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Little Women
Trailblazers · 4th–6th
When Mr. Laurence calls a lost granddaughter's piano the payment of a debt for a pair of slippers, what is really being exchanged between him and Beth, and why can neither of them give it openly until the very end?
The tension The chapter opens by naming two lions, the gruff old man and the pride of being poor, and says the families interchanged kindnesses without counting which was greater. Then it shows how much hiding that takes: the practice invitation is dressed as a favor to the piano, the study door opens to listen unseen, Laurie guards the hall, new songs appear in the rack by accident. Beth can only cross the hedge openly once she has a debt of her own to pay, and what she pays with is a kiss for a man who lost a little girl. The narrator supplies a moral, love casts out fear and gratitude conquers pride, but the scene also shows the giver receiving his granddaughter back.
Watch how kindness crosses the hedge in this chapter, and who knows about it when it does.
The Marches and Laurie become friends, and the two lions, Mr. Laurence and the shame of being poor, grow less frightening. Only Beth is too afraid to go in. Mr. Laurence talks music until she creeps close, then offers his piano. She practises in secret, stitches him slippers, and gets a piano and a letter back. She walks through the hedge alone to thank him.
Start with the two lions in the first paragraph and ask which one would frighten the student more.
Retell The student tells the chapter back in order: the lions, Beth's fright, the offer, the secret practising, the slippers, the piano, and the thank-you.
Imitate the author After copying the passage, the student writes two sentences in the same pattern about two people who stop counting what they owe each other.
Debate Take sides on a line from the chapter: is it good to help someone in secret? Each side must use at least one quote from the chapter.
Purpose Close by asking why Alcott gives Beth a kiss and not a speech to end the chapter.
Easier Talk through discussion questions 1 and 2 only, with the offer of the piano and Beth's walk through the hedge 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 find one more place where someone helps without being seen, and to add it to a critical-thinking answer.
1. Mr. Laurence talks about music and ignores Beth, then suggests someone practise on his piano “as if the idea had just occurred to him.” What do you make of the way he goes about it?Inference
What it asks It asks what Mr. Laurence is doing when he talks to the room and never to Beth, and why he puts his offer the way he does.
He is gentle with a frightened girl: he lets her come closer by herself, and does not stare again.
Taking no more notice of her than if she had been a fly
Beth found it impossible to stay in her distant corner, but crept nearer and nearer, as if fascinated.
He turns it into a favor to himself and the piano, so Beth can say yes without feeling she is taking charity.
But the piano suffers for want of use.
Not a soul, my dear. The house is empty half the day; so come, and drum away as much as you like, and I shall be obliged to you.
A strong answer The first time, he stared at Beth and said “Hey!” and frightened her away. This time he talks about singers and organs and takes no more notice of her than if she were a fly, and she creeps nearer until she is standing behind his chair. Then he asks as if the idea had just occurred to him, and he says the piano suffers for want of use. A strong answer can say he is being careful with her, or that he is making the offer easy to accept, and can point to the lines that show it.
2. Jo jokes that Beth will have to go and thank him, never thinking she would. What lets timid Beth walk through the hedge that day?Character
What it asks It asks what gives a shy girl the nerve to do in one afternoon what she could not do before.
The gift is so big that her thanks outweigh her fear, and she goes before she can lose her nerve.
Yes, I mean to. I guess I’ll go now, before I get frightened thinking about it.
Beth walked deliberately down the garden, through the hedge, and in at the Laurences’ door.
She has already crossed that hedge nearly every day and learned that he is kind, so the old fear is smaller than it was.
After that, the little brown hood slipped through the hedge nearly every day
she was not frightened now
A strong answer Beth says she will go now, before she gets frightened thinking about it, so she knows the fear is still there. But she has already been through the hedge nearly every day to play, and she has met Mr. Laurence without a startling “Hey!” and found him kind. Gratitude pushes her and experience makes the walk smaller. A strong answer says which matters more, or shows how they work together.
3. Mr. Laurence listens at his study door, Laurie guards the hall, and new songs appear in the rack, all without Beth knowing. Is it good to help someone in secret?Moral reasoning
What it asks It asks whether help given without the person knowing is kinder than help given openly, and what each choice costs.
Yes. Beth can enjoy the piano without fear, which is what she needed most.
I’ll come, if you are quite sure nobody will hear me—and be disturbed
So she enjoyed herself heartily, and found, what isn’t always the case, that her granted wish was all she had hoped.
Not entirely. Beth cannot thank the people who help her, and the Marches themselves dislike favors they cannot return.
when he talked to her about music at home, she only thought how kind he was to tell things that helped her so much
this made them shy of accepting favors which they could not return
A strong answer Beth will only come if nobody hears her, so the secrecy is what makes the piano possible. The chapter says her granted wish was all she had hoped, which is a point in its favor. But she never sees the study door opening, the guard in the hall, or the new songs put there for her, and so she cannot thank anyone for them. A strong answer takes a side and says what the other side would point to.
