Little Women
Chapter 27 — Teaching Companion
Louisa May Alcott · Trailblazers 4th–6th
Coaching, not a script — and not an answer key: every question here has more than one defensible answer.
This chapter's big question
Jo cuts her novel to please her father, her mother, Meg, Amy, the publisher, and Beth's wish to see it soon, and suits nobody, so what makes advice about one's own work worth taking, and how could Jo tell whose opinion had real value before the notices came in?
The tension The chapter gives Jo two kinds of success and lets them argue. The sensation story wins a prize and its money sends Beth and Marmee to the sea, pays the butcher, and lets Jo ask no one for a penny; Father says aim at the highest and never mind the money. Then the novel: each adviser is sensible alone, together they ruin it, and Jo herself admits she can no longer tell whether it is good or bad. The reviews contradict each other so wildly that praise and blame cancel, and her one comfort is a joke: the parts from life are called impossible, the invented parts natural. The narrator says the criticism that had real value educated her, but never says whose it was.
Today's focus
Follow Jo's novel from the family council to the notices, and listen to what each person wants for it.
Two core ideas
- Jo finds two kinds of success: a sensation story that wins a prize and buys comforts, and a novel that she cuts to please everyone.
- Each adviser is sensible and fond of Jo, but they want different things for the book, and the notices she gets afterward disagree too.
The shape at a glance
Jo writes in her scribbling suit, reads a sensation story at a lecture, and wins a hundred dollars. The money sends Beth and Marmee to the sea. Then the family council advises on her novel, she cuts it, and the notices contradict each other.
A way in
Start with the cap and the question "Does genius burn, Jo?" Ask what the family's way of asking shows, then move to the council.
Lesson plan
Retell The student tells the chapter back in order: the scribbling suit, the lecture, the prize, the seaside, the council, the cutting and the notices.
Imitate the author After copying the passage, the student writes three sentences in the same pattern: who wanted what, and what was cut to please them.
Debate Take sides: did Jo take too much advice, or too little? Each side must use at least one quote from the chapter.
Purpose Close by asking what Jo still has at the end, after the book and the notices have gone out.
Easier Read the council scene aloud together and talk through discussion questions 3 and 4 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 Jo's own judgment appears in the chapter, and to add it to a critical-thinking answer.
Discussion
- When Jo is writing, her family reads her cap and asks, "Does genius burn, Jo?" What does the way they ask show about how they see her writing?Inference
What it asks It asks what a family's habit of reading Jo's cap, and the joke in their question, says about how seriously they take her work.
One reading
They take her writing seriously and give it room.
who during these periods kept their distance
not until the red bow was seen gayly erect upon the gifted brow, did anyone dare address Jo
Another reading
They treat it with teasing affection, half amused and half worried.
to ask, with interest, “Does genius burn, Jo?”
who always looked a little anxious when “genius took to burning.”
Listen for
- Uses what the family does, not only the question they ask.
- Says what "genius" is doing in their question: praise, joke, or both.
If stuck
- What does each position of the cap mean to the family?
- What do they do while Jo is deep in her writing?
- How does Mrs. March look when "genius took to burning"?
A strong answer The family keeps its distance and never speaks until the red bow is gayly erect, which treats Jo's writing as real work that deserves room. But the question itself is a joke, asked only semi-occasionally, and Mrs. March looks a little anxious, so their respect has worry and teasing in it. A strong answer uses the cap and the question together and says what mix of feelings the family shows.
- Father says, "Aim at the highest, and never mind the money," yet the money sends Beth and Marmee to the sea. How do you weigh his words against what the money does?Moral reasoning
What it asks It asks the student to hold a high aim and a real need side by side and decide how much each is worth.
One reading
The money did real good, so Father's advice is too unworldly for a family that needs it.
Jo was satisfied with the investment of her prize money
her “rubbish” turned into comforts for them all
Another reading
Father has a point: he knows the story is not her best, and he lives by waiting.
