PART ONE: CHAPTER TEN - The P.C. and P.O. Practice Quiz — Little Women
by Louisa May Alcott — tap or click to flip
Practice Quiz: PART ONE: CHAPTER TEN - The P.C. and P.O.
What secret society do the March sisters form, and what is it named after?
They form the Pickwick Club (P.C.), named after Charles Dickens’s novel The Pickwick Papers.
What is The Pickwick Portfolio?
It is the weekly newspaper the sisters produce for their club meetings, containing original tales, poetry, local news, funny advertisements, and hints about each other’s faults.
Who proposes that Laurie be admitted to the Pickwick Club?
Jo (Mr. Snodgrass) proposes Laurie’s admission as an honorary member.
Which sister’s speech turns the vote in Laurie’s favor?
Beth (Mr. Tupman) delivers a spirited burst: "Yes, we ought to do it, even if we are afraid. I say he may come, and his grandpa, too, if he likes."
Where was Laurie hiding during the club’s vote on his membership?
He was hiding in the closet, sitting on a rag bag, having been smuggled in by Jo beforehand.
What Dickens character name does Laurie adopt in the Pickwick Club?
Laurie introduces himself as Sam Weller, a character from The Pickwick Papers.
What is the P.O. that Laurie establishes?
A post office made from an old martin house (birdhouse) in the hedge between the March and Laurence properties, with padlocks and keys for both families to exchange letters and parcels.
What Pickwick Club persona does each March sister adopt?
Meg is Samuel Pickwick (president), Jo is Augustus Snodgrass (editor), Beth is Tracy Tupman, and Amy is Nathaniel Winkle.
What does Meg’s garden contain, and what does it reveal about her?
Meg grows roses, heliotrope, myrtle, and a small orange tree, reflecting her conventional taste and desire for simple beauty.
How does Jo’s garden differ from her sisters’?
Jo’s garden is never the same two seasons because she is always experimenting; this year she plants sunflowers to feed chickens, reflecting her restless, unconventional spirit.
What does Amy’s contribution to the Portfolio reveal about her character?
Amy writes a charmingly unpunctuated letter apologizing for not completing her assignment and promising a French fable, revealing her desire to appear sophisticated despite her youth and limited skills.
Why do Meg and Amy initially oppose Laurie’s admission?
Amy says boys "only joke and bounce about" and they want to stay "private and proper." Meg fears Laurie will laugh at their paper and make fun of them.
How does the Pickwick Club reflect the theme of female creativity?
The club gives each sister a platform to develop her literary voice through writing, editing, and performance in a society that offered women few public creative outlets.
What theme does the debate over Laurie’s membership explore?
It explores inclusivity versus exclusivity—the sisters weigh the comfort of their private world against the generosity and benefits of welcoming an outsider.
What does the post office symbolize thematically?
The P.O. symbolizes connection and communication between the March and Laurence households, representing the expansion of the sisters’ world beyond their family circle.
How do the individual gardens illustrate the theme of individuality within sisterhood?
Each garden reflects a distinct personality—Meg’s conventional beauty, Jo’s experimentation, Beth’s nurturing selflessness, Amy’s artistic ambition—showing how different temperaments coexist within a loving family.
What literary device does Alcott use by reproducing The Pickwick Portfolio in full?
She uses a story-within-a-story (embedded narrative) structure, allowing each sister’s personality to emerge through her distinct writing style.
What is the significance of the intertextual reference to Dickens’s The Pickwick Papers?
It creates a playful literary parallel between the sisters’ club and Dickens’s male characters, highlighting the girls’ literary ambitions and adding humor through the gender reversal.
Identify the foreshadowing at the end of Chapter 10.
The narrator notes that the girls never dreamed "how many love letters that little post office would hold in the years to come," hinting at the romantic developments ahead in the novel.
What does "heliotrope" refer to in the context of Meg’s garden?
Heliotrope is a fragrant flowering plant with clusters of small purple blossoms, suggesting Meg’s preference for classic, refined beauty.
What does "mignonette" mean as used in Beth’s garden description?
Mignonette is a small, sweetly fragrant herb traditionally grown in cottage gardens, fitting Beth’s love of old-fashioned, modest plants.
What does the word "subsided" mean when Laurie "deposited a little key on the table and subsided"?
In this context, "subsided" means settled back into his seat quietly, ceasing to speak or draw attention.
Who says: "We don’t wish any boys, they only joke and bounce about. This is a ladies’ club, and we wish to be private and proper"?
Amy (Mr. Winkle) says this when opposing Laurie’s admission to the Pickwick Club.
Who says: "Yes, we ought to do it, even if we are afraid"?
Beth (Mr. Tupman) says this in her unexpectedly passionate speech supporting Laurie’s membership.
What does the narrator say about the post office at the chapter’s end?
"How they laughed when the secret came out, never dreaming how many love letters that little post office would hold in the years to come."