Little Women — Chapter 1 Opening & Book Structure

Substitute Lesson Plan (45 Minutes)

Objective

Students will examine how Louisa May Alcott introduces the four March sisters' distinct personalities through their opening dialogue in Chapter I, "Playing Pilgrims," and will use the book's title page, preface, and table of contents to understand its structure and purpose.

Materials

• The provided text excerpt (title page, preface poem, table of contents, list of illustrations, and opening of Chapter I, "Playing Pilgrims")
• Whiteboard or chart paper (optional)
• Notebook paper or copies of a simple chart for each student (can be drawn on plain paper: four columns labeled Meg, Jo, Beth, Amy)

Warm-up (~5 min)

1. Write the full title on the board: "Little Women, or Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy" by Louisa M. Alcott.
2. Read aloud the caption under the frontispiece illustration: "They all drew to the fire, mother in the big chair, with Beth at her feet."
3. Ask students to quickly predict (out loud or with a show of hands): Based on the title and this illustration caption, what do you think this book is about? Who might be the main characters?
4. Briefly confirm: the book follows four sisters — Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy.

Main Activity (~25 min)

1. Read aloud the preface poem (adapted from John Bunyan) as a class. Point out that it mentions "pilgrimage" and asks readers to become "Pilgrims." Note that Chapter I is titled "Playing Pilgrims" — tell students to keep this word in mind.
2. Look at the Table of Contents together. Point out:
3. The book has two parts ("Part First" and "Part Second") and 47 chapters total.
4. Several chapter titles echo the Bunyan/pilgrim theme from the preface (e.g., "Amy's Valley of Humiliation," "Jo Meets Apollyon," "Meg Goes to Vanity Fair," "The Valley of the Shadow"). Ask: Why might the author connect her characters' lives to a "pilgrim's journey"?
5. Read aloud the opening of Chapter I ("Playing Pilgrims") as a class, from "Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents" through Jo's line about father being away.
6. Character Chart Activity: Have students draw or use a 4-column chart labeled Meg, Jo, Beth, Amy. For each sister, students write down:
7. Her exact line of dialogue
8. One word describing her attitude or mood (e.g., grumbling, sighing, injured, contented)
9. Class discussion: Ask students to share what they wrote. Guide discussion with these points from the text:
10. Jo "grumbled" that Christmas won't be Christmas without presents.
11. Meg "sighed," looking at her old dress, calling it "dreadful to be poor."
12. Amy added an "injured sniff," feeling it unfair some girls have plenty and others nothing.
13. Beth spoke "contentedly" from her corner, saying "We've got father and mother and each other."
14. Ask: How is Beth's response different from her three sisters' responses? What does this suggest about her personality compared to the others?
15. Point out the final lines: Jo says they "haven't got father" and won't for a long time, and each sister silently thinks "perhaps never," about their father being "far away." Ask: How does the mood of the scene shift by the end of this excerpt?

Wrap-up / Exit Ticket (~10 min)

Have students answer the following in a few sentences on a sheet of paper to turn in:

1. Choose one sister (Meg, Jo, Beth, or Amy). Using her line of dialogue from the opening scene, describe her personality in your own words.
2. In one or two sentences, describe how the mood of the opening scene changes from the girls' complaints about Christmas to the mention of their father being away.

If Time Remains

Have students flip through the List of Illustrations provided in the front matter. Ask them to pick two or three illustration captions (e.g., "Beth put a pair of slippers down to warm," "Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents") and predict what might be happening in the story at that point, based only on the caption and what they've read so far.