4. The Marches are shy of favors they cannot return, yet soon trade kindnesses “without stopping to think which was the greater.” Is that a good way for friends to live?Theme
What it asks It asks whether friends do well to stop keeping count, and whether that works when one family is poor and the other rich.
Yes. Counting would spoil the friendship, and each side gives what it has.
they found that he considered them the benefactors, and could not do enough to show how grateful he was for Mrs. March’s motherly welcome, their cheerful society, and the comfort he took in that humble home of theirs
So they soon forgot their pride, and interchanged kindnesses without stopping to think which was the greater.
Not always. The gap is real, and Mr. Laurence himself says what Mrs. March gives the boy is more than he can.
The other lion was the fact that they were poor and Laurie rich
Mrs. March is doing more for him than we can.
A strong answer The Marches begin shy because they are poor and Laurie is rich, so they cannot match what he has. They stop worrying when they see that he considers them the benefactors and is grateful for their welcome and their company. Mr. Laurence says Mrs. March is doing more for the boy than they can. A strong answer says that different kinds of gifts may not be countable together, and can also say what might go unsaid when no one counts.
5. Beth starts her thank-you speech, forgets it, and kisses Mr. Laurence instead. Why might Alcott have her do that?Author's choice
What it asks It asks what a kiss can do in this scene that a finished speech could not.
Words fail a shy girl, and the kiss is the truest thing she can do in that moment.
I came to thank you, sir, for—
she forgot her speech, and, only remembering that he had lost the little girl he loved, she put both arms round his neck, and kissed him.
The kiss shows Mr. Laurence's softening without a speech from him, which is stronger than explaining it.
was so touched and pleased by that confiding little kiss that all his crustiness vanished
Beth ceased to fear him from that moment
A strong answer Beth gets as far as “I came to thank you, sir, for” and then forgets her speech. She remembers that he has lost a little girl, and she puts her arms round his neck. A neat speech would tell us she was grateful; the kiss shows us she has seen him. The scene then shows his crustiness vanishing and Beth ceasing to fear him. A strong answer says what the kiss reveals in each of them.
1. Laurie is always playing truant to visit the Marches. Using two pieces of evidence, explain how the Marches change him.
What it asks It asks what the March sisters do to a boy who has had no mother or sisters, using two pieces of evidence.
They shame him out of idleness: their busy ways make him see how little he does.
their busy, lively ways made him ashamed of the indolent life he led
They give him company, and people become more interesting than his books.
He was tired of books, and found people so interesting now that Mr. Brooke was obliged to make very unsatisfactory reports
Never having known mother or sisters, he was quick to feel the influences they brought about him
A strong answer Laurie has never known mother or sisters, so he quickly feels the March girls' influence. Their busy, lively ways make him ashamed of his idle life, and he grows tired of books and finds people more interesting. His tutor's reports get worse, which shows the change. A strong answer uses one piece about shame and one about company, and says how they fit together.
2. On her first visit Beth runs away, saying her feet chattered on the floor. Using two pieces of evidence, explain what frightened her.
What it asks It asks whether the fault is in Mr. Laurence's manner, in Beth, or both, using two pieces of evidence.
Mr. Laurence's manner frightened her: he stared and said “Hey!” very loud.
the old gentleman, not being aware of her infirmity, stared at her so hard from under his heavy eyebrows, and said “Hey!” so loud, that he frightened her so much her “feet chattered on the floor,”
Beth's own shyness made it worse: others found him less frightening.
nobody felt much afraid of him, except timid Beth
No persuasions or enticements could overcome her fear
A strong answer Mr. Laurence stared hard from under his heavy eyebrows and said “Hey!” so loud that Beth ran away. But nobody else felt much afraid of him once he had called, except timid Beth, and no persuasion could overcome her fear. A strong answer uses one piece about what he did and one about how Beth is, and says which one weighs more.
3. Mr. Laurence lets Laurie run off to the Marches instead of study. Using two pieces of evidence, explain why he allows it.
What it asks It asks what changes Mr. Laurence's mind about the boy's schooling, using two pieces of evidence.
He has been persuaded that Laurie needs company and exercise more than he needs books.
The good lady next door says he is studying too hard, and needs young society, amusement, and exercise.
I suspect she is right, and that I’ve been coddling the fellow as if I’d been his grandmother.
He trusts the Marches and sees them doing the boy good.
He can’t get into mischief in that little nunnery over there
Mrs. March is doing more for him than we can.
A strong answer Mr. Laurence says the good lady next door thinks Laurie is studying too hard, and he suspects she is right and that he has been coddling him. He also trusts the house next door, since the boy cannot get into mischief there and Mrs. March is doing more for him than they can. A strong answer uses one piece of his admission and one of his trust, and says what kind of man that makes him.