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Little Women
Trailblazers · 4th–6th
When the breakfast the sisters give away comes back to them as the Hummels' grateful name for them, Marmee's satisfied smile, and a stranger's feast, does what they receive change what their giving was?
The tension The chapter sets self-forgetting against self-regard in the same people within the same hours: Amy spends all her money to stop being selfish and is glad because hers is now the handsomest gift; the girls hesitate a whole minute over their breakfast and then find being called angels very agreeable; Mr. Laurence's ice cream arrives to make up for the bread and milk. Alcott gives the giving and the reward equal warmth and refuses to say which one the day was really about.
Watch what the sisters give on Christmas morning and what comes back to them before the day is over.
Christmas morning begins with the books under the pillows and Amy's changed present. Marmee asks for the girls' breakfast, they carry it to the Hummels' cold room, and then they give their presents and put on their homemade play. The day ends with a supper sent by old Mr. Laurence.
Start with the quiet minute after Marmee asks for their breakfast and ask what each girl might be thinking.
Retell The student tells the day back in order: the books, Amy's bottle, the breakfast, the Hummels' room, the presents, the play, and the supper.
Imitate the author After copying the passage, the student writes two sentences in the same pattern about a time they gave something up and how they felt afterward.
Debate Take sides: after the thanks, the praise, and the supper, was the giving still the same gift? Each side must use a quote from the chapter.
Purpose Close by asking why Alcott might tell the giving and what comes back to the girls with the same warmth.
Easier Read the Hummels' room aloud together and talk through discussion questions 1 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 from the chapter.
Harder Ask the student to find one more place where giving and pleasure arrive together, and to add it to a critical-thinking answer.
1. When Marmee asks for their breakfast, the girls are very hungry and for a minute no one speaks. What might be going on in that minute?Inference
What it asks It asks what the narrator's quiet minute holds, and what the girls weigh before Jo speaks.
They are hungry and reluctant. Giving up the food costs them something real, and the silence is that cost.
They were all unusually hungry, having waited nearly an hour, and for a minute no one spoke; only a minute, for Jo exclaimed impetuously
heroically giving up the articles she most liked.
They are taking in what Marmee has just described, and the quiet is the girls picturing the family before they answer.
Six children are huddled into one bed to keep from freezing, for they have no fire.
I’m so glad you came before we began!
A strong answer The narrator says the girls were unusually hungry after nearly an hour of waiting, so part of the silence is the cost of giving up a breakfast. But Marmee has just described six little ones in one bed with no fire, and Jo's first words are that she is glad Marmee came before they began. A strong answer lets the minute hold both: wanting the food and taking in the need. It does not have to say which was stronger.
2. Marmee asks whether the girls will give their breakfast away, rather than telling them to. Why might she choose to ask?Moral reasoning
What it asks It asks why Marmee makes a request and not an order, and whether a gift still belongs to the giver when someone else has asked for it.
Asking makes the gift the girls' own. They have to choose it, and the minute of silence shows that the choice is real.
My girls, will you give them your breakfast as a Christmas present?
for a minute no one spoke; only a minute
Marmee already expects yes, so asking is a gentle way of steering them. She trusts how they will answer.
I thought you’d do it
A strong answer Marmee says “will you give them your breakfast as a Christmas present?”, which calls it a present and leaves room for no. The silent minute shows the girls really had a choice to make. She also says afterward that she thought they would do it, so she expected yes. A strong answer can say that asking invites the girls to own the gift even when the asker hopes for a certain answer.
3. Amy spends all her money on a bigger bottle of cologne and says she is trying not to be selfish, then says she is glad hers is the handsomest. How do you read Amy?Character
What it asks It asks how to read one girl who says two things in a row that seem to pull apart.
Amy is sincerely trying to give more, and the pride about the handsomest bottle is a small slip in an honest effort.
I’m truly trying not to be selfish any more.
looked so earnest and humble in her little effort to forget herself that Meg hugged her on the spot
Amy still cares how her gift looks next to the others, so pride and giving are mixed together in her.
and I’m so glad, for mine is the handsomest now.
You see I felt ashamed of my present, after reading and talking about being good this morning
A strong answer Amy's first sentence costs her something: she gave all her money and ran round the corner to change the gift. The narrator calls her earnest and humble, and her sisters respond warmly. But she is also glad that hers is now the handsomest, so the pleasure of a fine gift sits beside the wish to be unselfish. A strong answer does not pick one word for Amy; it shows how one girl can mean both sentences.
4. The narrator says there were “not in all the city four merrier people” than the hungry girls who gave away their breakfasts. Does that ring true, given what we see in the room?Tone
What it asks It asks whether the narrator's cheerful claim fits the scene she is describing, and how hunger and merriment can share a room.
