Print at 100% scale on letter paper, with no added margins.
Little Women
Trailblazers · 4th–6th
Marmee would not have chosen Mr. Davis's way of mending a fault, yet she is not sure a milder way would have done Amy more good, so what can a humiliation teach that a gentler correction cannot, and what does it cost?
The tension The chapter pulls two ways at once. The narrator scorns Mr. Davis as a man with no talent for teaching, for whom manners and feelings do not count, and shows the blows landing on a girl who has been governed by love alone. Yet Amy did break a rule she knew, hid six limes before saying she never lies, crushed Jenny Snow with a snub, and strutted like a peacock; what helps her bear the platform is not repentance but a bitter sense of wrong and the thought of Jenny. Marmee refuses both easy answers: she removes Amy from the school and still says she deserved some punishment, then turns the talk from humiliation to conceit and modesty.
Follow Amy from the pride of her limes to the platform, and listen to what Marmee says about it afterward.
Meg gives Amy a quarter to pay her debts in pickled limes, and Amy brings twenty-four to school. She snubs Jenny Snow, who tells Mr. Davis about the limes. Amy is punished and stood on the platform, then leaves school. At home her family is furious, and Marmee says what she thinks of the method and of Amy. The evening ends with talk of modesty.
Start with the limes and ask what a girl gets for a parcel of pickled limes at this school.
Retell The student tells the chapter back in order: the debt, the treat, Jenny, Mr. Davis, the platform, home, and Marmee's talk.
Imitate the author After copying Marmee's speech, the student writes two sentences in the same pattern: 'I should not have chosen that way of..., but I am not sure that it won't...'
Debate Take sides: was the punishment good for Amy, or harmful? Each side must use at least one quote from the chapter.
Purpose Close by asking why Alcott gives Marmee a divided answer to Amy.
Easier Talk through discussion questions 1 and 3 only, with the limes and the platform 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 Marmee or the narrator is not sure, and to add it to a critical-thinking answer.
1. Amy tells Jenny Snow, “You needn’t be so polite all of a sudden, for you won’t get any.” What is Amy doing, and what does it cost her?Character
What it asks It asks why Amy snubs Jenny in front of the whole set, and what the snub leads to.
She is paying Jenny back for an earlier insult and enjoying her turn at the top.
But Amy had not forgotten Miss Snow’s cutting remarks about “some persons whose noses were not too flat to smell other people’s limes, and stuck-up people, who were not too proud to ask for them;”
she instantly crushed “that Snow girl’s” hopes by the withering telegram
She is proud of her new popularity, and the snub shows how quickly it has gone to her head.
the attentions of her friends became quite overwhelming
caused Miss March to assume the airs of a studious young peacock
A strong answer Jenny had made cutting remarks about Amy's flat nose and her limeless state, and now that everyone is polite to Amy, she remembers every word and refuses Jenny a lime. It feels like fair payback, and it feels good. But the snub is followed by Jenny telling Mr. Davis about the limes, so it is one of the things that costs her. A strong answer says what Amy wants in that moment and how it comes back to her.
2. When Mr. Davis asks, “You are sure there are no more?” Amy says, “I never lie, sir.” What do you make of her answer?Moral reasoning
What it asks It asks whether Amy's answer is an honest one, given that she has just held back six limes.
It is close to a lie: she hid six limes first, and her answer is a cover for that.
Amy hastily shook out half a dozen, and laid the rest down before Mr. Davis
Not quite,” stammered Amy.
It is frightened honesty: she gives them up when asked again and says what she believes of herself.
With a despairing glance at her set, she obeyed.
a secret fear oppressed her, for the limes weighed upon her conscience
A strong answer Amy follows her neighbor's whisper and shakes out only half a dozen first. When Mr. Davis asks if that is all, she stammers, “Not quite.” After she brings the rest, she says, “I never lie, sir,” and he answers, “So I see.” A strong answer can call it a slippery half-truth or a frightened girl's honest last word, and uses the sequence to say why.
3. Amy bears the blows on her palm without flinching, then must stand on the platform for fifteen minutes. What do you think hurts her most?Inference
What it asks It asks what part of the punishment reaches Amy most, and what she is feeling as she stands there.
It is the shame of being seen, with the whole school watching her face.
to face the whole school, with that shame fresh upon her, seemed impossible
she fixed her eyes on the stove-funnel above what now seemed a sea of faces
It is what she thinks will come next: telling her family, who will be disappointed in her.
The smart of her hand and the ache of her heart were forgotten in the sting of the thought
I shall have to tell at home, and they will be so disappointed in me!
A strong answer The blows are neither many nor heavy, and Amy meets them with her teeth set and her head thrown back, but for the first time in her life she has been struck and the disgrace feels deep. On the platform she must face a sea of faces for fifteen minutes that seem an hour, and the narrator says the ache of her heart is forgotten in the thought that she will have to tell at home and they will be disappointed in her. A strong answer names the shame, the watching, or the thought of home, and says which weighs most.
