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Little Women
Trailblazers · 4th–6th
When Marmee turns the girls' own stories into a spell for contentment, does counting blessings answer the burdens the sisters carried out the door that morning, or does it only quiet the complaining?
The tension The chapter takes each burden seriously before it offers the cure: Meg's sense of injustice, Jo's shrill "Josy-phine!", Amy's purple gown, and Beth's tears on the yellow keys that nobody sees. Then the evening stories each set a worse trouble beside the sister's own (the Kings' disgrace, Aunt March's joyless comforts, Susie's mortification, the old man's four sons), and Marmee's tale tells them to think over their blessings. Meg calls it cunning, Jo wants morals that are real and not too preachy, and the narrator both sides with Marmee and keeps insisting that no one helps Beth.
Notice what each sister carries through the day and what Marmee's story offers her at the end.
The morning after the party the March house is cross, and the sisters set out to work with heavy hearts. The narrator then shows each sister's burden in turn. That evening each tells a story of someone else's trouble, and Marmee ends with a tale about four girls who were not contented and the advice an old woman gave them.
Ask the student which sister's burden sounds hardest to carry and why, then keep that answer for the end of the lesson.
Retell The student tells the day back in order: the breakfast, the walk, the four burdens, the evening stories, and Marmee's tale.
Imitate the author After copying the passage, the student writes two sentences about someone who gave or did more than seemed necessary and what it taught them.
Debate Take sides: does Marmee's story answer the sisters' burdens, or does it only quiet their complaints? Each side must use a quote from the chapter.
Purpose Close by asking why Alcott gives each burden a portrait before she lets Marmee tell her story.
Easier Talk through discussion questions 1 and 3 only, using Meg's morning and Beth's tears on the keys 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 pick one evening story and decide whether it answers its teller's burden, then add that to a critical-thinking answer.
1. Meg says “no one cares whether I’m pretty or not” and that she will “toil and moil all my days.” What do you think is really bothering her?Inference
What it asks It asks what lies under Meg's complaints: a wish for pleasure, a feeling of being unseen, or both.
She longs for the ease and pleasure other girls have, and her work feels like a poor exchange for that.
I always envy girls who do such things; I’m so fond of luxury
I shall have to toil and moil all my days, with only little bits of fun now and then, and get old and ugly and sour, because I’m poor
She feels unseen and unfairly treated, and the hard morning only brings out a sore spot.
Where’s the use of looking nice, when no one sees me but those cross midgets, and no one cares whether I’m pretty or not?
a sense of injustice made her feel bitter toward everyone sometimes
A strong answer Meg says she is fond of luxury and envies girls with suppers and parties, so part of the trouble is wanting what she cannot have. But she also says that no one sees her or cares whether she is pretty, and the narrator speaks of a sense of injustice, which is about being overlooked. A strong answer can say that the two are tangled together and point to her own words for each.
2. Jo calls herself and her sisters rascals and wretches, and Meg says she is neither. Who do you think is being more honest about the morning?Character
What it asks It asks the student to judge two sisters' answers to the same bad morning and say which is truer.
Jo is more honest: she admits the morning was cross and feels it.
we are a set of rascals this morning, but we’ll come home regular angels
taking a remorseful satisfaction in the snowy walk and bitter wind
Meg is more honest: the names are too big for a hard morning, and she will not claim a fault she does not feel.
I am neither a rascal nor a wretch, and I don’t choose to be called so.
A strong answer Jo says they are rascals and ungrateful wretches, and she seems to mean it, since she takes a remorseful satisfaction in the bitter wind. Meg refuses the names and says she does not choose to be called so. A strong answer can say Jo is honest about a bad temper while her words are too strong, or that Meg is honest about what she feels while missing the part she plays in it. It should use the sisters' lines and give a reason.
3. Beth says to herself, “I know I’ll get my music some time, if I’m good.” What does she seem to believe about being good?Theme
What it asks It asks what Beth hopes goodness will do for her, and whether that hope is a bargain or something gentler.
She trusts that patient goodness will be rewarded, and the hope keeps her going.
day after day said hopefully to herself, “I know I’ll get my music some time, if I’m good.”
practised away so patiently at the jingling old instrument
She is not bargaining. She is good because she loves the people she works for, and the hope is a small comfort beside that.
never thinking of any reward but to be loved
She sang like a little lark about her work, never was too tired to play for Marmee and the girls
A strong answer Beth says she will get her music if she is good, so she does seem to hope that goodness is repaid. But the narrator says she never thinks of any reward but to be loved, and she sings and plays for Marmee and the girls even when tired. A careful answer holds both, and notes that nobody does see her wipe the tears off the keys, so her hope is carried alone.
