How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #10
"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.