and off I pelted to the office yesterday,Ran at full speed.
Little Women
Chapter 18
Louisa May Alcott · Trailblazers 4th–6th
Copywork
So I got grandpa to say it was high time we did something, and off I pelted to the office yesterday, for the doctor looked sober, and Hannah most took my head off when I proposed a telegram. I never can bear to be ‘lorded over;’ so that settled my mind, and I did it.
Read your copy aloud as Laurie, talking fast and turning red. Count the reasons he gives for sending the telegram. Which one does he say settled his mind, and is it about Beth?
Discussion
Narration Retell the dark days in order: Beth's fever, the letters without news, the doctor's words on the first of December, Jo's telegram, Laurie's secret, the night watch, and the knock at the door.
- Meg writes letters to her mother without mentioning Beth's illness, and feels “a little guilty.” Is she deceiving her mother, or obeying Hannah? Moral reasoning
- Jo says, “Beth is my conscience, and I can’t give her up.” What do you think she means by conscience? Character
- Laurie sends a telegram to Mrs. March a day before the doctor says to, and keeps it from the girls. What do you make of how he goes about it? Moral reasoning
- When Jo is in tears, Laurie has no fitting words and only holds her hand and strokes her head. Why might the narrator call that “the best thing he could have done”? Theme
- Mother's arrival and the fever's turning both happen on the same night. Why might Alcott put them so close together, and keep them separate? Plot structure
Make a Connection Tell about a time you had to decide who to trust when people you trusted disagreed.
Vocabulary
- pelted
- sober
for the doctor looked sober,
Grave; serious in look.- deceive
She could not think it right to deceive her mother,
To make someone believe what is not true.- incoherent
with incoherent words on her lips,
Confused and not making sense.- forlorn
I don’t feel so forlorn, and will try to bear it if it comes.”
Lonely and without hope.- eloquent
far more soothing than the most eloquent words,
Moving and well-spoken.- precipitately
she vanished precipitately into the kitchen,
In a sudden rush.- rapture
Meg had a quiet rapture, and then brooded over the letter,
Overwhelming joy.- stupor
she lay in that heavy stupor,
A dazed state with little awareness.- vigil
when their long, sad vigil was done.
A watch kept through the night.
Critical thinking
- Meg and Jo each make a promise during the night watch. Using two pieces of evidence, explain how the night changes them.
- Beth, in her fever, still thinks of others. Using two pieces of evidence, explain what that shows about her.
- When Jo hears Laurie's news, she throws her arms round his neck and then pushes him away. Using two pieces of evidence, explain what Jo is feeling.