Little Women (2019) Trivia Quiz

Answer: She must be married or dead.

Jo March stands nervously in front of a door. She enters and locates the desk of Mr. Dashwood. "A friend of mine desired me to offer a story, by her, she wrote it - she'd be glad to write more if this suits," she says. She sits and tries, unsuccessfully, to cover the ink stains on her hands. Mr. Dashwood begins reading, chuckling aloud at some parts, and using a pen to cross out large portions of the text. "We'll take this," he declares when he's finished. "With alterations. It's too long." Jo examines the edits unhappily. "But you've cut... I took care to have a few of my sinners repent," she says. "The country just went through a war. People want to be amused, not preached at. Morals don't sell nowadays. Perhaps mention that to your 'friend'," he says. Mr. Dashwood offers $20 for the story and Jo accepts without much hesitation. "Should I tell my friend that you'll take another if she had one better than this?" she asks. "We'll look at it," Mr. Dashwood replies. "Tell her to make it short and spicy. And if the main character is a girl make sure she's married by the end. Or dead, either way." Jo runs through the streets of New York, thrilled. The title card appears - it is an image of the leather-bound front cover of a book, "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott.

The film unfolds in two separate timelines that move forward from their starting point. The main timeline begins in the Fall of 1868, when the March sisters are all grown women - Jo is a teacher living in New York City and supplementing her income with her writing; Amy is accompanying Aunt March in Paris and studying painting; Meg is married to John Brooke and has two children; and a sickly Beth is still living at home with Marmee. The second timeline - which is presented as a memory or perhaps something else - begins seven years earlier in the Winter of 1861 and works its way up to the start of the first timeline. Director Greta Gerwig, who adapted the screenplay from Louisa May Alcott's novel, explains this decision: "I structured the film to begin the narrative when they are adults, and to enter into the story of childhood as we all do, which is as memory, as a yearning, as a key to understanding who you are and where you are going. We are always walking beside our younger self."

Answer: He was rejected by Jo.

Amy is riding in a carriage with Aunt March down a French promenade when she spies Laurie walking the other way. She leaps out of the carriage and runs into his arms. The old friends catch up, talking over each other a mile a minute. "Where's your grandfather?" Amy asks. "He's in Germany. He's still traveling. I'm traveling on my own. Just relaxing," Laurie replies. "Flirting and gambling and drinking," Amy teases. "Are you chasing some young girl across Europe?" Laurie's tone changes, and he can only manage a subdued "no". Amy immediately realizes she's gone too far. "I couldn't believe Jo turned you down. I'm so sorry," she says, softening. "Don't be, Amy. I'm not," he replies unconvincingly. Amy invites Laurie to a New Year's Eve ball, but he shows up at the party drunk and falling over a couple of girls. Amy makes her disapproval known and they have it out in front of everyone. "I feel sorry for you, I really do. I just wish you'd bear it better," she eventually tells him. "You don't have to feel sorry for me, Amy. You'll feel the same way one day," he says. "No," Amy replies. "I'd be respected if I couldn't be loved."

In the second timeline we go back to another dance in the Winter of 1861, when Jo and Meg attend a New Year's Eve party at the Gardiner's. Jo stumbles into a room to escape having to dance, and almost falls into the lap of Theodore Laurence, who everyone addresses as Laurie except Jo, who calls him 'Teddy'. They know of each other but have never met until now - Laurie lives with his grandfather in a large estate across the way from the home of the March family. Jo and Laurie dance together outside (to save Jo from the embarrassment of anyone seeing the scorch marks on her dress), and their chemistry is palpable - they are kindred spirits and possibly soul mates. This is a very different Laurie from the one we see in Paris; mischievous and charmingly awkward. When Meg's sprained ankle cuts the evening short, Laurie offers to take them home, where he meets Marmee and the other March girls. Laurie is an orphan with only his grandfather and tutor, John Brooke, for company, and the infectious exuberance of the March family stirs in him a yearning for the kind of home life he's never had.

Answer: Shakespeare

Jo and Friedrich have quite a lot in common - a love for intellectualism and the written word, and a tendency to burn their clothes by standing too close to the fireplace. Friedrich had previously noticed her passion for writing and when he observes Jo enjoying a performance of "Twelfth Night" he gifts her a set of Shakespeare's works. In his note accompanying the volumes, he writes, "For the writer in the attic: Because you enjoyed the play so much tonight, I wanted you to have this. It will help you study character and paint it with your pen. I would love to read what you're writing, if you'll trust me. I promise honesty and whatever intelligence I can muster. Yours, Friedrich."

