PART TWO: CHAPTER FORTY - ONE - Learning to Forget Practice Quiz — Little Women
by Louisa May Alcott — tap or click to flip
Practice Quiz: PART TWO: CHAPTER FORTY - ONE - Learning to Forget
What advice from Amy motivates Laurie to change his life?
"I despise you" and "Go and do something splendid that will make her love you." These words shame him into action after months of laziness.
What does Laurie attempt to compose in Vienna?
A Requiem intended to "harrow up Jo's soul and melt the heart of every hearer," followed by an opera. Both efforts fail.
Why does Laurie's Requiem fail?
His grief is not deep enough to sustain tragic composition — he keeps humming dance tunes from the Christmas ball at Nice instead of writing serious music.
Why can't Laurie use Jo as the heroine of his opera?
His memory refuses to cooperate — it only recalls Jo's oddities and comic moments (beating mats with a bandana, barricading with pillows) instead of romantic ones.
What phantom figure replaces Jo in Laurie's imagination?
A figure with golden hair "enveloped in a diaphanous cloud" amid roses, peacocks, white ponies, and blue ribbons — clearly representing Amy, though Laurie doesn't name her.
What realization does Laurie reach after attending a Mozart opera in Vienna?
"Talent isn't genius, and you can't make it so." He tears up his music and accepts he is not meant to be a composer.
What keeps Laurie from "going to the devil" during his idle period?
His promise to his grandfather and his desire to look honestly into the eyes of the women who love him and say "All's well."
What argument does the narrator make about women's moral influence on men?
That women can raise the standard of manhood by believing in men's capacity for loyalty and virtue, rather than accepting that "boys will be boys."
How does Laurie describe the change in his feelings for Jo?
His "boyish passion" slowly subsides into a "more tranquil sentiment, very tender, a little sad and resentful still" — ultimately becoming a lasting brotherly affection.
What does Laurie do with Jo's letters and his ring after her final refusal?
He folds Jo's letters into a small drawer, removes the ring from his finger and lays it with them, then locks the drawer — symbolically closing that chapter of his life.
Where does Laurie go after locking away Jo's letters?
He attends High Mass at Saint Stefan's church in Vienna, treating the occasion like a funeral for his lost love.
Why does Amy reject Fred Vaughn's proposal?
She discovers that "something more than money and position was needed to satisfy the new longing that filled her heart" — she wants genuine love, not just wealth and status.
What does Amy do to signal to Laurie that Fred is gone?
She makes sure Laurie knows that Fred has "gone to Egypt," without explicitly stating her feelings. Laurie understands her meaning.
Where does Laurie find Amy when he arrives at Vevay?
In the chateau garden at La Tour, sitting on a low wall by the lake, wearing the ebony cross Laurie gave her, with blotted letters in her lap.
What does Amy say when she first sees Laurie at Vevay?
"Oh, Laurie, Laurie, I knew you'd come to me!" — running to him in a display of unmistakable love and longing.
What observation does Mrs. Carrol make when she sees Amy's changed face?
"Now I understand it all — the child has been pining for young Laurence. Bless my heart, I never thought of such a thing!"
How does Laurie's behavior change between Nice and Vevay?
At Nice he lounged and Amy scolded; at Vevay he is never idle — always walking, riding, boating, or studying energetically.
What metaphor does the narrator use for the Swiss landscape's effect on Laurie and Amy?
Fresh winds blow away doubts, warm sunshine brings tender hopes, the lake washes away past troubles, and the mountains say "Little children, love one another."
How does Laurie propose to Amy?
While rowing on Lake Geneva, he says "So well that I wish we might always pull in the same boat. Will you, Amy?" She answers simply, "Yes, Laurie."
What literary allusion does Laurie make about Mozart and love?
"He was a great man, and when he couldn't have one sister he took the other, and was happy" — a parallel to his own shift from Jo to Amy.