Anne of Green Gables, the beloved classic by L.M. Montgomery, captures the essence of childhood with its vivid portrayal of Anne Shirley, an imaginative and spirited orphan.
Through Anne's eyes, readers experience the unbridled joy, boundless curiosity, and occasional heartache that define the early years of life.
Set against the backdrop of the idyllic Prince Edward Island, the novel explores the highs and lows of growing up, from the innocent wonder of discovering the world to the trials of fitting in and finding one's place. Montgomery's rich storytelling and nuanced characters bring to life the universal experiences of childhood, resonating with readers of all ages.
INTRODUCTION
By modern standards, Montgomery's emphasis on good manners and moral lessons may seem heavy-handed, but Anne's life is far from dull, and most readers see encouraging parallels between themselves and her.
Montgomery captures the happy side of childhood: the excitement of finding a “bosom friend”, creating a romantic fantasy world, and receiving small privileges. Anne experiences the bleaker aspects of childhood as well: the loneliness of the outsider, the sense of being unattractive, and the grief of losing someone very dear.
Most of Anne's triumphs follow extreme embarrassment. Her imagination, impulsiveness, and tendency to talk too much lead to one misadventure after another. Still, through a combination of resourcefulness and good luck, Anne manages to avoid any dire consequences.
BACKGROUND
Anne of Green Gables and all but one of its sequels take place in the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island near the end of the 19th century.
Montgomery consistently emphasizes place; each book in the series contains a thorough and affectionate description of Prince Edward Island.
However, Montgomery leaves the temporal setting vague, possibly because she wants her work to seem timeless, equally applicable in any age, or possibly because she wants to create in Avonlea a magical place outside the realm of ordinary times. Montgomery refers only twice in the entire series to events that place her fiction in historical context: the Crimean War (which ended in 1856) has occurred a generation or two in the past, and World War I is an event of the remote future.
Montgomery captures the innocence of peaceful times in simple farm communities where political awareness is limited to contests between the Liberal and Conservative parties for control of the province and where even the best informed citizens seem oblivious to the intrigues of world politics.
THEMES AND CHARACTERS
Anne of Green Gables begins as an orphanage mistakenly sends 11-year-old Anne Shirley to the Cuthberts, who want to adopt a boy.
Matthew Cuthbert takes pity on Anne and insists that she stay at Green Gables. Anne finds a “kindred spirit” in Matthew, and she changes his life. A reticent bachelor, his concern for Anne forces him to overcome his overwhelming shyness with girls and women, and to be more sensitive to others' feelings. His pride in her motivates Anne to excel, and his death devastates her.
Matthew's undemonstrative sister Marilla reluctantly agrees to adopt Anne. A self-described “old maid”, Marilla has no experience of raising children. Believing that she must be especially strict to compensate for her brother's “softness”, Marilla never expresses amusement, praises Anne, or misses an opportunity to teach a lesson in morals or etiquette.
Although she actually feels as much love and pride as Matthew does, she keeps her feelings hidden.
The residents of the rural village Avonlea, Anne's new home, frequently misunderstand her active imagination and the sophisticated vocabulary that she insists on showing off.
Her impulsiveness and quick temper further complicate her relationships with neighbours and classmates. However, she is thrilled to have a home of her own, and the vivid imagination that sometimes gets her in trouble also consoles her when she is lonely or bored, enables her to see the best in others, and helps her to adjust to her new life.
When Anne first arrives in Avonlea, her harshest critic is the Cuthberts' nearest neighbour, the fundamentally good-hearted gossip Mrs Rachel Lynde. Although she never fully understands Anne or appreciates her unusual beauty, Mrs Lynde eventually accepts the girl almost as one of her own children.
Two of Anne's schoolmates figure prominently in the novel as well.
Diana Barry, her first Avonlea friend of her own age, is Anne's opposite in physical appearance and embodies Anne's ideal of beauty. Diana has dark hair, dimples, and a plump figure. More conventional and less imaginative than Anne, she readily submits to her friend's leadership. On the day they meet, Anne and Diana exchange a vow of “bosom friendship” that remains strong throughout the series. Another schoolmate who plays a role in Anne's development is Gilbert Blythe, who becomes more important as the series progresses.
