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Little Women
Trailblazers · 4th–6th
Father says a boy old enough to ask is old enough for a true answer, and Demi puts his mind in his belly and asks whether great boys like great girls, so what does an honest answer give a small questioner, and what do his literal questions show the grown people about themselves?
The tension The narrator praises the twins as the most remarkable ever born and shows them squabbling thrice a day. Father's rule is tested at once: the watch and the wound-up spring are explained with care, and the answer lands in a belly. Meg's rule about raisins is undone by her own broad promise, and Demi holds her to the letter. The same literal mind sees that Dodo likes the bear-man better and asks the Professor a question no adult would ask aloud; the Professor, who cannot tell a lie, gives a vague true answer, and Father puts down his clothes-brush with a thought both sweet and sour. The small questioner never learns why he got bread and jelly for it.
Listen to what Demi asks and how each grown person answers, and notice what each answer shows about the person giving it.
The narrator introduces the twins, praising them and mocking the praise. Demi has a talk with his grandfather about what makes his legs go and answers that his mind is in his belly. He turns his mother's promise into a raid on the raisins. When Mr. Bhaer comes, Demi asks if great boys like great girls, and the Professor gives a vague answer.
Start with "In my little belly." Ask what kind of answer Demi thinks he is giving, and how the grown people take it.
Retell The student tells the chapter back in order: the twins, the watch, the raisins, the bear-man, the letter lesson and Demi's question.
Imitate the author After copying the passage, the student writes two sentences in the same pattern: a worry spoken by one person, and the answer that reply gives.
Debate Take sides: should a small boy or girl be given true answers to every question? Each side must use at least one quote from the chapter.
Purpose Close by asking why the author lets a small boy ask the last question.
Easier Read the watch conversation aloud together and talk through discussion questions 2 and 4 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's plain words say more than they mean to, and to add it to a critical-thinking answer.
1. The narrator boasts of how remarkable the twins are, then says they quarrel “thrice a day.” How seriously does she mean the boast?Tone
What it asks It asks the student to hear whether the narrator is praising the twins, teasing the family that adores them, or both.
She is teasing: the proof she gives is a string of family boasts, then a quarrel.
Of course they were the most remarkable children ever born, as will be shown when I mention that they walked at eight months
seldom quarrelled more than thrice a day
She is also truly fond of them: her portraits of Daisy and Demi are warm and specific.
A rosy, chubby, sunshiny little soul was Daisy, who found her way to everybody’s heart, and nestled there
Why, marmar, dat’s my lellywaiter, and me’s trying to pull her up.
A strong answer The narrator's proof of how remarkable they are is a list of family boasts, walking at eight months and talking at twelve, and then a joke about quarrelling thrice a day. She is teasing the adoring family, but her little portraits of Daisy and Demi are fond and specific. A strong answer hears the teasing and the fondness and uses two phrases to show it.
2. Grandfather says, “If he is old enough to ask the questions he is old enough to receive true answers.” Grandmother worries. How do you weigh them?Moral reasoning
What it asks It asks whether a true answer is always the right gift for a small boy, and what the watch conversation actually gave Demi.
Grandfather is right: Demi listens hard and thinks about it.
Demi’s brown eyes grew big and bright as he took in the new thought
A careful explanation followed, to which he listened so attentively
Grandmother has a point: the answer lands strangely, and a small boy may turn it into something else.
I dess Dod does it when I’s asleep.
In my little belly
A strong answer Grandfather's rule has a good side: Demi listens attentively and takes in a new thought. Grandmother's worry has a basis too, since what Demi makes of it is that God winds him up while he sleeps, and that his mind is in his belly. A strong answer weighs what a true answer gives a small boy against how he may take it, and gives a reason.
3. Meg says “Yes, truly; anything you say,” and Demi answers “Then we’ll go and eat up all the raisins.” Who is to blame, Meg or Demi?Character
What it asks It asks the student to sort out Meg's promise, Demi's bargain and the narrator's question about mothers.
Meg is to blame: her promise was too wide, and she asked for it.
Yes, truly; anything you say,” replies the shortsighted parent
No more raisins, Demi, they’ll make you sick.
Demi is to blame: he planned it and waited for his chance.
his wrongs weigh upon his spirit; and, by and by, when an opportunity comes to redress them, he outwits mamma by a shrewd bargain
Truly, marmar?” asks Demi, with a brilliant idea in his well-powdered head
A strong answer Meg's promise was wide, and the narrator calls her shortsighted. But Demi planned it, since his wrongs weighed on him until an opportunity came and he asked "Truly, marmar?" The narrator asks what mother was ever proof against such wiles. A strong answer gives each a share and says what makes a bargain with a small boy fair.