You can do better than this, Jo.
he practised as he preached, having waited patiently thirty years for fruit of his own to ripen
Listen for
- Says what the money bought, in the chapter's own terms.
- Gives Father's view a fair hearing, not only a dismissal.
If stuck
- What does Father say about the language, the romance and the tragedy, before his advice?
- What does Jo do with the hundred dollars?
- How does the narrator describe Father's way of saying it?
A strong answer The money did good the chapter names: Beth and Marmee come back better, the butcher's bill is paid, and Jo feels she need ask no one for a penny. But Father praises the story and still says she can do better, and he has waited thirty years himself. A strong answer takes the seaside as real and Father's words as real and says how it would weigh them, without claiming one simply cancels the other.
- Meg wants every explanation kept. Amy says, "Do as he tells you; he knows what will sell." What does each sister seem to want for Jo's book?Character
What it asks It asks what lies behind each sister's advice, and whether Meg and Amy want opposite things or less different things than they sound.
One reading
They want opposite things: Meg wants the book kept as it is, Amy wants it to sell.
I wouldn’t leave out a word of it; you’ll spoil it if you do
Make a good, popular book, and get as much money as you can.
Another reading
They are closer than they sound: Amy also values the thoughtful side and only wants it to wait its turn.
By and by, when, you’ve got a name, you can afford to digress, and have philosophical and metaphysical people in your novels
Listen for
- Names a wish for each sister, not only what she says to do.
- Uses the narrator's descriptions of Meg's and Amy's outlooks.
If stuck
- What does Meg believe about the book?
- How does the narrator describe Amy's view of the subject?
- What does Amy say can wait until Jo has a name?
A strong answer Meg firmly believes the book is the most remarkable novel ever written, so she wants nothing cut. Amy takes a strictly practical view, so she wants what sells. They look like opposites, yet Amy does not throw away the philosophical people; she puts them off until Jo has a name. A strong answer says what each sister is protecting, the book or Jo's success, and uses a line from each.
- The narrator says Jo chopped her novel "as ruthlessly as any ogre" and sent it out "like a picked robin." What feeling do these two pictures give us?Tone
What it asks It asks the student to hear the narrator's tone in two comparisons and decide whether it is amused, tender, or both.
One reading
The tone is mocking and amused: Jo is a comic ogre hacking at her own book.
So, with Spartan firmness, the young authoress laid her firstborn on her table, and chopped it up as ruthlessly as any ogre.
like the old man and his donkey in the fable, suited nobody
Another reading
The tone is tender: the book is small and helpless, and Jo sends it out trusting.
confidingly sent the poor little romance, like a picked robin, out into the big, busy world, to try its fate
Listen for
- Says what the ogre and the robin each suggest, not only that they are comparisons.
- Notices that the two pictures pull in different directions.
If stuck
- Who is the ogre, and what does it do?
- What is a picked robin, and how does it feel about the world?
- What word does the narrator put in front of "romance"?
A strong answer The ogre is comic and a little grim: Jo hacks her own firstborn with Spartan firmness, hoping to please everyone and suiting nobody. The picked robin turns the feeling around; the book is a poor little romance, sent out confidingly. The narrator laughs at Jo and feels for her at once. A strong answer names both feelings and says which one the passage leans toward.
- Jo says she has "the joke on my side," since critics call her real scenes absurd and her invented ones true. Is that a comfort to her, or does it hide a sting?Theme
What it asks It asks whether Jo's joke is a real comfort or a brave face over hurt, and what the chapter's last scene lets us hear.
One reading
It is a real comfort: she laughs, still believes in the book, and is ready to try again.
she could laugh at her poor little book, yet believe in it still
when I’m ready, I’ll up again and take another
Another reading
It hides a sting: she was hurt by being misjudged and is putting a stout face on it.
I wish I’d printed it whole or not at all, for I do hate to be so misjudged.
it was a hard time for sensitive, high-spirited Jo, who meant so well, and had apparently done so ill
Listen for
- Uses both the joke and what Jo said earlier about the notices.
