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Little Women
Trailblazers · 4th–6th
Meg insists that loving John does not make her love her family less and gives her first married kiss to Marmee, yet the family gathers as if loath to give her up and says goodbye as if she were going on the grand tour, so what has this wedding changed, and what has it kept?
The tension The chapter builds a wedding out of refusals: no silk, no procession, no show, a bride who runs to the door and hands her groom a hammer, lemonade instead of wine. Everything says the familiar self is kept. Against that runs the secret sorrow in the motherly heart at the first bird's flight, the father's voice breaking, the sisters clinging with April faces, and a walk of a few hundred yards treated like a departure across the sea. In the middle Meg feels her power and uses it on Laurie for his own good, and Aunt March wishes her well while predicting she will be sorry.
Notice what the wedding keeps the same for Meg and what it quietly ends for her family.
June roses bloom at the porch while the sisters dress Meg in a gown she made herself. Aunt March is shocked by the homelike preparations, Laurie is asked for a promise, the guests dance in the garden, and Meg walks to her new home on John's arm while her family watches.
Start with the crumples. Ask what kind of bride asks for them, and let the talk move to the people around her.
Retell The student tells the day in order: the roses, the dressing, the vows, the lunch, the dance and the walk to the new house.
Imitate the author After copying the passage, the student writes one sentence that moves from a spoken plan to a feeling hidden behind a smile.
Debate Take sides: does the wedding change more than it keeps? Each side must use at least one quote from the chapter.
Purpose Close by asking why the author lets a cheerful wedding carry a mother's hidden sorrow.
Easier Read the copywork aloud together and talk through discussion questions 1 and 2 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 moment where a face or a voice says more than the words, and to add it to a critical-thinking answer.
1. Meg wants to "look and be my familiar self," and asks her sisters for "a great many crumples." What is she after, and why today?Theme
What it asks It asks what Meg wants from her sisters and from the day, and why a bride would ask for something most brides would avoid.
She wants to be herself, not a bride on show, and the crumples are a sign she is not performing.
I don’t want to look strange or fixed up today
I’m not a show, aunty, and no one is coming to stare at me
She wants the touch of the people she loves more than a perfect dress.
But please hug and kiss me, everyone, and don’t mind my dress
who clung about her with April faces for a minute
A strong answer Amy holds back from a hug to save the dress, and Meg answers that she wants a great many crumples. A bride on show would keep her dress perfect; Meg wants to be hugged by the people who love her and to look like herself for them. The sisters cling to her with April faces, so the hug means something to them too. A strong answer says what the crumples stand for and uses Meg's own words.
2. Marmee smiles over "a secret sorrow," and Meg follows her "wherever she went." Why might Marmee hide the sorrow, and what might Meg's staying close mean?Inference
What it asks It asks why a mother hides her sorrow on a happy day, and what Meg's staying close to her says about what Meg sees.
Marmee hides it to keep Meg's day bright, and Meg stays close to comfort her.
in spite of the smiles on the motherly face, there was a secret sorrow hid in the motherly heart
that her mother’s heart rejoiced
Meg stays close because she needs her mother too; the sorrow goes both ways.
to follow her mother wherever she went
clinging to her mother, with full eyes, for a moment
A strong answer Marmee may hide the sorrow because it is hers to carry and would dim Meg's day; the narrator also says her heart rejoiced at Meg's vows, so she holds joy and sorrow together. Meg is conscious of the sorrow behind the smile, and she follows her mother wherever she went, to comfort her or to be comforted. A strong answer keeps both joy and sorrow in Marmee and chooses a reason for Meg's staying close from what Meg does.
3. Meg's smile says, "No one can refuse me anything today," and Laurie cannot. Was it fair of her to use that power to get his promise?Moral reasoning
What it asks It asks whether using a happy day to win a promise is fair, and whether a good aim changes that.
It was fair: she asked aloud, for his good, and he answered with a smile and gave his hand.
used it as a woman may for her friend’s good
with an answering smile, he gave her his hand, saying heartily, “I promise, Mrs. Brooke!”
It was not fully fair: he found it hard to say no, and she counted on that.
A demand so sudden and so serious made the young man hesitate a moment
No one can refuse me anything today.
A strong answer A strong answer can go either way. For fair: Meg asks aloud, the narrator says she used her power for her friend's good, and Laurie gives his hand heartily. Against: the narrator says Meg knew he would keep the promise at all costs and was feeling her power, and her smile says no one can refuse her today, so she is using the day as much as asking. The narrator approves, but a student need not; the question is whether a good aim makes the pressure fair.
