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Little Women
Trailblazers · 4th–6th
John refuses Mr. Laurence's generous offers so as to begin on an honestly earned salary, yet the Dovecote fills with other people's labor and gifts and Aunt March finds a way round her vow, so what kind of help can a beginning home take without losing the independence John prizes?
The tension The chapter praises independence and then shows how much a small house owes to others. John chooses bookkeeping over borrowed money; Meg envies Sallie's carriage and then forgets it for John's patient labor; the narrator says homely tasks are beautified by loving hands, and the hands belong to Hannah, Beth, Amy, Jo, and Marmee. Aunt March keeps her word and breaks its spirit through Mrs. Carrol's linen. Laurie's help to Henshaw is generous and his seventeen waistcoats are money that spends itself, while his weekly gadgets fall to pieces. Marmee's lecture insists a mistress must know the work; the chapter leaves the reader to sort gift from indulgence and thrift from pride.
Notice who helps fill the little Dovecote, and which help is asked for, which is given freely, and which is slipped around a vow.
The narrator catches up on three years: the war is over, John has a bookkeeper's place, and each sister has her own way. Meg's little house, the Dovecote, is ready, with gifts and hands from everyone. On the eve of the wedding Laurie brings another of his useless inventions, then walks with Jo and talks about money and about who will go next. The chapter ends on his prediction that she will go next.
Start with the list of who did what in the Dovecote and ask the student which job they would most like to have done.
Retell The student tells the chapter back in order: the three years, John's salary, the Dovecote, Aunt March's linen, Laurie's gifts, and his walk with Jo.
Imitate the author After copying the passage, the student writes two sentences in the same pattern about something in their own home that someone made with care.
Debate Take sides on the big question: can a beginning home take help from many hands and still be its owners' own? Each side must use at least one quote from the chapter.
Purpose Close by asking why Alcott praises independence and then shows how much the little house owes to others.
Easier Talk through discussion questions 2 and 4 only, with the twilight plans and the slop-bowl fountain as the two pictures to hold.
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 sort the gifts in the chapter into those that help a home and those that only spend money, and to add the sorting to a critical-thinking answer.
1. John turns down Mr. Laurence's more generous offers and takes a bookkeeper's place instead. What do you think he is guarding?Inference
What it asks It asks what John seems to care about when he chooses a smaller start over a bigger one.
He is guarding his self-respect, and wants to begin on what he has earned himself.
With the good sense and sturdy independence that characterized him, he refused Mr. Laurence’s more generous offers
feeling better satisfied to begin with an honestly-earned salary
He is guarding against risk, and does not want to start a home in debt.
than by running any risks with borrowed money
he devoted himself to getting well, preparing for business, and earning a home for Meg
A strong answer John refused Mr. Laurence's more generous offers and took the place of bookkeeper, feeling better satisfied to begin with an honestly earned salary than to run risks with borrowed money. He was getting ready for business and earning a home for Meg. A strong answer says what he is protecting, such as his pride, his prudence, or the home he wants to have earned, and stays with the narrator's words.
2. Meg secretly wishes for Sallie's fine house and carriage, and then the wish fades. What brings her back to her own little home?Character
What it asks It asks what turns a girl's envy into contentment, and whether the cause is the house, the man, or the way she thinks about both.
She thinks of how much love and work John has put into the little house.
But somehow envy and discontent soon vanished when she thought of all the patient love and labor John had put into the little home awaiting her
She and John plan together in the twilight, and the future looks bright.
when they sat together in the twilight, talking over their small plans, the future always grew so beautiful and bright that she forgot Sallie’s splendor
felt herself the richest, happiest girl in Christendom
A strong answer The narrator does not hide that Meg contrasts Sallie's fine house, carriage, and splendid outfit with her own and secretly wishes for the same. Then she thinks of the patient love and labor John has put in, and of their twilight planning, and the wish vanishes. A strong answer says what replaces the envy, John's work, their shared plans, or both, and does not pretend the envy was never there.
3. Aunt March said Meg would not have a cent, then has Mrs. Carrol send house and table linen as her own present. Has Aunt March kept her word?Moral reasoning
What it asks It asks the student to decide whether keeping the letter of a promise counts when the spirit is bent.
She kept it: the money is not hers, the gift comes from Mrs. Carrol, and the narrator says she never broke her word.
She never broke her word, and was much exercised in her mind how to get round it
insisted that she could give nothing but the old-fashioned pearls, long promised to the first bride
She bent it: she found a way to give exactly what she had said she would not, and hid her part.
at last devised a plan whereby she could satisfy herself
Aunt March tried to look utterly unconscious
A strong answer Aunt March said Meg would not have a cent if she married that Brooke. She never broke her word, but she was much exercised in her mind how to get round it, and so Mrs. Carrol was ordered to buy and mark a generous supply of linen and send it as her present. The family enjoyed the secret, and she insisted she could give nothing but pearls. A strong answer takes a side on whether a vow so kept is still kept.
4. The narrator calls the Dovecote's fountain “a weather-beaten urn, very like a dilapidated slop-bowl.” How does she want us to feel about the little house?Tone
What it asks It asks the student to hear the narrator's voice as she describes a house that is small, plain, and loved.
