Chapter 44

Little Women

Trailblazers · 4th–6th

Copywork

People have been very kind to me; and whenever I see girls struggling along, as we used to do, I want to put out my hand and help them, as I was helped.” “And so you shall, like an angel as you are!” cried Laurie, resolving, with a glow of philanthropic zeal, to found and endow an institution for the express benefit of young women with artistic tendencies.

Read your copy aloud. Find what Amy wants to do when she sees girls struggling along. Then read Laurie's answer and the narrator's account of what he resolves, and say whether the narrator is describing a plan or a glow.

Discussion

Narration Tell back the day after the surprise: Laurie borrowing his wife, what the two of them say in the drawing-room, and the bargain they make.

1. Amy starts to say, “Women never should marry for money,” and stops herself. What do you think just went through her mind?Inference

2. Laurie likes to help “a decayed gentleman” better than “a blarneying beggar” and says, “I suppose it’s wrong.” Do you think it is?Moral reasoning

3. Amy says she once belonged to those “who can’t ask, and who suffer in silence.” How does that memory shape what she wants to do now?Theme

4. Laurie plans to “get round” Jo through her belief in “honest debts.” What does that plan show about how he sees her?Character

5. Laurie and Amy cast themselves as “Dorcas” and “St. Martin.” Why might Alcott have them take those names for this plan?Author's choice

Make a Connection Tell about a time you helped someone, or were helped, in a way that let you keep your pride.

Vocabulary

Crossword

1					2	3
			4	5
6


		7					8
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	10

Across

Across 1. Eager, burning enthusiasm.
Across 2. Wasting time; idling.
Across 6. Devoted to helping others, especially with money.
Across 9. Gifts of money or property left in a will.
Across 10. Hard to please; overly particular.

Down

Down 3. To pile up over time.
Down 4. To give money that supports something permanently.
Down 5. Greedy wanting of what is another's.
Down 7. Using flattering, wheedling talk.
Down 8. Healthful and pleasant.

The words in the chapter

zeal resolving, with a glow of philanthropic zeal,
philanthropic like an angel as you are!” cried Laurie, resolving, with a glow of philanthropic zeal,
endow to found and endow an institution for the express benefit of young women with artistic tendencies.
salubrious don’t know anything about the north, but am altogether salubrious and balmy, hey, my lady?”
covetousness as if asking pardon for her maternal covetousness.

fastidious “Now, Laurie, don’t be too fastidious and worldly-minded.
blarneying I must say, I like to serve a decayed gentleman better than a blarneying beggar;
accumulate or let their money accumulate for others to waste.
legacies It’s not half so sensible to leave legacies when one dies as it is to use the money wisely while alive,
dawdling I’m tired of dawdling, and mean to work like a man.”

Critical thinking

1. Laurie says he will go into business and “work like a man.” Using two pieces of evidence, explain why he wants to work.

2. Laurie says, “That man intends to marry our Jo!” Using two pieces of evidence, explain what he thinks of the Professor.

3. Laurie says rich people have “no right to sit down and enjoy themselves.” Using two pieces of evidence, explain what he thinks money is for.