i found this in the comments from the shirt creator. I still don't get it but don't remember LW that well.
"It's more or less a play on the famous I [heart] NY shirt. You can kind of read it any way you'd like, pro- or anti-Amy, but there's no big joke you're missing, except the pickled-limes story. I just wanted to do a shirt about hating Amy that riffed on the NY shirt, and the lime was only obvious symbol."
Amy got in trouble for pickled limes at school. This is the summary:
Meg and Jo laugh at Amy and ask why she needs money so badly. Amy
explains that it is fashionable at school for girls to buy pickled limes
and share them with each other. (Historical Tidbit: Apparently pickled
limes are an awesome treat for nineteenth-century schoolgirls. And yes,
that's not just a name – they're actually limes that have been pickled
in brine. We're not sure we believe they're any good either, but just
suspend your disbelief, or this chapter won't make any sense.)
Amy
has had a lot of pickled limes from other girls, but she can't return
the favor, and the other girls have said that she can't have any more
until she takes her turn providing them.
Meg takes pity on Amy
and gives her a quarter – the family's "rag money" for the month. (This
is basically like the money you get for cashing in recycling; it's what
the family gets for selling scraps of cloth from worn-out clothes and
household linens.)
The next day, Amy comes to school with a
brown paper bag of 24 pickled limes. (They cost a penny each; she
already ate one on her way there!) She shows them off before lessons
start and all the girls want to be her friend. But one girl, Jenny Snow,
was rude to Amy before, and Amy tells her she's not going to get one.
The
class begins. An important person visits the school and compliments
Amy's hand-drawn maps. This sends Jenny Snow over the edge, and she
tattles on Amy for having limes in her desk.
Unfortunately,
Amy's teacher, Mr. Davis, hates pickled limes and has banned them at
school. He calls Amy up front, humiliates her, and makes her throw the
limes out of the window. He strikes her across the hand several times
with a yardstick and then makes her stand at the front of the room until
recess.
When recess finally comes, Amy takes her things and
goes straight home. Her sisters, along with their servant Hannah, are
outraged at the way she has been treated. Her mother is angry but
doesn't say much.
Just before the school day ends, Jo takes a
note to Mr. Davis. In the note, Mrs. March informs Mr. Davis that Amy is
being withdrawn from the school.
Mrs. March tells Amy that she
is going to be home-schooled from now on. Amy feels vindicated, but then
her mother reminds her that it was still wrong for her to break the
rules and take limes to school. Mrs. March tells Amy that she needs to
be less selfish and conceited.
Re: Jokes for book lovers