Little Women

It’s Christmas time, and the weather is unexpectedly mild. The atmosphere seemed “bound to produce a grand success” (233). Overall, the household is brimming with cheer and merriment as presents are exchanged, Beth’s health is improving, and Mr. March promises to be home soon. Laurie and Jo present a snowman for Beth that they have made throughout the night, and she exclaims, “I’m so full of happiness, that, if Father was only here, I couldn’t hold one drop more” (235).

In the next moments, Laurie announces that there’s “another Christmas present for the March family,” leading in Mr. Brooke who brings in Mr. March (235). The surprise is too much for the family, as “Mr. March became invisible in the embrace of four pairs of loving arms” (235).

Dinner that night includes the Marches, the Laurences, and Mr. Brooke—who is the subject of Jo’s dark glances. Only a year ago, Jo reminds the girls, they had been “groaning over the dismal Christmas” they expected to have, and Mr. March agrees that it was “a rough road for you to travel, my little pilgrims” (237). Pressing him to elaborate, he explains: Meg’s hands are rough and used from work, Jo’s temperament is genial and more mature, Beth’s shyness has lessened, and Amy’s conceit has changed into humility.

After Amy thanks her father for the words, Jo asks Beth her thoughts: “I read in Pilgrim’s progress today how, after many troubles, Christian and Hopeful came to a pleasant green meadow where lilies bloomed all the year round, and there they rested happily, as we do now, before they went on to their journey’s end” (239).

With that, Beth seats herself at the piano and finally sings again after her long bout with illness.

Since Mr. March’s return, the ladies are tending him to the point that he could have been “killed by kindness” (241).

Meanwhile, Meg is nervous about how to respond to Mr. Brooke if he begins to court her. Mr. March believes Meg is too young to marry, and she therefore feels robbed of agency with respect to Mr. Brooke.

Mr. Brooke comes to request the umbrella he left and asks about their father. Meg is startled, but she composes herself. When he asks about her feelings for him, she admits she does not know. Mr. Brooke insists that perhaps she could learn to love him, to which she responds, “I don’t choose. Please go away and let me be” (245).

Meg revels in the power she has over him; when he leaves, Aunt March enters. She has come to meet her nephew, Mr. March, and looking at Meg’s expression, she knows what Mr. Brooke must have asked her. She threatens that if Meg marries this man, “not one penny of my money ever goes to you” (246). Meg is overcome with rebellion and defends Mr. Brooke by declaring, “My John wouldn’t marry for money, any more than I would. We are willing to work, and we mean to wait. I’m not afraid of being poor” (247). Realizing she has not yet decided on the fate of her and Mr. Brooke, she halts her speech, but Aunt March, taking offense, leaves without seeing her nephew. Mr. Brooke enters and reveals to Meg that he overhead her conversation with Aunt March. The two admit their admiration for one another and dream of marrying in a few years.

For Jo, this is “awful news” (249), and she dreads Meg’s imminent departure. The rest of the Marches all gather to offer their goodwill and support to the future couple as the Laurences enter.

The narrator draws the first part of the novel to a close as Mr. and Mrs. March reminisce about their own romances in years past, Amy draws the lovers, Beth is absorbed in conversation with Mr. Laurence, and Jo considers the situation with Laurie by her side.