She is affectionately teasing, joking about its faults the way a fond friend might.
the shrubbery consisted of several young larches, undecided whether to live or die
But inside, it was altogether charming, and the happy bride saw no fault from garret to cellar.
She is being frank about how small it is, and does not dress the house up.
To be sure, the hall was so narrow, it was fortunate that they had no piano, for one never could have been got in whole
the kitchen stairs seemed built for the express purpose of precipitating both servants and china pell-mell into the coal-bin
A strong answer The narrator makes a joke of every fault: the fountain is a dilapidated slop-bowl, the larches cannot decide whether to live, and the hall is too narrow for a piano. Then she says that inside it is altogether charming, and that the happy bride saw no fault from garret to cellar. A strong answer hears teasing and affection in the same voice and says what the frankness adds.
5. The narrator lists who put up which bracket, hung which curtains, and arranged which pots in the Dovecote. Why might she spend so much space on who did each small job?Author's choice
What it asks It asks what the long list of small, named jobs does for the picture of the little house and for the reader.
The list shows the house is made of particular people's hands, one for each job.
I don’t think the Parian Psyche Laurie gave lost any of its beauty because John put up the bracket it stood upon
that any upholsterer could have draped the plain muslin curtains more gracefully than Amy’s artistic hand
The list is part of the narrator's playful manner: she swears, doubts, and exaggerates so the reader smiles.
I am morally certain that the spandy-new kitchen never could have looked so cozy and neat if Hannah had not arranged every pot and pan a dozen times over
Beth made enough to last till the silver wedding came round
A strong answer The narrator names John with his bracket, Amy with the curtains, Jo and their mother with the storeroom, Hannah with the pots, and Beth with the dusters and dishcloths, and says the homeliest tasks get beautified if loving hands do them. She also jokes: she is morally certain, she doubts, she exaggerates. A strong answer says what the list shows about the house, and what the joking adds to it.
1. Amy says Meg ought to have a servant or two, and Marmee answers her. Using two pieces of evidence, explain Marmee's reasons for starting small.
What it asks It asks what reasons Marmee gives for Meg's keeping little help, using two pieces of evidence.
Her reason is the size of the household: they begin humbly, and a large staff suits a fine establishment, not theirs.
Sallie isn’t a poor man’s wife, and many maids are in keeping with her fine establishment. Meg and John begin humbly
Her reason is what Meg will learn: a mistress who knows the work is better served and better off.
It’s a great mistake for young girls like Meg to leave themselves nothing to do but dress, give orders, and gossip.
the mistress of a house, however splendid, should know how work ought to be done, if she wishes to be well and honestly served
A strong answer Marmee says Sallie is not a poor man's wife and her maids suit her fine establishment, while Meg and John begin humbly. She also says it is a great mistake for young girls to leave themselves nothing to do but dress, give orders, and gossip, and that a mistress should know how the work ought to be done. A strong answer uses one reason about means and one about learning, and says which Marmee seems to care about more.
2. Jo praises Laurie for helping Henshaw but objects to his seventeen waistcoats. Using two pieces of evidence, explain how Laurie answers her.
What it asks It asks how Laurie replies to praise and complaint in the same breath, using two pieces of evidence.
He shrugs off the help he gave Henshaw as nothing much, and turns it into a question about what Jo would have done.
Oh, he made a mountain out of a molehill. You wouldn’t have me let that fine fellow work himself to death, just for the want of a little help, when he is worth a dozen of us lazy chaps, would you?
He laughs at the waistcoat complaint, defends his rough-and-ready costume, and asks her not to lecture him.
an opportunity for expatiating on the advantages of a rough-and-ready costume
Don’t lecture any more, there’s a good soul! I have enough all through the week, and like to enjoy myself when I come home.
A strong answer Jo says that if Laurie always spent money as he did on Henshaw no one would blame him, but she sees no use in seventeen waistcoats, endless neckties, and a new hat every visit. Laurie brushes off the Henshaw help as a molehill, and when she turns to the waistcoats he laughs and defends a rough-and-ready costume, then asks her not to lecture him. A strong answer uses one line from each reply and says what separates the two kinds of spending.
3. Meg takes her family's gifts and help gladly. Using two pieces of evidence, explain how she and the narrator speak about what others have given her little house.
What it asks It asks how Meg and the narrator describe gifts given to a new home, using two pieces of evidence.
Meg is grateful and content, and says so in her own plain words.
Yes, mother, perfectly satisfied, thanks to you all, and so happy that I can’t talk about it
I haven’t a single finger-bowl, but this is a ‘set out’ that will last me all my days, Hannah says
The narrator says the gifts carry something with them, and are the fairer for it.
the pretty gifts which came from friendly hands, and were the fairer for the loving messages they brought
everything in her small nest, from the kitchen roller to the silver vase on her parlor table, was eloquent of home love and tender forethought
A strong answer Meg tells her mother she is perfectly satisfied, thanks to them all, and so happy that she cannot talk about it. The narrator says the gifts came from friendly hands and were the fairer for the loving messages they brought, and that the whole nest was eloquent of home love and tender forethought. A strong answer uses one line from Meg and one from the narrator, and says how gifts from many hands sit beside a house John prepared.