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Little Women
Trailblazers · 4th–6th
Laurie pleads that everyone expects it, that he has changed himself for her, and that she could make him anything she likes, and Jo will not say a yes she cannot say truly, so what does Jo owe her boy, and can she pay it without lying?
The tension The chapter gives Laurie every claim but the one that matters: years of devotion, billiards given up, hair grown for her sake, both families hoping, and a plea that he would be a saint if she loved him. Jo grants all of it, calls him too good for her, and still says it would be a lie. She offers reasons, tempers and tastes and her scribbling, and the narrator notes that reasoning with a lover proves she knows nothing about love. The refusal is called very hard and delay called cruel; Jo walks home feeling she has murdered something innocent. Mr. Laurence, who knows love cannot be forced, carries the boy abroad, and the last exchange on the step is a question and a wish.
Listen to what Laurie claims and what Jo will and will not say, and watch how each of them carries the result.
Laurie graduates and Jo goes to meet him. On the walk home he asks her to marry him, and she refuses. He rows away, Jo tells Mr. Laurence, and the old man takes Laurie abroad. On the step, Laurie asks once more, and Jo says she wishes she could.
Start with Laurie's line, "Everyone expects it." Ask what it does to Jo to hear it, and what she says back.
Retell The student tells the chapter back in order: the graduation, the walk, the refusal, the boat, Mr. Laurence and the step.
Imitate the author After copying the passage, the student writes two sentences in the same pattern: a hard thing someone did, and the plain words she said.
Debate Take sides: what does Jo owe Laurie? Each side must use at least one quote from the chapter.
Purpose Close by asking why the author ends with a question and a wish.
Easier Read the stile scene 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 place where someone in the chapter says something kind that also hurts, and to add it to a critical-thinking answer.
1. Jo forgets the jews-harp and hopes the greeting “could not be called lover-like.” What do her small moves on the walk tell us about how she expects it to go?Inference
What it asks It asks what a forgotten jest and a missing arm show about what Jo and Laurie each feel as they walk, and what each one is bracing for.
Jo is bracing for a proposal and trying to hold it off.
Oh, deary me! I know he’ll say something, and then what shall I do?
to rescue the conversation from one of the wells of silence into which it kept falling
Laurie is bracing too: his talk thins out and he says nothing about her change.
She always used to take his arm on these occasions; now she did not, and he made no complaint, which was a bad sign
suddenly lost his fine flow of language, and, now and then, a dreadful pause occurred
A strong answer Both of them have changed their habits. Jo does not take his arm and Laurie does not complain, and the narrator calls that a bad sign. Laurie talks rapidly of faraway subjects and then loses his flow, while Jo fills silences with small remarks. A strong answer says what each person is expecting and gives two of these small changes as evidence.
2. Laurie says, “Everyone expects it.” Jo says, “I can’t say ‘Yes’ truly.” Whose claim should count for more?Moral reasoning
What it asks It asks the student to weigh what others want and hope against what one person can honestly say.
Jo's counts more: a yes she does not mean would be a lie and unfair to him.
I can’t say ‘Yes’ truly, so I won’t say it at all.
knowing that delay was both useless and cruel
Laurie's has real weight: he has given up much, and his family and hers hope for it.
I gave up billiards and everything you didn’t like, and waited and never complained
Grandpa has set his heart upon it, your people like it, and I can’t get on without you.
A strong answer Laurie has real claims: he worked hard to please her, gave up billiards and waited without complaint, and both families hope. Jo grants him nearly all of it, but says it would be a lie to say she loves him when she does not, and she thinks delay would be cruel. A strong answer says what kind of claim each is, what someone is owed, and what a false yes would cost both of them.
3. Jo gives Laurie many reasons: tempers, tastes, her scribbling. The narrator says her “little reason” proved “she knew nothing about love.” What is the narrator getting at?Tone
What it asks It asks what the narrator thinks of Jo's attempt to reason with a heartbroken lover, and whether the remark is gentle, mocking or both.
It is gentle mockery: reasons do not help a person in love, and Jo does not yet see that.
hoping to soothe him with a little reason, which proved that she knew nothing about love
I won’t be reasonable; I don’t want to take what you call ‘a sensible view;’ it won’t help me, and it only makes you harder.
It is also sympathy: Jo is trying hard to do right, and reasons are all she has.
indeed I want to do right and make you happy
Now do be reasonable, and take a sensible view of the case,” implored Jo, almost at her wit’s end.