Jo takes him up on his offer and sits nervously in the drawing room of the boarding house, as Friedrich finishes reading her published work. "Those are just stories, of course. But I'm working on a novel," she says. "And your novel, it will be like this?" Friedrich asks, "With plots like this - duels and killing?" Jo explains that this is what sells. "You know, I don't like them," he says. "I mean, I think that they're not good." His sincerity almost makes up for the harshness of his words. "But they're published in the papers, and people have always said that I'm talented," Jo replies defensively. "Oh, I think you're talented, which is why I'm being so blunt," Friedrich replies. "I can't afford to starve on praise," Jo says, in a line taken from Louisa May Alcott's diaries. She begins to gather up the newspaper clippings and scribblings that represent her life's work. "And who made you High Priest of what's good and what's bad, huh?" she asks. "Jo, your reaction indicates that you must think there is some truth in it," Friedrich observes, not doing himself any favors. "My reaction indicates that you are a pompous blowhard. Shakespeare wrote for the masses," Jo replies. Friedrich points out that Shakespeare's legacy was that he "smuggled his poetry in popular works", prompting Jo to remark that she was no Shakespeare. "Thank goodness," Friedrich replies. "We already have him." Jo does what she always does when someone has hurt her, which is to lash out. "Listen," she says. "We are not friends; you are not my friend. And I don't want your opinion because I don't like you very much so just don't talk to me anymore, thank you."

Answer: Amy falls into the river while ice-skating.

Jo receives a telegram in New York - Beth has taken a turn for the worse and Marmee is asking her to come home. She travels by train to Concord, Massachusetts and finds Meg, Marmee and Hannah at home. "When is Amy coming home?" Jo asks. "We didn't want to worry her," Marmee says. "Does she not know?" Jo asks. "Beth insisted we not tell her because she didn't want to ruin Amy's trip," Meg replies. Jo gives a knowing look to Meg. "Amy has always had a talent for getting out of the hard parts of life," she says enviously, and Marmee implores Jo not to be angry with her sister.

In the second timeline in 1862, we see Jo and Meg preparing to go out to the theater with Laurie and John Brooke. Amy wants to go, but Jo won't let her. To get back at her, Amy finds the novel that Jo has been working on and burns every single page in the furnace. Amy is eventually sorry, but the damage has been done - Jo is devastated and says she will hate Amy forever. The next morning, Laurie shows up to take Jo ice-skating. At Meg's encouragement, Amy rushes after them hoping to make amends, but she struggles to catch up to them and doesn't hear Laurie's advice to stay near the edge of the river and skates a direct path towards them, falling through the thinner ice in the middle. Laurie and a terrified Jo manage to pull her out of the icy waters using a tree branch, leaving Jo beside herself with regret.

"If she had died it would've been my fault," Jo says to Marmee, as they watch over Amy sleeping. "What is wrong with me? I've made so many resolutions and written sad notes and cried over my sins but it doesn't seem to help. When I get in a passion I get so savage, I could hurt anyone and I'd enjoy it," Jo laments. "You remind me of myself," Marmee observes quietly, which takes Jo by surprise. "But you're never angry," she says. "I'm angry nearly every day of my life," Marmee replies. "I'm not patient by nature, but with nearly 40 years of effort I'm learning to not let it get the better of me." A determined look comes across Jo's face. "I'll do the same, then," she announces. "I hope you'll do a great deal better than me. There are some natures too noble to curb, and too lofty to bend," Marmee says lovingly, which was a line actually written by Louisa May Alcott's mother about her daughter.

Jo may take after her mother, but she also shares more in common with Amy than either of them would probably care to admit - both are portrayed in this adaptation as ambitious, assertive, and unapologetic about going after what they want in life.

