LITTLE WOMEN FOR THE 21st CENTURY

1. READ THE PLOT OF THE BOOK THEN TAKE THE QUICK TEST

A) NOW HAVE A LOOK AT  THE FIRST 10 MINUTES OF THE MOVIE. Watch and answer the questions

Jo March writes short stories for magazines to provide for herself, her mother and her sisters at home. 

- Does she reveal Mr Dashwood she is the author of the story?

Once her story is accepted for publishing she has to compromise cuts and payment. 

- How much do they usually pay for stories? How much does Jo get? Why do you think she accepts?

- What does the publisher asks her to do with her heroine the next time?

 

CLIPS FROM THE MOVIE

 B) WILL YOU DANCE? 

Why can't Jo dance with Laurie?

   

C)  YOU'LL NEED TO MARRY

Jo wants to make her own way in the world, but Aunt March warns her: she won't be able to do it because she is a woman.

- What does Jo need to do according to Aunt March? Why didn't she, instead, need to do it? 

 

D) THE MARCH FAMILY AT LAURIE'S GRANDFATHER'S HOUSE

- What is Jo saying to Laurie when his grandfather and her mother enter the room?
- The March family are poor, while Laurie and his grandfather are wealthy. What is the first thing Jo is  attracted to once in that room?
- Why are the March sisters and their mother there?
- What does the mother of the girls thank Laurie for? 

E) LAURIE'S PROPOSAL TO JO

Jo and Laurie have been neighbours and best friends for long,  but one day Laurie decides to reveal his real feelings to the girl. Watch the clip.

For more than a century readers of Little Women have been hating this moment. Jo and Laurie get on very well together, they seem to be a perfect couple,  so readers are as heartbroken and puzzled as Laurie is when Jo rejects him. Why do you think Jo doesn't accept Laurie's proposal? 
F) ECONOMIC PROPOSITION
Years after Jo's rejection of Laurie, he and Amy, Jo's youngest sister,  meet in Paris. Laurie has been travelling to Europe with his grandfather to escape his heartbreak.  The girl is travelling with her wealthy  Aunt March to complete her education. Amy and Laurie are discussing marriage in this clip.  Amy is going to give up painting in order to marry one of Laurie's rich friends, Fred. Laurie knows she's not in love with Fred. But Laurie and Amy have different points of view on the matter of marriage. How different? 

G) I'M SO SICK OF IT

What is Jo sick of?  And how does she say she feels in the end? 

H) AMY AND LAURIE

Amy and Laurie are still in Paris.

- Where is Fred, Amy's fiancé?
- What does Laurie ask Amy?
- Why is she angry with him?
- What does Laurie understand for the first time at the end of the clip?




I) THE ENDING
While staying in New York City, working as a governess to a friend of her mother's children and writing her first stories,  Jo meets Professor Bhaer and they become friends. She then goes back home after six months to take care of one of her sisters, Beth, who is dying.  Beth dies, Amy and Laurie get married in Europe and come back home surprising everyone with their news, especially Jo.   Before moving to California Professor Bhaer pays visit to Jo...

- What are the two narrative threads intertwined in the final part of the movie? - How does Jo want her book Little Women to end? - What does the publisher wants, instead? Why? - Do you think the ending she finally accept to give to her book is satisfying? 
MOVIE REVIEW 1 - Little Women review - the freshest adaptation of the year MOVIE REVIEW 2 - The Power of  Greta Gerwig's Little Women is that it doesn't pretend its marriages are romantic WORSHEET
You can read the whole book online HERE