Part 2: Chapter 32 Summary

When Jo returns home, she discovers that Beth's health is failing. Her fears are confirmed with Beth declines to go on a trip to the mountains. She asks Jo if they can stay closer to home and go the seashore instead.

At the seashore, Beth tells Jo the secret she alluded to in Chapter 28, as she is dying and has come to accept it. Her tears when she saw Laurie from the window came because she saw in him a vitality she knew she was slowly losing.

The girls return home and the March family begins to prepare for Amy's inevitable death.

Part 2: Chapter 32 Analysis

Another storyline moves toward a climax as Alcott makes it clear that Amy is dying. Jo now takes the role of caregiver to Amy and provider of comfort to her mother and father.

Alcott uses some...