It rings true. The room is full of laughing and warm faces, and the girls enjoy what they are doing.
“Funny angels in hoods and mittens,” said Jo, and set them laughing.
That was a very happy breakfast, though they didn’t get any of it
It is partly the narrator's own sweet view. She says “I think,” and the girls' cheer also comes from being called angels.
I think there were not in all the city four merrier people than the hungry little girls
The girls had never been called angel children before, and thought it very agreeable
A strong answer The narrator says the girls were merry even though they were hungry and went home to bread and milk. The room gives some proof: Jo's joke sets the little Hummels laughing and the girls are warmed by being called angels. But the claim is also the narrator's own, marked with “I think,” and the girls' cheer has more than one source. A strong answer takes a side on whether the claim fits the scene and says what the merriment seems to come from.
5. After the Hummels' room, Alcott gives pages to the girls' homemade play. Why might she let the play take up so much of this chapter?Author's choice
What it asks It asks why the author sets a long, funny play beside the morning's charity, and what the play adds to the picture of these girls.
The play shows how the girls make much from little: paper guitars and tin spangles, the same girls who share their own breakfast.
Being still too young to go often to the theatre, and not rich enough to afford any great outlay for private performances
pasteboard guitars, antique lamps made of old-fashioned butter-boats covered with silver paper
The play is the girls' own enjoyment, set beside the giving so the reader sees them take pleasure as well as give it.
It was excellent drill for their memories, a harmless amusement
Tumultuous applause followed
A strong answer The play runs long and is mostly comic: a tower that falls, a bed that folds up with the audience. It shows the girls making something from almost nothing, as they did with their breakfast, and it shows them enjoying themselves. Putting it next to the Hummels' room gives the reader the whole day of these girls. A strong answer says what the play adds and does not claim to know the author's single reason.
1. Marmee says Beth's roses are sweeter to her than the hothouse flowers. Using two pieces of evidence, explain what might make them sweeter.
What it asks It asks why a half-dead posy from her daughter could matter more to Marmee than grand flowers, and to support the answer with two pieces of evidence.
Beth gave what she had and gave it with love, and Marmee values the giver over the gift.
Beth ran to the window, and picked her finest rose to ornament the stately bottle
there was a great deal of love done up in the few little bundles
Marmee keeps it near her all day though it is fading, so what matters is whose gift it is, not how it looks.
the rose was fastened in her bosom
smelling the half-dead posy in her belt
A strong answer Beth's rose is fastened in Marmee's bosom when she opens her gifts, and at the end of the night the half-dead posy is still in her belt, so she keeps it close though it is fading. The hothouse flowers are finer to look at, but they come from a neighbor the girls do not know. A strong answer uses one thing Marmee does and one thing the chapter says about the gifts, and explains what makes a gift sweet.
2. Meg reads her new book first, and her sisters follow. Using two pieces of evidence, explain how Meg leads them.
What it asks It asks the student to work out whether Meg leads by what she does or what she says, using two pieces of evidence.
Meg leads by example: she begins to read, and the others copy her.
Then she opened her new book and began to read. Jo put her arm round her, and, leaning cheek to cheek, read also
How good Meg is! Come, Amy, let’s do as they do.
Meg leads by gentle words: she says what she will do and leaves her sisters free.
You can do as you please; but I shall keep my book on the table here, and read a little every morning
obeyed her because her advice was so gently given
A strong answer Meg speaks first, but gently: she says what she will do and tells her sisters they can do as they please. Then she reads, and Jo puts an arm round her and reads too, and Beth whispers that they should do as Meg does. A strong answer uses one piece of what Meg says and one of what happens next, and explains why an example can work better than an order.
3. In the Hummels' room, who does the most to help? Using two pieces of evidence, choose one person or group, and explain your choice.
What it asks It asks the student to weigh the help given in the room and choose who gave the most, with two pieces of evidence.
Hannah and Mrs. March do the most: they give the family warmth, tea, and care that last.
Hannah, who had carried wood, made a fire, and stopped up the broken panes with old hats and her own cloak.
Mrs. March gave the mother tea and gruel, and comforted her with promises of help
The girls do the most: they bring the food and the company that cheers the little Hummels.
The girls, meantime, spread the table, set the children round the fire, and fed them like so many hungry birds
“Funny angels in hoods and mittens,” said Jo, and set them laughing.
A strong answer A strong answer picks one and backs it twice. For Hannah and Mrs. March: Hannah lights the fire and stops the broken panes with her own cloak, and Mrs. March brings tea and dresses the baby. For the girls: they spread the table, feed the hungry little Hummels, and make them laugh. It should say why warmth and care, or food and company, counts for more.