and he was reluctantly obliged to confess that the boyish passion was slowly subsiding into a more tranquil sentiment,Calm and peaceful.
Little Women
Chapter 41
Louisa May Alcott · Trailblazers 4th–6th
Copywork
He carefully stirred up the embers of his lost love, but they refused to burst into a blaze: there was only a comfortable glow that warmed and did him good without putting him into a fever, and he was reluctantly obliged to confess that the boyish passion was slowly subsiding into a more tranquil sentiment, very tender, a little sad and resentful still, but that was sure to pass away in time, leaving a brotherly affection which would last unbroken to the end.
Read your copy aloud. Follow the fire words in the sentence, embers, blaze, glow, fever, and say what each one stands for. Then find what the narrator says the passion will become.
Discussion
Narration Tell back what Laurie tries after Amy's lecture, what happens with Fred and with the letters, and how the chapter ends at Vevay.
- Laurie tries to write Jo into an opera, but memory shows him a bandanna and a sofa-pillow. Why might memory work against him? Inference
- The chapter says men seldom own that a woman's advice did them good. Does Laurie own it, or find a way around it? Character
- On the terrace Amy sketches a knight on a tomb, a sleeper in the grass, and a ballroom couple with both faces left “a blur.” Why blur the faces? Inference
- Laurie kisses the ring, says “I haven’t forgotten, I never can,” and writes to Jo again. Was that honest persistence, or holding on? Moral reasoning
- The narrator stops to argue with “Mrs. Grundy” about what young men do. What tone does she take, and what is she after? Tone
- Laurie expected the moment to come “by moonlight” in the garden. It comes on the lake “in a few blunt words.” Why might Alcott choose that? Author's choice
Make a Connection Tell about a time a feeling you thought would last a long time faded faster than you expected.
Vocabulary
- tranquil
- subsiding
and he was reluctantly obliged to confess that the boyish passion was slowly subsiding into a more tranquil sentiment,
Sinking down; growing less.- vagaries
but then when a man has a great sorrow, he should be indulged in all sorts of vagaries till he has lived it down.
Odd, unpredictable moods or acts.- ostentatiously
and, though he should never cease to be a faithful mourner, there was no occasion to wear his weeds ostentatiously.
In a showy way meant to be noticed.- interred
He had only been waiting till the aforesaid blighted affections were decently interred; that being done,
Buried.- intractable
When he looked about him for another and a less intractable damsel to immortalize in melody,
Hard to manage or control.- diaphanous
This phantom wore many faces, but it always had golden hair, was enveloped in a diaphanous cloud,
Light and see-through.- desultory
Whatever it was, it simmered to some purpose, for he grew more and more discontented with his desultory life,
Aimless; jumping from thing to thing.- humbug
That music has taken the vanity out of me as Rome took it out of her, and I won’t be a humbug any longer.
A fraud; someone pretending to be more than they are.- disloyalty
He consoled himself for the seeming disloyalty by the thought that Jo’s sister was almost the same as Jo’s self,
A failure to stay faithful.
Critical thinking
- Laurie has money and nothing to do, and could easily go wrong. Using two pieces of evidence, explain what keeps him “safe and steady.”
- Amy decides to treat Laurie like a brother and writes twice a week. Using two pieces of evidence, explain how the narrator describes her care for him.
- Laurie finds Amy alone in the château garden. Using two pieces of evidence, explain what he sees in her, and what she does when she sees him.