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| Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery |
It is the late 1800s at Green Gables in the fictional town of Avonlea on Prince Edward Island. Geriatric Matthew and Matilda Cuthbert reached a point where they needed help on the farm. So they applied to an orphanage to take on a boy old enough for the job. Instead they get Anne Shirley, a loquacious, dreamy, eleven-year-old girl.
“Isn't it splendid to think of all the
things there are to find out about? It just makes me feel glad to be
alive--it's such an interesting world. It wouldn't be half so interesting if we
know all about everything, would it? There'd be no scope for imagination then,
would there? But am I talking too much? People are always telling me I do.
Would you rather I didn't talk? If you say so I'll stop. I can STOP when I make
up my mind to it, although it's difficult.”
She charms them in to letting her stay. As she struggles to
adjust to life on the farm and school, she proves a challenge. Both grudgingly
fall in love with her and decide to keep her.
“Because when you are imagining, you might as well imagine something
worthwhile.”
The story is told by an omniscient narrator in third person.
The pace is deliberately slow and the tone lighthearted.
“It's been my experience that you can nearly
always enjoy things if you make up your mind firmly that you will.”
The protagonist is quirky and spunky. Her secret weapons are
her imagination and resiliency.
"Nothing could rob her of her
birthright of fancy or her ideal world of dreams."
When her world disappoints, even cuts when Matthew Cuthbert
dies, she embraces her fate with courage and determination.
“Anne always remembered the silvery,
peaceful beauty and fragrant calm of that night. It was the last night before
sorrow touched her life; and no life is ever quite the same again when once
that cold, sanctifying touch has been laid upon it.”
The pull, of course, is the orphan finding a home through
line. The Cuthberts are decent people, though somewhat set in their ways. There
are disapproving neighbors and bullying children to fill in as antagonists, but
no one is overtly evil.
“Life is worth living as long as there's a
laugh in it.”
Montgomery's attention to detail brings the characters and
setting to life.
“Look at that sea, girls--all silver and
shadow and vision of things not seen. We couldn't enjoy its loveliness any more
if we had millions of dollars and ropes of diamonds.”
“It was November--the month of crimson sunsets, parting birds, deep, sad hymns
of the sea, passionate wind-songs in the pines. Anne roamed through the
pineland alleys in the park and, as she said, let that great sweeping wind blow
the fogs out of her soul.”
Anne finds allies in Diana, an opposites attract friendship,
and a budding love interest Gilbert Blythe. Both appreciate Anne for her
pluck and uniqueness.
“Miss Barry was a kindred spirit after
all," Anne confided to Marilla, "You wouldn't think so to look at
her, but she is. . . Kindred spirits are not so scarce as I used to think. It's
splendid to find out there are so many of them in the world.”
The book series has remained popular since its publication in
1908 and has spawned multiple film and television versions and stage
productions.
I loved this series for its warmhearted characters, the
humor, the feisty protagonist, and the thematic struggle to find a home in a
world where you've been abandoned.
The only plot hole would be that someone of her background
would not have the vocabulary and sometimes mature thought processes Anne displays.
“People laugh at me because I use big
words. But if you have big ideas, you have to use big words to express them,
haven't you?”
If there is a weakness, it is perhaps the romanticizing of
life on a farm. It is difficult work with little time for leisure.
Irresponsible acts can prove devastating. People set in their ways are unlikely
to melt so easily, especially when they need the manpower to run the farm.
“We pay a price for everything we get or
take in this world; and although ambitions are well worth having, they are not
to be cheaply won, but exact their dues of work and self-denial, anxiety and
discouragement.”
Still, it is a story of hope and finding one's way and I need
that from time to time: a little light in the darkness.
Forty years on, I still love Anne and enjoy the different
iterations of her story. The most recent adaption is the three season Anne with an E series on Netflix. Sadly it is now over.
I hope she continues to touch hearts for many generations to come.
"Dear old world", she murmured, "you
are very lovely, and I am glad to be alive in you.”
You can pick up a copy of her story here. Or download a Gutenberg ebook or audio book for
free.
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