Little Women

Amy reminds Jo that she gave her a sketch of Beth and in return expects that Jo will accompany her to make house calls to their various acquaintances. Jo, however, “hated calls of the formal sort, and never made any till Amy compelled her with a bargain, bribe or promise” (308). Jo agrees, however, as she has given her word.

Trying to dress Jo is a feat that Amy manages with careful scrutiny, and when Jo is deemed presentable, the sisters start for their first call: the Chesters. Jo, deciding to be mischievous, takes Amy’s advice to be “calm, cool, and quiet” (310) to heart and does not speak at all, which leads one of the ladies to remark, upon the girls’ departure, “What a haughty, uninteresting creature that oldest Miss March is” (311). Jo laughs, while Amy is miserable and requests that she be more talkative at the next house, the Lambs. Jo pledges to be “a charming girl” (311). However, she plays the same joke on Amy by acting precisely as she says. At the Lambs, she imitates May Chester to their delight and makes jokes about the escapades that Amy took when they were younger. These include rowing over the river to ride a horse and painting old white boots blue—which, to Amy’s chagrin, revealed their poverty.