Gilbert is Anne's only intellectual equal in the Avonlea school, and he teases her so incessantly that she refuses to speak to him throughout much of Anne of Green Gables. Their competition spurs both on to greater academic achievement, and Anne's anger gradually fades until, in the closing chapter, they become friends.
Anne's remarkable intelligence and imagination prove Montgomery's theme that girls are every bit as capable as boys.
After getting to know Anne, the Cuthberts wonder why they were ever so intent on adopting a boy. They learn that people should be judged on their individual merits, regardless of their sex.
Throughout the novel, Montgomery emphasizes that appearances and first impressions can be deceiving. For instance, Mrs Lynde initially calls Anne an ugly child, and Anne herself believes it. She is pale, tall, thin, clumsy, and her eyes are too big and her hair too red. However, by the end of the book, others regard Anne as graceful and beautiful.
Montgomery also develops the contrast between real goodness and the appearance of goodness. Anne is a good person because she is both truthful and thoughtful. On the other hand, the thoughtless tell-tale Josie Pye uses truth to hurt others. Josie cannot be considered a good person because of her lack of sensitivity.
Like many other writers of the early 20th century, Montgomery includes some blatant lessons in proper behaviour. In Anne of Green Gables, she advises readers against harbouring excessive pride. Anne's pride often causes unhappiness for herself and others.
Each time she overcomes her pride, she gains a new friend and achieves a desired goal.
Anne of Green Gables addresses social problems of the early 20th century. Writing before American women even had the right to vote, Montgomery reiterates that boys and girls are equally intelligent and talented. Many of the author’s ideas were progressive for 1908. For instance, all the capable graduates of the Avonlea school, whether male or female, continue their studies at Redmond College.
Montgomery stresses the importance of a good education and the need for enthusiastic, caring teachers. Miss Muriel Stacy's sympathy and encouragement motivate her students far more effectively than does Mr Phillips's sarcasm. Other books in the series explore teachers' qualifications and the process of teacher selection.
Anne of Green Gables also reflects some of the negative attitudes of 1908. Although some characters leave Avonlea, many residents believe that people should spend their entire lives in the same place. Most townspeople not only are convinced that Prince Edward Island is the best place in the world but are suspicious of any idea or person not native to the area.
Townspeople especially dislike “Yankees”; they consider French-speaking Canadians intellectually and socially inferior, and treat them with condescension.
LITERARY STYLE
Anne of Green Gables features an episodic plot; that is, the narrative consists of a series of minor conflicts, most of which are quickly resolved.
The resolutions to these conflicts are sometimes dependent on chance or coincidence, but as a whole, Anne's varied adventures keep the plot interesting and create suspense. The many details that Montgomery provides about Anne reveal the character's good qualities and her faults.
Overall, Anne is very much like the children in other early 20th-century novels: agreeable, optimistic, and talented.
Montgomery's novel falls into the literary tradition established by Horatio Alger, an author who published during the last third of the 19th century a series of extraordinarily popular “rags-to-riches” stories. Alger's works describe the successes of young orphans who are intelligent, hard-working, ambitious, good-natured, and honourable—in short, ideal young people according to the standards of the time. Although Anne Shirley never quite becomes the “model child” she wants to be, her triumphs in Avonlea follow the Horatio Alger pattern, since she starts out as an unwanted orphan and becomes one of the most beloved children in Avonlea.
Like Alger's orphans, Anne wins the acceptance of others through her unyielding determination to develop all of her talents.
TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION
One criticism of Anne of Green Gables is that, although Montgomery claims that Anne has a number of flaws, her faults are minor ones, such as daydreaming and talking too much. Is Anne a believable character, or does she possess more talents, virtues, and knowledge than could be reasonably expected in a girl her age?
Before the end of the novel, Anne has silenced all of her critics and won almost all the honours for which she has competed. Are her successes believable, or does good luck play too big a role in her conquests?
Throughout the book, Anne uses her imagination, at times improving her situation and on occasion causing trouble for herself and others. Using specific examples, discuss the positive and the negative effects of her imagination.
