"Jo, dear, I want to say one thing, and then we'll put it by forever. As I told you in my letter when I wrote that Amy had been so kind to me, I never shall stop loving you, but the love is altered, and I have learned to see that it is better as it is. Amy and you changed places in my heart, that's all. I think it was meant to be so, and would have come about naturally, if I had waited, as you tried to make me, but I never could be patient, and so I got a heartache. I was a boy then, headstrong and violent, and it took a hard lesson to show me my mistake. For it was one, Jo, as you said, and I found it out, after making a fool of myself. Upon my word, I was so tumbled up in my mind, at one time, that I didn't know which I loved best, you or Amy, and tried to love you both alike. But I couldn't, and when I saw her in Switzerland, everything seemed to clear up all at once. You both got into your right places, and I felt sure that it was well off with the old love before it was on with the new, that I could honestly share my heart between sister Jo and wife Amy, and love them dearly." (43.47)
Laurie's explanation of how he came to fall in love with Amy and feel a more platonic, brotherly love for Jo is, well, convoluted. Do you buy it? Do you think that two people can "change places in...[your] heart" in that way? Well, maybe we shouldn't be so quick to judge. The only thing more complicated than romance is…OK, we can't think of anything. Maybe the United Nations. Or instructions from Ikea. What we're trying to say is, love isn't always what it seems to be at first.
"Oh, Jo, can't you?"
"Teddy, dear, I wish I could!"
That was all, except a little pause. Then Laurie straightened himself up, said, "It's all right, never mind," and went away without another word. Ah, but it wasn't all right, and Jo did mind, for while the curly head lay on her arm a minute after her hard answer, she felt as if she had stabbed her dearest friend, and when he left her without a look behind him, she knew that the boy Laurie never would come again. (35.93-95)
Unfortunately, Jo can't choose between being Laurie's friend and being his wife. When she rejects his proposal of marriage, things change between them forever, and she sacrifices the relationship they did have on the altar of truth.
Quote 3
"We're an ambitious set, aren't we? Every one of us, but Beth, wants to be rich and famous, and gorgeous in every respect. I do wonder if any of us will ever get our wishes," said Laurie, chewing grass like a meditative calf. (13.57)
The ambitions and desires that the March girls and Laurie describe actually seem to be pulling them apart from one another. As they pursue their various desires, they will leave home, some of them traveling as far as Europe, others finding homes and relationships of their own. Intriguingly, however, Alcott suggests that Beth's lack of ambition and love for home is more praiseworthy than everyone else's restlessness.