Little Women Trivia
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This Little Women trivia quiz has 100 free questions with answers and covers Louisa May Alcott's 1868-69 novel and everything that grew from it: the four March sisters and their traits, Marmee, the absent chaplain father, Laurie and his grandfather, John Brooke, Aunt March, Beth's scarlet fever, Jo's stories, Amy's European tour, Professor Bhaer and Plumfield. It also digs into the real Alcotts of Concord — the sisters behind Meg, Beth and Amy, Orchard House, publisher Thomas Niles and the sequels Little Men and Jo's Boys — plus the screen versions from Katharine Hepburn in 1933 and June Allyson in 1949 to Winona Ryder in 1994 and Greta Gerwig's Oscar-winning 2019 film with Saoirse Ronan, Florence Pugh and Timothée Chalamet. Early questions suit anyone who read it once at school; later ones reward readers who know which Bunyan book the chapters echo and who really burned Jo's manuscript. Every answer was checked against encyclopaedia entries before publishing.
30 of 100 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01When Father falls ill in Washington, what does Jo sell to help pay for the trip?
Her hair
Her hair, called her one beauty, fetched $25 for the trip, and Jo laughed it off to the family, then sobbed into her pillow that night while Meg comforted her.
Q 02What happens to Beth's canary during the girls' week without chores?
He starves
He starves because Beth forgot to feed him, and after his funeral the girls admit Marmee was right that all play and no work turns out badly.
Q 03What is the second volume of Little Women called in the United Kingdom?
Good Wives
Good Wives, the British title for Part Two, suits a volume that opens with Meg's wedding and ends with Jo, Meg and Amy all married.
Q 04What happens to Amy soon after she burns Jo's manuscript?
She falls through the ice
She falls through the ice while trailing an angry Jo on a skating trip, and after Jo and Laurie pull her out, Jo confesses her temper to Marmee, who admits she once had one too.
Q 05The March girls' secret Pickwick Club takes its name from a novel by which author?
Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens supplied the club's name and the members' aliases, and when Jo revealed Laurie hiding in the closet, he joined and built a post office in the hedge.
Q 06At the start of Little Women, where is Mr. March?
Serving as a chaplain in the Union Army
Serving as a chaplain in the Union Army, Mr. March writes asking his girls to conquer their faults so he can come home fonder and prouder than ever of his little women.
Q 07Why does Jo avoid dancing at the Gardiners' New Year's Eve party?
Her dress is scorched
Her dress is scorched at the back from standing too near the fire, so Jo hides in a curtained recess, where she meets the shy Laurence boy from next door.
Q 08What secret about Meg's missing glove does Laurie tell Jo?
Mr. Brooke has it
Mr. Brooke has it, Laurie reveals, expecting Jo to find it romantic, but she is disgusted and wishes he hadn't told her, since it means someone might take Meg away.
Q 09What are the names of Meg and John's twins?
Daisy and Demi
Daisy and Demi so absorbed Meg that John began spending evenings out, until Marmee urged her to let him share in raising Demi and to make home a place he wanted to be.
Q 10What illness does Beth catch from the Hummel family?
Scarlet fever
Scarlet fever reached Beth when she went to the Hummels after Meg and Jo put it off, and the baby died in her lap; she recovered but was never as healthy again.
Q 11While staying with Aunt March during Beth's illness, what does Amy write?
Her will
Her will, witnessed by Laurie, got a codicil once Amy asked about adding postscripts: all her curls were to be cut off and shared among her friends.
Q 12What does Amy tell Laurie that Rome taught her about her painting?
Talent isn't genius
Talent isn't genius, Amy decided in Rome, and the idea stuck with Laurie, who later tore up his own music sheets, admitting she was right about him too.
Q 13What does Jo do when Laurie proposes?
Declines
Declines, telling Laurie she has tried to love him that way but cannot, so his grandfather takes the heartbroken young man abroad to help him recover.
Q 21In which Massachusetts home did Louisa May Alcott write Little Women?
Orchard House
Orchard House is where Alcott dashed off Part One within three months, writing in her bedroom at a shelf desk her father had built for her.
Q 22Which member of the Alcott family illustrated the first edition of Little Women?
May
May, who inspired Amy, struggled with those first pictures, made before she studied art in Europe, but she later improved and found real success as an artist.
Q 23Which real person was Meg based on?
Alcott's sister Anna
Anna's husband John Bridge Pratt was the model for John Brooke.
Q 14What does Jo write anonymously in New York for extra money?
Salacious romance stories
Professor Bhaer's disapproval persuades her to give up the genre.
Q 15What subject does a fellow boarder teach Jo in New York?
German
German was the bargain: when Professor Bhaer found Jo secretly mending his clothes, he insisted on repaying her with lessons, and four lessons in she stuck fast in grammar.
Q 16What does Aunt March leave Jo when she dies?
Her estate, Plumfield
Her estate, Plumfield, became a school, with Friedrich to teach, Jo to mother the pupils, and Mr. Laurence paying the way for the poorest ones.
Q 17What is the name of Laurie and Amy's daughter?
Elizabeth 'Bess'
Elizabeth 'Bess', named for her late aunt Beth, was so fragile that the fear of losing her drew Amy and Laurie even closer together.
Q 18Which allegory do the March girls constantly reference and 'play'?
The Pilgrim's Progress
The Pilgrim's Progress was the girls' childhood game, with bundles for burdens and the housetop as the Celestial City, and Marmee has them play it again in earnest against their faults.
Q 19Which Alcott novel is the last about the March family?
Jo's Boys
Jo's Boys closes the March story with Jo a famous author, worn out by the fans who write for autographs and walk into her house uninvited.
Q 20Which publisher urged Alcott to write 'a girl's book'?
Thomas Niles
Thomas Niles pressed Alcott for a girls' book though she doubted she knew enough about girls, and she finally agreed to try, drawing the Marches from her own family.
Q 24Just before Professor Bhaer proposes, what reason does Jo give for crying?
He is going away
He is going away to teach out West, Jo sobs in the rain, and the delighted Professor answers that he has nothing but love to give, proposing right there under his umbrella.
Q 25Why does Aunt Carrol take Amy abroad, not Jo?
Jo dislikes favors
Jo dislikes favors, she declared, saying they made her feel like a slave, and that remark plus her scorn for French cost her the trip, which went to the more docile Amy.
Q 26Who played Jo in George Cukor's 1933 film of Little Women?
Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Hepburn had the costume designer copy one of Jo's dresses from a dress her own grandmother wore in an old photograph.
Q 27Who played Amy in the 1949 colour film of Little Women?
Elizabeth Taylor
Elizabeth Taylor played Amy, who in this version is several years older than Beth, though in the novel Beth is thirteen and Amy only twelve.
Q 28Who played Jo in the 1994 film of Little Women?
Winona Ryder
Winona Ryder was the studio's condition: Columbia said it would consider the film only if she played Jo.
Q 29Which two actresses shared the role of Amy in the 1994 film of Little Women?
Kirsten Dunst and Samantha Mathis
Kirsten Dunst and Samantha Mathis shared Amy after the filmmakers weighed one actress for both ages and decided a child turning adult didn't work.
Q 30Who played Laurie in the 1994 film of Little Women?
Christian Bale
Christian Bale was cast as Laurie on the recommendation of the actress who played Jo.