Answer: An economic proposition

A contrite Laurie seeks out Amy in her studio in Paris, and finds her convinced she's a failure at painting. "Now that you've given up all your foolish artistic hopes, what are you going to do with your life?" he asks. "Polish up all my other talents and become an ornament to society," she says. He teases her about the possibility of an engagement to Fred Vaughn, but Amy is surprisingly pragmatic about the subject. "I've always known I would marry rich. Why should I be ashamed of that?" she says. "There is nothing to be ashamed of, as long as you love him," Laurie replies, but Amy rejects his premise. "I believe we have some power over who we love. It isn't something that just happens to a person," she says. "I think the poets might disagree," Laurie says glibly. "Well, I'm not a poet," Amy replies. "I'm just a woman. And as a woman there's no way for me to make my own money, not enough to earn a living or to support my family. And if I had my own money, which I don't, that money would belong to my husband the moment we got married. And if we had children they would be his, not mine. They would be his property. So don't sit there and tell me that marriage isn't an economic proposition, because it is. It may not be for you, but it most certainly is for me."

Laurie starts spending more time with Amy in Paris, a fact which Amy notices when she asks him why he doesn't return to his grandfather. "I'll only plague him if I go, so I might as well stay and plague you a little longer. You can bear it," he says playfully. They tease each other good-naturedly about their futures, until Amy's mention of Fred Vaughn changes the mood. Laurie suddenly becomes very serious. "Don't marry him," he says quietly. "Why?" Amy asks, taken aback. "You know why," he says, as he reaches to touch her face. "No, Laurie, that's mean. Stop it," she says, as she pushes his hand away. "I have been second to Jo my whole life in everything and I will not be the person you settle for just because you cannot have her. I won't do it." Amy takes a few steps away from Laurie, then turns back to face him. "I won't, not when I've spent my entire life loving you." She throws her things to the ground and walks away from him.

Answer: That she will keep up with her writing

Jo reads George Eliot's "The Mill on the Floss" to Beth, who is grateful but mentions that she prefers it when Jo reads her the stories that she's written. "I don't have any new stories," Jo replies. "Haven't written any." When Beth asks her to write something for her now, Jo confesses that she doesn't think she can write anymore. "No one even cares to hear my stories anyway," she says, still burning from Friedrich's criticism. "Write something for me. You are a writer, even before anyone knew or paid you," Beth says insistently. "I'm very sick and you must do what I say." Jo lets out a huge sigh and lays back in the sand. "Do what Marmee taught us to do," Beth says. "Do it for someone else."

Later, we see Jo reading a story to Beth from her journal about the post office Laurie built for them in the woods. "It's all about us!" Beth declares happily when she is finished. "I love it. It's nothing like what you usually write." Jo looks down at Beth as she cradles her head in her lap. "Do you think it's too boring?" she asks. "No, it is my favorite one yet," Beth replies. "Write me another." Jo is pleased. "Yes ma'am!" she says. "Keep writing them," Beth says, "Even when I'm not here." Jo isn't prepared for this. "Don't say that, don't say that," she says. Beth sits up suddenly, with purpose. "Jo, I have to tell you. I've had a very long time to think about this, and I'm not afraid," she says. "It's like the tide going out - it goes out slowly, but it can't be stopped."

The film cuts between 1862, when Beth first contracts scarlet fever from the Hummels, to the present day in 1869. In both timelines, we see Jo looking after her and sitting by her bedside. Beth recovers in 1862, but perishes in the present day.

Answer: "I care more to be loved."

Jo has always valued her independence, so her response isn't all that surprising when Laurie finally broaches the subject of marriage. Meg has married John Brooke, and Jo is lamenting to Laurie about how everything is changing as they walk through the woods one day. "You don't have to stay here, Jo," Laurie says meaningfully. Jo looks at his face and realizes the moment she's been dreading has arrived. "No," she says pre-emptively, her ease quickly giving way to panic. "It's no use Jo," he says. "We've got to have it out." Jo starts walking away from Laurie, forcing him to follow. "I have loved you ever since I've known you, Jo - I couldn't help it, and I've tried to show it but you wouldn't let me, which is fine; but I must make you hear now and give me an answer because I cannot go on like this any longer," he says. "I can't love you as you want me to; I don't know why," she says. "I can't change how I feel, and it would be a lie to say I do when I don't. I'm so sorry, Teddy. I'm so sorry, but I just can't help it." Laurie professes his love for her and says that he can't love anyone else, but Jo just tells him that it would be a disaster if they got married. "We would be unhappy and we'd wish we hadn't done it and everything will be horrid," she finally says, breaking down. "Is there anything more?" he asks dejectedly. "No, nothing more," she answers, before adding, "Except that... Teddy, I don't believe I will ever marry." Laurie stands before Jo, steadfast. "I think you're wrong about that, Jo," he says. "I think you'll find someone and love them, and you will live and die for them because that's your way, and you will. And I'll watch." He turns and walks away.