4. Meg is “rather glad” she has no wild brothers, and Amy stops envying Susie once she is disgraced. Is it kind to feel better because of someone else's trouble?Moral reasoning
What it asks It asks whether looking at another person's misfortune to ease your own feelings is kind, or selfish, or both.
It is natural, and it can be good: Meg also feels sorry for the Kings, and Marmee thanks the old man for the lesson he taught her.
I felt so sorry for them, and was rather glad I hadn’t any wild brothers to do wicked things and disgrace the family.
thanked him heartily for the lesson he had taught me
It is a little selfish, because the comfort comes at someone else's cost, and Amy seems pleased with herself.
I didn’t envy her then; for I felt that millions of carnelian rings wouldn’t have made me happy, after that.
in the proud consciousness of virtue
A strong answer Meg sees the Kings in tears and feels sorry, and is also rather glad her family is not disgraced. Amy sees Susie punished and no longer wishes for her ring. Both feel better partly because someone else is worse off. A strong answer can say this is human and even useful, as when Marmee is shamed into gratitude by the old man, or that there is something uncomfortable in gaining comfort from a neighbor's disgrace, and says which it finds more convincing.
5. Why might Alcott end the chapter with Jo's joke about old Chloe instead of ending on Marmee's story?Author's choice
What it asks It asks what the last line adds that Marmee's story does not, and what the reader is left with.
The joke keeps the lesson from feeling too preachy: Jo takes it in and still laughs, which fits what she asked for.
I like to think about them afterwards, if they are real, and not too preachy
who could not, for the life of her, help getting a morsel of fun out of the little sermon, though she took it to heart as much as any of them
The joke shows the girls expect to forget, so the chapter ends with a reminder and not a cure.
We needed that lesson, and we won’t forget it. If we do, you just say to us
Tink ob yer marcies, chillen! tink ob yer marcies!
A strong answer Marmee's story ends with the girls deciding to stop complaining, and Meg calls it a sermon. If the chapter stopped there it could sound like a lesson delivered. Ending on Jo's joke lets her laugh and take it to heart in the same breath, and it shows she expects to need reminding. A strong answer says what Jo's line adds to the chapter and does not claim the lesson will or will not hold.
1. Jo reads the Vicar of Wakefield while Aunt March naps. Using two pieces of evidence, explain how Jo manages to get on with Aunt March.
What it asks It asks what makes the bond between Jo and her prickly aunt work, using two separate pieces of evidence.
Jo gets on with her through spirit and humor: her comical face and blunt manners strike the old lady’s fancy, and Jo is bold enough to tease her a little.
something in her comical face and blunt manners struck the old lady’s fancy
I’m afraid it tires you, ma’am; shan’t I stop now?
Jo gets on with her because each gets something: Jo has the library and her aunt has a companion.
the real attraction was a large library of fine books
in her heart she rather liked the peppery old lady
A strong answer Jo suits Aunt March because of her comical face and blunt manners, and she dares to say she will stop reading when the story is tiring. She also loves the library, which is the real attraction, and she rather likes the peppery old lady in her heart. A strong answer names one reason from each side and explains why Jo stays despite the tempests.
2. Beth tells how Mr. Laurence gave the fish to a poor woman. Using two pieces of evidence, explain what makes his act of giving stand out.
What it asks It asks what Beth notices in Mr. Laurence's gift, compared with the fish-man who said no.
He acts at once, without talk, and gives in a way that spares her asking twice.
Mr. Laurence hooked up a big fish with the crooked end of his cane, and held it out to her.
He told her to ‘go along and cook it,’
He gives where someone else has just refused, and his gift meets what the woman needs to feed her family.
Mr. Cutter was in a hurry, and said ‘No,’ rather crossly
she hadn’t any dinner for her children, and had been disappointed of a day’s work
A strong answer The woman asks to scrub for a bit of fish because she has no dinner for her family, and Mr. Cutter answers crossly. Mr. Laurence then hooks up a big fish with his cane and holds it out, telling her to go along and cook it. A strong answer uses one thing about the woman's need and one thing about how he gives, and explains what Beth likes about it.
3. The narrator says Meg finds poverty harder to bear than her sisters do. Using two pieces of evidence, explain why.
What it asks It asks what in Meg's past and her present job makes her want more than her sisters do.
Her memory of better times makes poverty hurt: she knows what she has lost.
because she could remember a time when home was beautiful, life full of ease and pleasure, and want of any kind unknown
Her daily work shows her what she wants: at the Kings' she sees the pretty things all the time.
At the Kings’ she daily saw all she wanted
saw money lavished on trifles which would have been so precious to her
A strong answer Meg can remember when home was beautiful and life full of ease, so she knows what she has lost. At the Kings' she daily sees ball-dresses, bouquets, and money spent on trifles that would be precious to her. A strong answer uses one piece from her memory and one from her work, and explains why seeing it every day would keep the wish alive.