Chapters 13-14

NOTE: Page numbers refer to the Barnes & Noble Classics paperback edition.

Background Information/Vocabulary:

• "indolent" (p. 140)--lazy

•  "primer" (p. 147)--in this context, a simple reading textbook, or the class that is studying at the most basic level.  (When it's used this way, it's pronounced with a short "i" sound, as in the word "dim.")

• "omnibus" (p. 148)--in this context, a form of public transportation (see below)

(Source)

•  Amy's "commy la fo" has always puzzled me--I took German in school, not French--so I searched around, and I think she meant "comme il faux", which translates approximately to "proper."  (p. 156)

My Noticings:  

• Jo's plan to meet up in ten years and see what everyone has accomplished begins with the rather ominous, "If we are all alive ten years hence."  This strikes me as strange today--even at what Meg considers to be the ripe old age of 27, I probably wouldn't feel the need to say that if I was making plans with peers.  Not that any of us are invincible, but the likelihood of a group of healthy American teenagers or twenty-somethings all being alive in ten years is pretty high.  I wonder if this statement is reflective of the realities of the time (dying from illnesses and infection was much more common then--illnesses that are easily treated with antibiotics now were often fatal before the discovery of penicillin) or if it's...dun dun dun...foreshadowing?

• The tables have turned on Laurie since he scolded Meg for being too fashionable and going against her own better judgement at that party!  Now Jo is the one warning him against hanging around with Moffats and doing what all the cool kids are doing.
  
• This piece when Laurie tells Jo his secret is an interesting example of the effect of 3rd person writing.  It's easy to picture someone whispering a secret in a movie, but in novels we're so used to having all the information the characters have that when someone tells a secret on the page in front of us and we don't hear it, it feels quite frustrating!  (However, the astute reader can probably guess, from previous clues and the fact that it's in someone's pocket, what has become of the glove.)

Final Thoughts: 



All of a sudden, it seems like the March girls are growing up!  Meg is starting to think more and more about having her own home and family, and Jo is getting published.  Laurie, on the other hand, is daydreaming about running off, and hanging around saloons.  It feels like in just a few short chapters, this has transitioned from being a book about children to being a book about true young adults--what might be considered "New Adult" if it came out today. 

Question for readers:



What hints have been dropped in the last few chapters that tell you where Meg's glove is?