Little Women
Chapter 38 — 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
Meg wants John home and will not ask, John misses his wife and says nothing, and Marmee tells Meg the fault is hers, so what has to change for the Dovecote to become home again, and is it fair that Meg is told to change first?
The tension The chapter gives both sides a real grievance and a real silence. Meg is worn out and absorbed in the nursery, expects John to know she wants him without being told, and forgets the evenings he waited in vain; John, hushed and half-fed, takes his comfort at the Scotts'. Marmee sympathizes and blames in the same breath, and her own story admits Father had to come to the rescue. The remedy is not Meg alone: John takes Demi in hand while Meg pleads for gentleness, Meg tries politics and John tries millinery, and the narrator says home grew homelike through a division of labor. The closing homily about a woman's kingdom sits beside a chapter that shows the husband doing half the changing.
Today's focus
Follow what Meg and John each see and do not say, and what changes once they speak.
Two core ideas
- Meg and John each have a fair reason for their distance and keep silent about it; the chapter shows what that silence costs.
- The remedy is shared: Marmee tells Meg the fault is hers, and then John and Meg each take up something in the other's world.
The shape at a glance
After the twins come, Meg gives herself wholly to the nursery and John begins to spend evenings at the Scotts'. Meg tells her mother, who says the fault is hers and tells her own story. Meg tries a social evening, Demi's bedtime becomes a test for both Meg and John, and home becomes homelike again.
A way in
Start with Meg's words, "He never said anything." Ask what John might have said, and why he did not.
Lesson plan
Retell The student tells the chapter back in order: the nursery, John at the Scotts', Marmee's advice, Demi's bedtime, politics and millinery, and the changes at home.
Imitate the author After copying the passage, the student writes two sentences in the same pattern: what someone did wrong, and what rescued them.
Debate Take sides: is it fair that Marmee tells Meg to change first? Each side must use at least one quote from the chapter.
Purpose Close by asking what John and Meg each change, and whether the closing paragraph names it.
Easier Read Marmee's talk with Meg 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 someone in the chapter keeps quiet about what they want, and to add it to a critical-thinking answer.
Discussion
- Meg tells Marmee, “I thought you’d take my part!” Marmee says, “So I do, as far as sympathizing goes; but I think the fault is yours.” Is Marmee taking her side or not?Character
What it asks It asks whether a person can sympathize and blame at once, and what Marmee is doing when she does both.
One reading
She is on Meg's side: she sympathizes, and she admits her own mistakes.
I seldom give advice unless I’ve proved its practicability.
A very natural and forgivable mistake, Meg
Another reading
She sides with the marriage, and that means telling Meg something hard.
May I speak quite freely, and will you remember that it’s mother who blames as well as mother who sympathizes?
children should draw you nearer than ever, not separate you
Listen for
- Uses Marmee's own words about sympathizing and blaming.
- Says what Marmee does to soften the blame.
If stuck
- What does Marmee ask Meg to remember before she speaks freely?
- What mistake does Marmee say she made?
- Does Marmee say Meg is wicked, or something else?
A strong answer Marmee says she sympathizes, then says the fault is Meg's, and asks her to remember she is a mother who blames and sympathizes. She also calls the mistake natural and forgivable and tells her own story of making it. A strong answer says how Marmee holds both together and whether that is taking Meg's side.
- Meg says, “I thought I was right, and he never said anything.” What might have happened if John had spoken up sooner?Inference
What it asks It asks the student to imagine a different version of these months, and to see what the silence cost each of them.
One reading
Meg might have seen her mistake sooner, because he would have told her.
Did John ever neglect you, as you call it, while you made it a point to give him your society of an evening
Poor John! I’m afraid I have neglected him sadly, but I thought I was right, and he never said anything.
Another reading
It might have gone badly, since Meg was tired and quick to hurt.
She was nervous and worn out with watching and worry, and in that unreasonable frame of mind
If I ask him to stay, he’ll think I’m jealous; and I wouldn’t insult him by such an idea.
Listen for
- Uses what the chapter says of John's silence and of Meg's state.
- Does not go beyond this chapter.
If stuck
- What does John do instead of speaking?
- What does Meg say she fears if she asks him to stay?
- What does Marmee say John tried not to be?
A strong answer John bore it patiently for six months and then went to the Scotts', and Marmee says he tried not to be selfish. If he had spoken, Meg might have seen her mistake sooner. But she was worn out and feared he would think her jealous, so it could also have been another hard quarrel. A strong answer imagines one version and uses the chapter to say why it might or might not have worked.
- Meg and John claim Demi in the same words, one against harshness and one against indulgence. Who is right about how to treat Demi?Moral reasoning
What it asks It asks the student to weigh gentleness and firmness in one small scene, and to see what Meg and John are each protecting.
One reading
John is right: Demi needs a clear "no" and a mother who does not give way.
We shall never know any peace till that child learns to go to bed properly.
Demi the perjured, blissfully sucking his sugar, and regarding his first attempt as eminently successful
Another reading
Meg is right: Demi needs comfort and a kiss, and the kiss helped.
Meg always insisted upon it that the kiss won the victory
He’s my child, and I can’t have his spirit broken by harshness.
Listen for
- Gives Meg and John a fair hearing.
- Notices the last image of Demi with his father's finger.
If stuck
- What does Meg do with the sugar and the bed?
- What does John do about the light and the coaxing?
- How does Demi go to sleep at last?
A strong answer John sees a boy who is learning to bargain, and he holds firm until Demi says he is good. Meg sees a boy who is hurt by harshness, and her kiss, she insists, won the victory. The chapter shows both: Demi quiets after the kiss, and he falls asleep holding his father's finger. A strong answer gives Meg and John each a reason and does not claim the scene settles the question.
