantation of sunflowers, the seeds of which cheerful and aspiring plant were to feed “Aunt Cockle-top” and her family of chicks
Beth's garden fits her: it is gentle and meant for other creatures.
Beth had old-fashioned, fragrant flowers in her garden
with chickweed for the bird, and catnip for the pussies
A strong answer A strong answer picks one sister and gives two different proofs. For Jo: her bed is never alike two seasons because she is always trying experiments, and this year's sunflowers are to feed a hen and her chicks. For Beth: she plants old-fashioned fragrant flowers, with chickweed for the bird and catnip for the cats. It should say what each detail shows about the girl.
2. Laurie steps out of the closet to three angry girls. Using two pieces of evidence, explain how he wins them over.
What it asks It asks what Laurie says and does in his speech that turns the girls' anger into applause.
He wins them with humor and humility, playing their servant.
allow me to introduce myself as Sam Weller, the very humble servant of the club
But the new member was equal to the occasion
He wins them with a gift: a post-office that suits their club and their love of fun.
I have set up a post-office in the hedge in the lower corner of the garden
Allow me to present the club key
A strong answer Laurie turns the trick into a performance, calling himself Sam Weller, the very humble servant of the club, and taking the blame. He also brings a present, the post-office in the hedge with a key for each nation, and leaves the club key on the table. A strong answer uses one line of his speech and one thing he offers, and says why both work on girls who had called him a rogue.
3. Winkle's note apologizes for laughing and for a missing piece. Using two pieces of evidence, explain how the club handles a member's faults.
What it asks It asks what the club's hints, reports, and Winkle's note show about how the sisters correct each other.
They correct each other gently and in public, through jokes and hints in the paper.
in which they good-naturedly reminded each other of their faults and shortcomings
N. W. must not fret because his dress has not nine tucks.
The member answers in kind, owning the fault and promising to do better, and the editor replies with a joke.
I hope you will pardon his badness
If our young friend studied punctuation, it would be well.
A strong answer The Hints column names each member's fault with a joke, and the narrator says the sisters good-naturedly remind each other of their shortcomings. Winkle's note owns his badness and asks to be pardoned, and the editor answers with a teasing remark about his punctuation. A strong answer uses one piece from the hints and one from the note, and explains why the teasing works when it comes from inside the circle.