This post choice feels a little predictable, but there’s no way around it. Anne of Green Gables, by Lucy Maud Montgomery, made a definite impression on me in my tween and teen years.
I can’t remember exactly how I first discovered this book. It might have been through my maternal grandmother, who also had other books in the “Anne” series. This grandmother was not as entertaining as our other grandmother, but she had lots of interesting books; a woods and wishing well as part of her property, and told us tales of woodland fairies and other creatures. It was all scope for the imagination.
For the uninitiated, Anne of Green Gables is about a skinny red-haired orphan named Anne Shirley who arrives at a modest farm (Green Gables) in rural Prince Edward Island in the 1870s/80s. That farm is home to an older woman (Marilla) and her brother (Matthew), neither of whom have married or have experience of children. They’d originally requested an orphan boy, in part to help on the farm, but Anne quickly captures the affections of the very shy Matthew. For this reason, as well as to save Anne from a subsequent placement with a large family needing a live-in babysitter, Marilla reluctantly agrees to take Anne on a trial.
The early part of the book is full of unfortunate scrapes Anne gets into, including an angry outburst with an outspoken pillar of the community and then a popular boy in school. She also accidently dyes her hair green in an attempt to transform the red; is on the cusp of serving a mouse-tainted dessert sauce; mistakenly gets her best friend drunk, and falls off a rooftop: the result of a dare. Amidst all this, Anne’s frequent flights of imagination, constant chatter, and focus on clothing and appearance are vexing yet gradually endearing. Despite the trouble she is often in, her intentions are most often good, and she ultimately finds a permanent adoptive home at Green Gables..
As relationships with the key people in her life: Marilla, Matthew, and best friend Diana grow more secure, Anne’s mishaps quiet down and she begins to blossom both academically and socially. As well, she eventually lets go of a long-standing grudge against that popular boy in school. There's even a hint of pending romance as the book ends.
The great thing about revisiting books that have meant a lot to me is I get to read them again and reflect on how a book impacted my younger self. I also have the opportunity to read the book with fresh eyes, enjoying it through a lens of intervening life experience and matured values.
Years ago, several aspects of Anne of Green Gables stood out for me. One was its highly descriptive language. As Anne travels for the first time to Green Gables, I felt right there with her, absorbing every aspect of the experience and eager to continue the journey. I was also a little in awe of her spunkiness. She wanted to be accepted, but also spoke out if threatened. As a young person still living in an era of "children are seen and not heard," I was in awe and delighted. Anne’s intense and enduring friendship with Diana was another draw, as was the fact that the story was set in Canada: a rarity in my junior book collection.
Reading this book again today, I appreciate some of the same things, including the highly descriptive prose, particularly as it applies to the beauty and natural world of rural PEI. In my present-day crankiness though, I was less enthralled with Anne’s incessant chatter, non-stop energy, and easy distraction. I couldn’t help thinking that in today’s world Marilla and Matthew might be urged to seek out an assessment. Yet, ultimately, her high energy and imaginative thinking didn’t seem to set her back, except for some scolding from Marilla.
As well, while I can understand the source of orphan Anne’s neediness and quest for reassurance, it sometimes felt like a lot, particularly in her initial meetings with Diana. Perhaps that’s a sign of changed times—today we may be less willing to be openly vulnerable—or perhaps I am just cranky. That said, I now appreciate, much more than before, the important role of a secure home and loving but firm guidance on the positive emotional growth of a child. Not every loving adoptive home ends up raising an academically excellent, responsible, socially poised Anne Shirley, but there’s a lot to be said for the power of love, acceptance, constancy, and few enforced house rules.
While the story is dated in many respects, the end of the book reflects an ageless dilemma: pursue ambition or put family first. When Matthew dies and family finances are strained, Anne makes the difficult decision to decline a university degree scholarship and become a local teacher to support an aging Marilla at Green Gables. It's a test of character that remains instructive for readers of all ages. Anne’s path had narrowed but her generosity and optimism remained. “The joys of sincere work and worthy aspiration and congenial friendship were to be hers…and there was always the bend in the road.”