Back in the present timeline, we see Jo in the cottage placing Beth's belongings into boxes. Marmee comes in and tells her that Amy has written to say that she is returning home with Aunt March, and that Laurie will be accompanying them, and we can see that Jo is torn about something. "I've always been quite content with my family. Don't understand it. Perhaps I was too quick in turning him down," she finally says. "Do you love him?" Marmee asks. "If he asked me again, I think I would say yes. Do you think he'll ask me again?" she says, avoiding the question. "But do you love him?" Marmee asks again. "I care more to be loved. I want to be loved," Jo says. "That is not the same as loving," Marmee replies. Jo knows that she is right, but can't help how she feels at this moment in her life. "I just feel like - women, they have minds, and they have souls as well as just hearts, and they've got ambition, and they've got talent, as well as just beauty and I'm so sick of people saying that love is just all a woman is fit for. I'm so sick of it," she says through tears. "But I'm... I'm so lonely." Jo writes a letter to Laurie saying that she was wrong to turn him down, and places it in their post office in the woods.

Answer: She and Laurie are married.

Amy stands waiting in the driveway of a grand estate in Paris, waiting for the carriage to be loaded. She is dressed entirely in black. Laurie walks up to her and they embrace. "I couldn't let you travel alone with Aunt March being so sick - even if you despise me," he says. "I don't despise you, Laurie," she says through tears. "Beth was the best of us." She pulls out of the hug and tells Laurie that she turned down Fred Vaughn's proposal. "I heard about that," he says carefully. "And you are under no obligation to say anything or do anything. I just didn't love him as I should," she says, all the while looking down and not meeting his eyes. "So we don't need to talk about it, we don't need to say anything..." Laurie stares at Amy as she speaks, and without warning takes her face in his hands and kisses her.

Back in Concord, Jo wakes up from a deep sleep to find Laurie standing in front of her. She jumps up and pulls him into a tight hug. "Are you glad to see me then?" he says. "I was worried." They sit down, unsure of what to say to each other. "How's Amy? Where is she now? Did she not come straight home?" Jo finally says. "Your mother's got her down at Meg's - we stopped on the way. There was no getting my wife out of their clutches," Laurie answers matter-of-factly. Jo takes a breath. "Your what?" she asks, thinking that she must have misheard. "I've done it now! It was meant to be a surprise," Laurie says, getting up. "We were engaged, and we were hoping to wait, but... that is to say that now we are man and wife." Jo is surprised, but tries to hide it. "Jo, I want to say one thing and then we'll put it away forever. I have always loved you, but the love I feel for Amy, it's different. And I think you were right about this. I think we would have killed each other," Laurie says. "I think it was meant this way." Jo musters up the willpower to feel happy for Laurie and Amy, but we can tell that she is shaken. "Can we still be friends, Jo, please?" Laurie asks. She chuckles despite herself, and clasps her hands over his. "Of course, my boy, always," she says sincerely.

Jo and Laurie go down from the attic to find everyone gathered downstairs. Amy walks up to Jo expectantly. "Laurie told you?" she asks. "Yes," Jo says. "Amy, I'm so happy for you. This was meant to be." Amy heaves a sigh of relief. "Oh, I'm so relieved - thank you. I wanted to write, Jo. I wanted to write, and I wanted to explain everything, but everything was happening so fast, and really, I was worried you'd be angry at me," she says. "Life is too short to be angry at one's sisters," Jo replies, and they are immediately reminded about Beth. "I really miss her," Amy says, tearing up. "I know," Jo replies, as they embrace. Later, Jo goes into the woods to retrieve her letter from the post office. She tears it up and throws it in the river.

Answer: His daughters

Jo burns all her writing but stops when she finds the story she wrote for Beth. Inspired by the promise that was asked of her, she retreats to the attic and begins writing. Days pass, and soon pages of her manuscript are lining the attic floor. She ties a stack of pages in a small bundle and composes a letter to her editor. "Dear Mr. Dashwood," she writes. "Enclosed are the first few chapters of a piece I've only begun working on. It could suit as a story for young people, but I think it is probably quite boring. However, I'm sending it to you just in case it has something of value, though I doubt it."