4. Amy expects only sympathy from Marmee, but Marmee says she broke the rules. Why might Marmee answer her that way?Theme
What it asks It asks why a mother who comforts her daughter and dislikes the teacher still tells the girl she was in the wrong.
She sees two different things: the rule Amy broke, and the way Mr. Davis handled it.
I am not sorry you lost them, for you broke the rules, and deserved some punishment for disobedience
I don’t approve of corporal punishment, especially for girls. I dislike Mr. Davis’s manner of teaching
She is not sure which way would have worked better on a girl who is getting conceited.
I should not have chosen that way of mending a fault,” replied her mother; “but I’m not sure that it won’t do you more good than a milder method.
You are getting to be rather conceited, my dear, and it is quite time you set about correcting it.
A strong answer Marmee gives Amy a vacation from the school and says she dislikes Mr. Davis's manner, so she does not approve of what he did. She also says Amy broke the rules and deserved some punishment, and she names the fault she sees: Amy is getting conceited. A strong answer puts the rule and the method side by side and says why Marmee might tell her daughter the truth when she wants sympathy.
5. After the scene, Laurie praises a girl who does not know her own talent, and Amy asks whether he is conceited. Why might Alcott end on that talk?Author's choice
What it asks It asks what the quiet evening after the school scene adds, and why the lesson is shown through Laurie and Beth.
It shows the quality Amy lacks in a person she admires, so she can see modesty and not only be told about it.
Not in the least; that is why he is so charming, and we all like him so much.
I see; it’s nice to have accomplishments, and be elegant; but not to show off, or get perked up
It lets the lesson end in a laugh, so the chapter does not stay on the sting of the punishment.
Any more than it’s proper to wear all your bonnets and gowns and ribbons at once, that folks may know you’ve got them,” added Jo; and the lecture ended in a laugh.
A strong answer The chapter begins with Amy showing off her Latin and her debts, and ends with her asking whether Laurie is conceited. Marmee's answer and Laurie's praise of Beth give her a picture of someone with gifts who does not parade them. Jo's joke lets the lecture end in a laugh. A strong answer says what the picture gives Amy that a lecture would not and what the laugh adds.
1. Amy says she is “dreadfully in debt” over pickled limes. Using two pieces of evidence, explain why she feels she must pay.
What it asks It asks what rules the girls at school live by, and how they push Amy to pay her debts, using two pieces of evidence.
She pays because the girls keep score and she does not want to seem mean.
unless you want to be thought mean, you must do it, too
they are debts of honor, you know
She pays because she longs to join in: the limes are how girls show liking.
If one girl likes another, she gives her a lime; if she’s mad with her, she eats one before her face, and don’t offer even a suck.
I felt delicate about taking any, as I couldn’t return them, and I’m actually suffering for one.
A strong answer Amy says that if you do not treat, you are thought mean, and she calls the unpaid limes debts of honor. She also says that girls give limes to those they like, and that she has felt delicate about taking any because she cannot return them. A strong answer uses one piece about not being thought mean and one about belonging, and explains why the limes stand for more than a snack.
2. The narrator describes Mr. Davis in detail before he punishes Amy. Using two pieces of evidence, explain what the narrator wants us to think of him.
What it asks It asks what the long description of Mr. Davis does to the scene that follows, using two pieces of evidence.
She wants us to see a strict but tired man on a bad day, unfit to be a teacher of girls.
nervous gentlemen, with tyrannical tempers, and no more talent for teaching than Dr. Blimber
manners, morals, feelings, and examples were not considered of any particular importance
She wants us to see a man with a real job to do, who has battled many rules and breakings, not a simple bully.
done all that one man could do to keep half a hundred rebellious girls in order
You can go, Miss March,” said Mr. Davis, looking, as he felt, uncomfortable.
A strong answer The narrator says Mr. Davis knows Greek, Latin, and algebra, so he is called a fine teacher, but manners and feelings count for nothing with him, and he is as nervous as a witch and as cross as a bear that morning. She also lists the wars he has fought to keep fifty rebellious girls in order, and he looks uncomfortable afterward. A strong answer uses one piece on each side and says whether the narrator is mostly mocking or partly sympathetic.
3. Amy leaves school “forever” and the family holds an indignation meeting. Using two pieces of evidence, explain what her family's reactions show.
What it asks It asks what the different reactions at home show about how each person loves Amy, using two pieces of evidence.
They show that the whole family takes her side at once, each in her own way.
Meg bathed the insulted hand with glycerine and tears
Jo wrathfully proposed that Mr. Davis be arrested without delay
They show a difference: Marmee comforts and says little, while the others want revenge.
Mrs. March did not say much, but looked disturbed, and comforted her afflicted little daughter in her tenderest manner
Hannah shook her fist at the “villain,” and pounded potatoes for dinner as if she had him under her pestle.
A strong answer Meg bathes the hand with glycerine and tears and Jo wants the teacher arrested, so the sisters are furious for Amy. Marmee says little and comforts her tenderly, and later says she disapproves of corporal punishment yet deserved some punishment. A strong answer uses two reactions and explains what the difference shows about Marmee.