- John thinks, “She is trying to like politics for my sake, so I’ll try and like millinery for hers, that’s only fair.” How does that thought change the evening?Theme
What it asks It asks what John's thought shows about how he sees the change, and what happens once both of them are trying.
One reading
It makes it a trade: each one tries the other's world.
She is trying to like politics for my sake, so I’ll try and like millinery for hers, that’s only fair
That’s very pretty; is it what you call a breakfast-cap?
Another reading
It makes it tender: their awkwardness becomes a game and they laugh.
It’s a love of a bonnet, but I prefer the face inside
Meg tried to look deeply interested
Listen for
- Says what John sees Meg doing, and what he does in answer.
- Notices that neither of them says the whole truth at once.
If stuck
- What does Meg ask John to read her?
- What does Meg really think about politics?
- What does John call the bonnet first?
A strong answer John sees Meg trying to like politics and decides to try millinery, a fair trade. Their efforts are clumsy, since he mistakes the bonnet for a breakfast-cap and she says she does not see what we are coming to, but they are also kind, and he kisses the face inside. A strong answer says how the trade turns awkwardness into closeness and uses one line from each of them.
- The chapter ends with a paragraph about “a woman’s happiest kingdom.” How well does that closing match what the chapter has just shown?Author's choice
What it asks It asks the student to test the narrator's closing lesson against the scenes, including what John does and how Meg changes.
One reading
It matches: the chapter shows Meg finding happiness in home and household.
Home grew homelike again, and John had no wish to leave it
learning, as Meg learned, that a woman’s happiest kingdom is home, her highest honor the art of ruling it
Another reading
It is narrower than what we saw: both of them changed, and John did half the work.
everyone was better for the division of labor system
accurate, steadfast John brought order and obedience into Babydom
Listen for
- Compares the closing paragraph with what John and Meg each did.
- Does not treat the narrator's sentence as the only possible lesson.
If stuck
- What does John do in the nursery that changes things?
- What does Meg do besides rule the house?
- Who is called the "house-band"?
A strong answer The closing words say home is a woman's kingdom and ruling it her highest honor, and Meg does find happiness in it. But the chapter also says everyone was better for the division of labor, with John bringing order to Babydom while Meg took exercise and pleasure, and it calls him the house-band. A strong answer says how far the closing sentence fits and what it leaves out.
Critical thinking
- John goes to the Scotts' in the evening. Using two pieces of evidence, explain why.
What it asks It asks what pulls John toward a neighbor's parlor, and what pushes him out of his own.
One reading
His own house is shut to him: hushed, empty, and without his wife.
the perpetual “hushing” made him feel like a brutal intruder whenever he entered the sacred precincts of Babyland
his own wife singing lullabies that seemed to have no end
Another reading
The Scotts' house offers what his lacks.
The parlor was always bright and attractive, the chessboard ready, the piano in tune
John would have preferred his own fireside if it had not been so lonely
Listen for
- Two different pieces of evidence, one push and one pull.
- Notices that the narrator says he would have preferred his own fireside.
If stuck
- What does Meg say when John comes home gayly?
- What does the Scotts' parlor have ready for him?
- What does John say he would have preferred?
A strong answer Two things send John to the Scotts'. His own parlor is hushed and empty, and he feels like a brutal intruder when he comes in. At the Scotts' the parlor is bright, the chessboard is ready and supper is set out. The narrator says he would have preferred his own fireside if it had not been so lonely. A strong answer uses one piece of evidence for the push and one for the pull.
- Marmee tells Meg how she once made the same mistake. Using two pieces of evidence, explain how her own story helps her advice.
What it asks It asks what a mother's own story adds to her advice, and whether it makes the advice stronger or more honest.
One reading
It makes the advice believable: she has tried it.
I know it, Meg, for I’ve tried it; and I seldom give advice unless I’ve proved its practicability.
Then father came to the rescue, quietly managed everything
Another reading
It shows the fix was shared: Father's help, not only hers.
Each do our part alone in many things, but at home we work together, always.
he does not let business wean him from the little cares and duties that affect us all
Listen for
- Two different pieces of evidence.
- Says what her story shows that plain advice would not.
If stuck
- What did Marmee do when Meg and Jo were little?
- Who came to the rescue?
- What does Marmee say she tries not to let happen?
A strong answer Marmee says she has proved her advice, since she once went on as Meg is doing, refusing help, and fell sick until Father came to the rescue. Her story also shows that the fix is shared: he does not let business wean him from the little cares and duties, and she tries not to let domestic worries destroy her interest in his pursuits. A strong answer uses one line for each and says what a story adds to advice.
- Meg kisses Demi and John holds firm. Using two pieces of evidence, explain how Meg and John each help put him to sleep.
What it asks It asks the student to give Meg and John each credit for something, and to see what Demi needs from both.
One reading
John's part: steadiness, he will not give way or coax.
No coaxing, no sugar, no lullaby, no story
John sat as unmoved as the post which is popularly believed to be deaf
Another reading
Meg's part: tenderness, the kiss that quiets him.
Meg always insisted upon it that the kiss won the victory
after it was given, Demi sobbed more quietly
Listen for
- One piece of evidence for Meg and one for John.
- Says what Demi does in the last scene that shows both.
If stuck
- What does John refuse to do even when Demi cries?
- What does Meg ask for and get?
- How does Demi fall asleep?
A strong answer John keeps the light out and refuses the sugar and the coaxing; he sits as unmoved as a post. Meg's one kiss, which she says won the victory, quiets the sobbing. The last picture of Demi asleep holding his father's finger shows both at work: a firm "no" and a mother's kiss. A strong answer gives Meg and John a piece of evidence each and says what Demi gets from both.