When Aunt March dies and leaves Jo her house, Jo announces her intention to turn it into a school for children. "What about writing?" Amy asks. "What are you working on?" Meg joins in. "I started something, but I don't think it's very good," Jo replies, explaining that it was just about their lives. Her sisters don't see the problem. "Well, who will be interested in a story of domestic struggles and joys? It doesn't have any real importance, does it?" Jo asks. "Maybe it doesn't seem important because people don't write about them," Amy points out. "No, writing doesn't confer importance, it reflects it," Jo says. "I don't think so," Amy says thoughtfully. "Writing them will make them more important." Jo contemplates her younger sister. "When did you become so wise?" she asks. "I always have been," Amy replies. "You were just too busy noticing my faults."

Mr. Dashwood writes to Jo, agreeing that the chapters she sent aren't very promising. One night, his three girls stumble into the parlor where he is sitting with his wife. "Father are you publishing this?" the first daughter asks. "What happens to the little women?" asks another. "Tell me you have the rest of this book!" the last daughter demands, placing the pages of Jo's manuscript on the table. The gears start moving in Mr. Dashwood's head as he realizes that he may have something here after all.

Answer: Jo marries Friedrich

Jo comes down from the attic one day to find that she has a visitor - Friedrich Bhaer has come to see her from New York. He spends a lovely evening with Jo and her family, and after Jo sees him to the door, she turns around to find everyone staring at her. "Why are you all looking at me like that?" she asks. "Jo! You love him!" Amy declares. "I am half as smart as you, but I can see it so plainly. You love him." She looks around for support and everyone agrees. "I have never seen you so happy. What else is love? You need to go after him," Amy says, taking charge of the situation. "He's moving to California!" Jo says defiantly. "That was fiction. He was practically begging for a reason to stay," Amy replies. She takes Jo upstairs to change her clothes, and the three sisters leave for the station in a carriage.

As Jo chases after Friedrich in the rain, the film intercuts with scenes of her in a meeting with Mr. Dashwood, discussing the publication of her book. "Frankly, I don't see why she didn't marry the neighbor," he says. "Well, because the neighbor marries her sister," Jo replies patiently. "Right, right. Well, of course. So, who does she marry?" Mr. Dashwood asks. "No one. She doesn't marry either of them," Jo says. Mr. Dashwood can't believe his ears. "No, no, no, that won't work at all," he protests. "Well, she says the whole book that she doesn't want to marry," Jo points out. "Who cares?" Mr. Dashwood says bluntly, "Girls want to see women married, not consistent." Jo is adamant. "No, it isn't the right ending," she says. "The right ending is the one that sells. Trust me," Mr. Dashwood says. "If you decide to end your delightful book with your heroine a spinster, no one will buy it. It won't be worth printing." Jo considers the suggestion. "Well, I suppose marriage has always been an economic proposition, even in fiction," she says, resigned. "It's romance," he says. "It's mercenary," Jo replies. "Just end it that way, will you?" Mr. Dashwood implores. Jo can't help but let out a laugh. "Fine," she says.

We cut back to Jo running into the train station in the rain, looking for Friedrich. She finds him and tells him that she doesn't want him to leave, and they kiss under an umbrella.

Back in the publishing house, Jo and Mr. Dashwood negotiate the terms for compensation and copyright over her book. When the haggling over the amount of royalties she will be getting gets too much for her, Jo says in frustration, "Mr. Dashwood, if I'm going to sell my heroine into marriage for money, I might as well get some of it." They reach an agreement soon after that.

The film ends with scenes - real or fiction, we don't know - of Jo and Friedrich married and running Plumfield Academy in Aunt March's old house. Together with them are Laurie, Amy, Meg and John Brooke all teaching various lessons to the children. Meanwhile, Jo watches as the pages of her novel are printed and expertly stitched and bound, assembling the first hardcover edition of her book. A brush is applied over some gold leaf on red leather, revealing the embossing we saw in the title card at the start of the film, except that Louisa May Alcott's name is now replaced with Jo's name. A man in the printing house hands a copy of the novel to Jo, who clutches it tightly against her chest and smiles.