- Notices the word "stoutly" and what it might cover.
If stuck
- What do the critics call the scenes taken from real life?
- What does Jo say about being misjudged?
- How does Jo say she will comfort herself, and what will she do next?
A strong answer The joke works because it turns the critics' confusion against them: what she copied from life is called impossible, and what she invented is called natural. She laughs, still believes in the book, and plans to try again. Yet she also says she hates to be so misjudged, and the narrator says it was a hard time for her. A strong answer keeps the laugh and the hurt both in view and says which one the last words favor.
Critical thinking
- Jo stares at the prize check "as if it had been a snake" and then cries. Using two pieces of evidence, explain what the prize means to her beyond the cash.
What it asks It asks what Jo gets from winning besides money: proof that she can write, or a new place in the family.
One reading
It proves she has learned something after years of effort.
for Jo valued the letter more than the money, because it was encouraging
after years of effort it was so pleasant to find that she had learned to do something, though it was only to write a sensation story
Another reading
It gives her a new place at home and a new independence.
began to feel herself a power in the house
need ask no one for a penny
Listen for
- Two separate pieces of evidence, not one told twice.
- Explains why a letter could mean more than a check.
If stuck
- What does Jo do when she first sees the check and reads the letter?
- What does the narrator say Jo valued more than the money?
- What does she feel she has become in the house after several checks?
A strong answer The prize tells Jo she can do something: she valued the letter more than the money because it was encouraging, and after years of effort it was pleasant to learn she could write a story that wins. It also changes her place at home, since by the magic of a pen she begins to feel herself a power in the house. A strong answer uses two different pieces of evidence and says what each shows.
- Beth says only, "I should so like to see it printed soon." Using two pieces of evidence, explain how her few words change what Jo does.
What it asks It asks the student to see how much weight a quiet remark carries in Jo's decision, and what else pushes Jo.
One reading
Beth's words are what tip Jo: she hears a wish under them and hurries.
there was an unconscious emphasis on the last word, and a wistful look in the eyes that never lost their childlike candor
decided her to make her little venture “soon.”
Another reading
Beth's words add to a push already there: the publisher's terms and Jo's need for cash.
on condition that she would cut it down one third, and omit all the parts which she particularly admired
Fame is a very good thing to have in the house, but cash is more convenient
Listen for
- Says what Beth's emphasis on one word does to Jo.
- Stays with what the narrator says, without adding more about Beth.
If stuck
- Which word does Beth stress, and how does Jo feel?
- What does the publisher ask for in return for buying the novel?
- How long does the chill last, according to the narrator?
A strong answer Beth says little, but the emphasis on "soon" and her wistful look chill Jo's heart for a minute, and the chapter says that decided her to make her venture soon. The push is not only Beth: the publisher's condition and Jo's wish for cash were already there. A strong answer names what Beth's words do and what else is pressing, and does not read more into Beth than the narrator says.
- At the lecture Jo reads the boy's sensation story and says she could do as well. Using two pieces of evidence, explain how she sees such stories and what she does.
What it asks It asks what Jo thinks of the sensation story and how her view and her action fit together.
One reading
She looks down on it, yet sees she could write one.
amused at his admiration of the trash
I think you and I could do as well as that if we tried
Another reading
She changes her mind about it when she hears it pays.
Jo looked more respectfully at the agitated group and thickly-sprinkled exclamation-points that adorned the page
boldly resolving to try for the hundred-dollar prize offered in its columns for a sensational story
Listen for
- Two different moments from the lecture scene.
- Says what changed between her first look and her last.
If stuck
- What does Jo think of the pictures and the story itself?
- What does the boy say about the woman who wrote it?
- What does Jo do while the lecture is going on?
A strong answer Jo first thinks the story is trash and says she and the boy could do as well. When the boy says the writer makes a good living, she looks more respectfully, and she spends the lecture taking down the address and resolving to try for the prize. A strong answer uses one line for her first view and one for what she does next, and says how the two fit together.