Anne of Green Gables Read by Variety of Readers
I have wanted to visit Canada'due south Prince Edward Isle since I was 12 years old and beginning fell in love with Anne of Green Gables. As a tween, I read that book at least three times, and also read the seven additional books that brand up the whole serial. I knew that Anne (with an 'e,' which is how my middle proper name at the time read, as well) was a fictional grapheme, but I also knew that that the evocative setting of her life was not. While I could meet Anne Shirley simply in my imagination, I could literally walk in the footprints of her imagined steps across the island that inspired Anne'due south creator, Lucy Maud Montgomery.
It only took me 44 years to go there. Life, parenting and work make it the manner, and of a sudden you lot're middle-aged, and your children are older than Anne was (11) in the offset book. Only my dream of visiting persisted, so when iii fellow Domer women and I — who first befriended each other during our London semester in 1983 — batted around the idea of a wheel excursion, I went for it. A pilgrimage to PEI seemed ideal, eh?
In preparation, we decided to reread the first volume in the Anne series. Biking 50 to 60 kilometers each day for five days (a tour curated by PEI Cycling Tours) would take us past several pilgrimage sites, including Green Gables Heritage Place (a lovely national historic site), the Anne of Greenish Gables museum and Montgomery's birthplace. We wanted to be ready.
First published in 1908, Anne of Green Gables was an "instant bestseller," according to a sign at the heritage site. It turns out that much of Anne'due south experience is based on her creator's ain lonely babyhood. Montgomery'due south mother died when she was a toddler, and her father moved across Canada to first a new family. Raised past her stern grandparents, Montgomery resorted to imaginary friends, which included her reflection in her grandmother's china chiffonier. (Anne describes a similar friend named Katie Maurice from her miserable pre-Greenish Gables days.)
Whose heart doesn't get out to Anne Shirley? Initially, she is not but alone and overworked past the families who keep her as a very young nanny, she is also unwanted. Then Marilla Cuthbert, a stiff spinster, and her agonizingly shy available brother, Matthew, adopt Anne past mistake (they had wanted a boy to help around the farm). Throughout the novel, Marilla is and then intent upon non spoiling her charge that Anne has no thought, at to the lowest degree as a kid, that Marilla truly loves her. Montgomery's novel carries a criticism of a Christianity that has rules and rods at its centre, rather than love.
Landscapes such equally this ane forth PEI's Confederation Trail form the backdrop to L.M. Montgomery'southward Anne series. Photos courtesy of the author.
E'er seeking "telescopic for the imagination" (a term I loved as a kid), Anne gets into mischief, virtually of information technology unintentional. When I realized that a well-remembered scene was coming, I couldn't wait to read again how Anne accidentally served her all-time friend, Diana Barry, three glasses of Marilla's homemade currant wine, thinking it was only "raspberry cordial." Mrs. Barry is livid and forbids the girls' "bosom friendship." Only later on, when Anne proves her calmness and competency in the confront of any crunch and saves Diana's younger sister, Minnie May, from the croup, does Mrs. Barry forgive her and allow Anne into their lives over again.
Like another popular fictional orphan, Harry Potter, Anne creates her own magic, simply not in a parallel earth of wizards and witches. Her boundless imagination is the source of her magic. When she arrives in the fictional Avonlea (based on Cavendish, where Montgomery grew up), Anne evocatively renames places to reflect their inner magic: the Lake of Shining Waters, the Haunted Woods, Lover'due south Lane. An avid reader, she later imagines herself to be Tennyson'due south "Lady of Shalott" floating downward to Camelot, and nearly drowns while reenacting information technology. Anne sees the world differently from virtually of us, encouraging readers to imagine life's endless possibilities.
En route to the dunes at Greenwich National Park.
It'due south gratifying to realize that your younger self had taste — even when the volume you're rereading is considered a classic mainly for young, female readers. While Montgomery'due south memorable character has non inspired the number of retellings and spinoffs that Jane Austen'south certainly have, I detect a lot of similarities in the two writers' portrayals of small-town foibles and idiosyncrasies. Montgomery's satirical depiction of certain characters — such as the nosy but well-significant Mrs. Linde or the provincial Mrs. Barry — is mostly subtle and kind, but also quite amusing.
Did 12-twelvemonth-former me appreciate the social comedy? I have to wonder as I chuckle at Mrs. Linde's abiding distaste for Americans. And what about this wonderful introduction? "Here sat Marilla Cuthbert, when she sat at all, e'er slightly distrustful of sunshine, which seemed to her likewise dancing and irresponsible a thing for a globe which was meant to be taken seriously." Anne, of course, inspires Marilla to loosen up and enjoy life more.
Anne herself has faults galore, including her fiery temper and her persistent grudge against the handsome Gilbert Blythe for calling her "carrots." But she also has a stiff sense of justice and willingness to buck the organization. Later in the series, when Anne becomes a teacher, she eschews corporal punishment (the accustomed disciplinary tool of the fourth dimension) and instead works hard to win the hearts and minds of her students.
Overlooking the Gulf of St. Lawrence from Cape Tryon: Amy Brecount White, Beth Fraser, Patti Kelly and Lisa Carrizales Revord, all Class of 1985.
Equally an author of fiction, I know the challenges of creating a setting that breathes and evokes. Rereading Anne, I understand why I've carried this strong desire to visit Prince Edward Island. While Montgomery'southward eloquence may wax too poetic for some readers, peculiarly on the delights of nature, I found it inspirational and lovely.
Consider this scene: After a successful recitation (a popular form of amusement in those days), the unworldly Anne and her girlfriends reverberate on the pearls and diamonds they saw some of the attendees wearing. Anne insists on the richness of their own lives and experiences: "Wait at that ocean, girls — all silver and shadow and vision of things non seen. We couldn't bask its loveliness whatsoever more if we had millions of dollars and ropes of diamonds."
Attuned to reality and to her characters, Montgomery counters Anne's exuberance with her friend Jane's more than practical ascertainment that "diamonds would condolement a person for a skillful deal." But Anne — both the character and the series — insists again and once again on the lasting wealth that the world'due south beauty, true friendship and a good volume tin can bring u.s..
The house that inspired it all, at the Dark-green Gables Heritage Identify.
Anne of Dark-green Gables shows how one vibrant life tin can radiate outward and change everything around it. Anne's delight in the natural world and her beau beings is contagious, and she transforms and uplifts everyone and everything in her path. She causes the reticent Matthew to blossom. At 1 indicate, Marilla wonders how she lived earlier Anne came into her life like a shining beam. And I am so very glad to accept made Anne Shirley'due south reacquaintance.
If you haven't read Anne recently or — gasp — have never met her, add together the novel to your pile. Meliorate even so, read information technology out loud to your favorite tween and see the world through Montgomery's lyrical and appreciative lens together.
Every bit I rode my cycle through the haystack-dotted farmlands and forth PEI's gorgeous coastline, I did my all-time to appreciate every blooming wildflower and every passing deject in our path. Anne's indomitable, kindred spirit and joie de vivre will keep to inspire my ain adventures and bust friendships.
Amy Brecount White writes nigh travel, pedagogy, families and gardening. She's the author of Forget-Her-Nots (Greenwillow/ HarperCollins), a young developed novel about bloom magic, and is wrapping upward a women'southward novel chosen Reality Boutonniere.
Source: https://magazine.nd.edu/stories/what-im-reading-anne-of-green-gables-lucy-maud-montgomery/
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