4. Demi notices that Dodo likes the “bear-man” better, but does not say it. What might keep him quiet?Inference
What it asks It asks why a small boy hides his hurt, and what the narrator says about the chocolate and the watch.
He is hurt but does not want to insult a rival who is too useful to offend.
though hurt, he concealed his anguish, for he hadn’t the heart to insult a rival who kept a mine of chocolate-drops in his waistcoat-pocket
a watch that could be taken out of its case and freely shaken by ardent admirers
He does not see it as a bribe: the gifts are friendly, and he likes the man.
Some persons might have considered these pleasing liberties as bribes; but Demi didn’t see it in that light
continued to patronize the “bear-man” with pensive affability
A strong answer Demi sees that Dodo likes the bear-man better and conceals his hurt, because the bear-man has chocolate-drops and a watch to shake. But the narrator says Demi did not think of the gifts as bribes and that Mr. Bhaer's devotion was sincere. A strong answer says what Demi feels and what keeps him polite and uses the narrator's words.
5. Demi asks, “Do great boys like great girls, too, ’Fessor?” and the Professor gives “the somewhat vague reply.” Why might Alcott let a small boy ask it?Author's choice
What it asks It asks what a small boy's plain question can do in a scene where the grown people will not say the thing aloud.
A small boy can say what adults cannot, so the question brings the feeling into the room.
Demi also saw the smile, was impressed by it, and artlessly inquired
a tone that made Mr. March put down his clothes-brush, glance at Jo’s retiring face
It keeps the chapter light: the answer is a joke on everyone, with bread and jelly for Demi.
’Tisn’t in mine head; it’s in mine mouf,” answered literal Demi
remained one of the problems over which Demi puzzled his small wits, and was forced to leave unsolved forever
A strong answer Demi's question is plain and literal, and it puts into words what the grown people have left unspoken. The Professor, who cannot tell a lie, gives a vague true reply, and Mr. March puts down his brush and looks as though an idea both sweet and sour has come to him. The chapter ends with Demi puzzled over his bread and jelly. A strong answer says what the boy's voice lets the author do and what the reply leaves open.
1. Demi answers that he keeps his mind “in my little belly.” Using two pieces of evidence, explain how Grandfather takes it.
What it asks It asks the student to read Grandfather's reaction and what he says about the young ones, and to decide what he is thinking.
He is not upset: he laughs with Grandmother and ends the lesson.
the old gentleman could only join in grandma’s laugh, and dismiss the class in metaphysics
If the boy had replied like Alcibiades, “By the gods, Socrates, I cannot tell,” his grandfather would not have been surprised
He still holds to his rule: the young ones are wiser than we are.
These children are wiser than we are, and I have no doubt the boy understands every word I have said to him.
I am not putting the thoughts into his head, but helping him unfold those already there.
A strong answer Grandfather laughs along with Grandmother and dismisses the class, so he takes the answer with good humor. He would not have been surprised if Demi had said he could not tell, but his belief that the young ones are wiser than we are comes just before he asks. A strong answer uses one line for how he reacts and one for what he believed, and says whether the belief survives the answer.
2. Daisy says, “Me loves evvybody.” Using two pieces of evidence, explain what the narrator wants us to see in her.
What it asks It asks the student to gather the narrator's portrait of Daisy and to say what it adds up to.
She is cheerful and loving: she sees the good in everything.
every morning she scrambled up to the window in her little nightgown to look out, and say, no matter whether it rained or shone, “Oh, pitty day, oh, pitty day!”
It was all fair weather in her world
She reminds the family of Beth, and they hope to keep her.
Her grandfather often called her “Beth,”
an inmate as serene and loving as that which had helped to make the old house home
A strong answer The narrator shows a little girl who finds every day pretty and everyone a friend, for whom it is all fair weather. She also shows a family who see Beth in her: her grandfather sometimes calls her Beth, and her mother hopes the Dovecote will be blest with an inmate as serene and loving. A strong answer uses one line for what Daisy is like and one for how the family sees her.
3. Mr. March lies on the floor with his legs in the air when the Professor arrives. Using two pieces of evidence, explain how the scene shows both men.
What it asks It asks what the letter lesson shows about Mr. March, and what the Professor's reaction shows about him.
Mr. March takes teaching so seriously that he is not embarrassed.
the preceptor said, with undisturbed dignity
Excuse me for a moment; we are just finishing our lesson.
The Professor is at ease in this house and finds it funny and pleasant.
Mr. Bhaer laughed his sonorous laugh
What have you been at today, bübchen?
A strong answer Mr. March gets up with undisturbed dignity and says they are just finishing the lesson, so teaching a small boy the alphabet with his legs does not embarrass him. Mr. Bhaer laughs his sonorous laugh and speaks to Demi as an old friend, so he is at home. A strong answer uses one line for each man and says what each shows about how they treat a small boy.