4. Aunt March is scandalized, gets "a sudden dew" in her eyes, dances, and says "you’ll be sorry for it." What do you make of her?Character
What it asks It asks the student to hold together Aunt March's shock, her tears and her warning, and to decide how they fit one person.
Underneath she is fond of Meg and softened by the day.
with a sudden dew in her sharp old eyes
she just tucked her cane under her arm, and hopped briskly away to join hands with the rest
She stays herself: she is shocked by the plainness and means her warning.
Upon my word, here’s a state of things!
I wish you well, my dear, I heartily wish you well; but I think you’ll be sorry for it
A strong answer Aunt March does both. She is shocked by a bride who runs to welcome her and a groom with a hammer, yet a kiss puts a sudden dew in her eyes, she sniffs audibly at the vows, and she hops into the dance. Her last words wish Meg well and expect sorrow in one breath, and she tells John he has a treasure and must deserve it. A strong answer can say her prickliness is how she shows care, or that her warning is honest doubt, and need not decide whether she will be right.
5. The chapter ends with Meg walking away "with her hands full of flowers" and then "so Meg’s married life began." Why might the author stop there?Author's choice
What it asks It asks why the author closes with Meg walking away and the family watching, instead of following her into the new house.
The day is the subject, so the author ends on a bright beginning and leaves the rest unsaid.
and the June sunshine brightening her happy face
so Meg’s married life began
The author ends on the watchers, because what the family feels as she goes matters as much as what Meg feels.
They stood watching her, with faces full of love and hope and tender pride
A strong answer The chapter begins with June roses and sunshine and ends with June sunshine on Meg's face, so the day is framed in one bright light. Ending as she leaves, with her hands full of flowers and the family watching with faces full of love and hope and tender pride, lets the reader feel the moment as a beginning. One reading says the author leaves us outside on purpose; another says the watchers' faces are the real last image. A strong answer picks one image from the last paragraph and says what stopping there lets the reader feel.
1. Jo, Beth and Amy each take the vows differently. Using two pieces of evidence, explain what one sister's way of watching shows about her.
What it asks It asks the student to pick one sister and read her from how she watches the vows, using two things the narrator shows.
Jo guards her feeling: she nearly cries and is held back.
Jo did not cry, though she was very near it once
was only saved from a demonstration by the consciousness that Laurie was staring fixedly at her
Beth shows her feeling only by hiding it, turning to her mother.
Beth kept her face hidden on her mother’s shoulder
A strong answer Taking Amy: the narrator says she stood like a graceful statue, with a ray of sunshine touching her white forehead and the flower in her hair. She holds still and is careful how she looks, which fits a girl who at sixteen has the air and bearing of a full-grown woman. A strong answer names one sister, gives two pieces of evidence, and says what they show together: Jo holds feeling back, Beth hides it, Amy holds still.
2. Mrs. Moffat says it was the prettiest wedding in an age, yet "there wasn’t a bit of style about it." Using two pieces of evidence, explain why it might have been so pretty.
What it asks It asks the student to find what the chapter gives the wedding in place of style, and how that could make it pretty.
The ease and love in the room made it pretty: people laughed and danced and were themselves.
laughter is ready when hearts are light
everyone else followed their example without a murmur
The homemade touches were the beauty: flowers, simple food and a gown the bride sewed.
a plentiful lunch of cake and fruit, dressed with flowers
So she made her wedding gown herself, sewing into it the tender hopes and innocent romances of a girlish heart.
A strong answer Mrs. Moffat cannot see why it was pretty, but the chapter gives clues. The day is light-hearted: laughter is ready when hearts are light, and even Aunt March hops into the dance. And what is there was made by hand or brought from the garden: the gown Meg sewed herself, a lunch of cake and fruit dressed with flowers. A strong answer uses two different clues and says how each makes the day pretty.
3. The chapter opens with the June roses. Using two pieces of evidence, explain what the roses tell us about Meg before she appears.
What it asks It asks the student to read the roses as a first portrait of Meg and to see how the opening sets her among things she has tended.
The roses show Meg is loved: they honor her as the gentle mistress who looked after them.
offered their tribute of beauty and fragrance to the gentle mistress who had loved and tended them so long
The roses show what Meg is like: she blooms from within, not from ornament.
Meg looked very like a rose herself; for all that was best and sweetest in heart and soul seemed to bloom into her face that day
Neither silk, lace, nor orange-flowers would she have.
A strong answer The roses come first, bright and friendly like neighbors, and they bring their tribute to the gentle mistress who had loved and tended them so long. So before we meet her we know Meg has given care in this house. Then the narrator says she looked very like a rose herself, with her beauty blooming from heart and soul and not from silk or lace. A strong answer uses one sentence about the roses and one about Meg and joins them.