A strong answer The narrator says Jo hopes to soothe him with a little reason, which proved she knew nothing about love, a smile at someone who reasons with a lover. But the same scene shows her almost at her wit's end and wanting to do right. A strong answer says how the tone holds amusement and sympathy at once and uses one line of Jo's to show it.
4. Mr. Laurence says, “I know, my boy, I know,” and offers to go abroad with him. What does he understand about Laurie that Jo cannot?Character
What it asks It asks what the old man sees in his grandson, and why his plan works where Jo's words could not.
He knows what it is to lose, and he keeps his feelings and his advice plain.
I’ve been through it all before, once in my own young days, and then with your father
he knew even better than Jo that love cannot be forced
He knows Laurie would run and is afraid to leave him alone.
keeping hold of the young man, as if fearful that he would break away, as his father had done before him
the mood in which he found his grandson assured him that it would not be wise to leave him to his own devices
A strong answer Mr. Laurence says he has been through it before, with his own young days and with Laurie's father. He also sees that the boy would break away and is afraid to leave him alone. His plan gives Laurie freedom but a promise, and it is offered without the pity Laurie's pride cannot bear. A strong answer says what he knows and how his way of offering help fits Laurie.
5. The chapter ends with “O Jo, can’t you?” and “Teddy, dear, I wish I could!” Why might Alcott end on those words?Author's choice
What it asks It asks why the author closes on a short question and a wish instead of a longer summary.
It shows the matter is settled but the grief is not; the last exchange is a question and a wish.
It’s all right, never mind
Ah, but it wasn’t all right, and Jo did mind
It shows the loss for both of them, since Jo also feels she has done harm.
she felt as if she had stabbed her dearest friend
she knew that the boy Laurie never would come again
A strong answer The last exchange is four short lines: he asks, she wishes, he says it is all right, and the narrator answers that it was not. After a chapter of long arguments the shortness is plain and painful. The last sentence says the boy Laurie would never come again. A strong answer says what the brevity does and what it leaves the reader feeling about each of them.
1. Laurie says, “If you loved me, Jo, I should be a perfect saint.” Using two pieces of evidence, explain how Jo answers.
What it asks It asks how Jo meets the idea that she could make Laurie into anything, and what she will and will not risk.
She answers from experience: she has tried to change him and failed.
No, I can’t. I’ve tried it and failed
I won’t risk our happiness by such a serious experiment.
She answers by pointing to what they already are together: friends who quarrel.
We don’t agree and we never shall; so we’ll be good friends all our lives
we should quarrel—we can’t help it even now, you see
A strong answer Jo says no, she has tried and failed, and she will not risk their happiness by such a serious experiment. She adds that they do not agree and never shall, that they will be good friends but should quarrel even now. A strong answer uses two different pieces of evidence and says what Jo is protecting.
2. Laurie guesses Jo loves Professor Bhaer. Using two pieces of evidence, explain how Jo answers him and what his guess shows about Laurie.
What it asks It asks what Jo says in reply and what a jealous guess reveals about a person in pain.
Jo defends the Professor and denies any love, so the guess is wrong by her word.
He isn’t old, nor anything bad, but good and kind, and the best friend I’ve got, next to you.
I haven’t the least idea of loving him or anybody else.
Laurie's guess shows how afraid he is and how he reaches for someone to blame.
If you say you love him, I know I shall do something desperate
That devilish Professor you were always writing about.
A strong answer Jo answers that the Professor is good and kind and the best friend she has next to Laurie, and that she has no idea of loving him or anybody else. Laurie's guess shows his fear: he says he will do something desperate and calls the Professor devilish without knowing him. A strong answer uses two quotes, one from each, and says what each shows.
3. After Jo refuses, Laurie rows away and later plays the piano. Using two pieces of evidence, explain how he deals with his grief.
What it asks It asks what Laurie does with his pain, in action and in music, and what the narrator makes of it.
He works it out physically: rowing as hard as he can and avoiding Jo.
some blind instinct led him to fling hat and coat into his boat, and row away with all his might
avoided Jo, but consoled himself by staring at her from his window
He shows it in music and pride, but will not talk.
he played the “Sonata Pathétique,” and played it as he never did before
Unlike some sufferers, he never spoke of his unrequited passion
A strong answer Laurie rows up the river with all his might, trying to outstrip the trouble in his heart, and later plays the Sonata Pathétique as he never did before. He avoids Jo, stares at her from his window, and will not talk of it to anyone, even Mrs. March. A strong answer uses two different pieces of evidence and says what the ways have in common.