Even though Anne is relatively independent in her attitudes, conformity or the sense of belonging is important to her. In what ways does she want to be like others, and in what ways is she willing to be different? Would a girl today share her attitudes?
What was Anne's life like before she came to Green Gables? How do her past experiences affect her personality?
How does Anne make friends at the Avonlea school? Would an 11-year-old like Anne be accepted as quickly in a modern school? Why or why not?
Anne makes many friends in Avonlea, but some of these friendships are very special. Who are her “special” friends, and why are these relationships unique?
Anne is changed by her contact with Marilla Cuthbert, Rachel Lynde, Muriel Stacy, and Mrs Allen. How do the personalities and attitudes of these women differ? How do they influence Anne?
Anne and Gilbert always compete for the top position in their class. Would either be as successful without the spur of their competition?
When people meet Anne, they react in different ways. How does Montgomery use such reactions to reveal the personalities of these other characters?
Some of Anne's “accidents” are caused by her romantic daydreaming, but not all of them are totally her fault. In which episodes does Anne cause her own problems, and in which is she more or less a victim of circumstance?
RELATED WORKS AND ADAPTATIONS
Montgomery wrote six sequels to Anne of Green Gables: Anne of Avonlea (1909), Chronicles of Avonlea (1912), Anne of the Island (1915), Anne's House of Dreams (1917), Anne of Windy Poplars (1936), and Anne of Ingleside (1939).
Generally considered the best novel in the series, Anne of Green Gables introduces several important characters who reappear in the sequels. Anne of Avonlea relates Anne's two years as the Avonlea schoolmarm and the developing friendship between Anne and Gilbert Blythe.
Anne of the Island depicts Anne's four years at Redmond College in Nova Scotia. During this period Diana Barry marries and has children, and Anne and Gilbert become engaged. In Anne of Windy Poplars, Anne recounts her experiences as the principal of Summerside High School in a series of letters to Gilbert, who is attending medical school at Redmond College.
Through a combination of charm, intelligence, and good luck, Anne again succeeds in befriending almost everyone in the community. The novel ends as she departs for Avonlea to marry Gilbert. Anne's House of Dreams describes Anne and Gilbert's wedding and their first three years together in a small rented house halfway between Glen St Mary and Four Winds Point. In the closing pages Gilbert purchases Ingleside, a house in Glen St Mary. Anne of Ingleside relates the experiences of Gilbert, Anne, and their six children.
The other book in the Anne series, Chronicles of Avonlea, is a collection of stories about other residents of the Avonlea area. Anne appears as a minor character in a few of these stories.
The first cinema adaptation of Anne of Green Gables was a silent film produced by Realart Pictures in 1919. RKO Radio Pictures released a film version of Anne of Green Gables in 1934, followed by Anne of Windy Poplars in 1940.
In 1937 the Samuel French Company published Wilbur Braun's dramatic adaptation of Anne of Green Gables, and in 1972 the same company published Donald Harron's musical version, which had been presented annually since 1965 at the Charlottetown Summer Festival in Prince Edward Island.
A television version, adapted by Julia Jones and produced by the BBC, was broadcast in 1972, followed in 1975 by a second series adapted from Anne of Avonlea and Anne of the Island.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Lucy Maud Montgomery, called Maud by her friends, wrote more than 20 books for young adults, the most famous of which are Anne of Green Gables and its sequels.
She devised the Anne series for teenage girls, drawing on her own life for many of her protagonist Anne Shirley's experiences.
Montgomery was a native of Prince Edward Island, Canada, born in Clifton on November 30, 1874, to Hugh John and Clara Woolner Macneill Montgomery. A few months before Montgomery's second birthday, her mother died, and she was sent to live with her maternal grandparents on a farm much like Green Gables.
After her father moved to Saskatchewan, Montgomery experienced the kind of extreme loneliness Anne describes having felt in early childhood. At the age of 12, she went to live with her father and new stepmother, and devoted much time to helping with her half-brother and half-sister. However, conflicts with her stepmother led Montgomery to return to her grandparents' home.
At 19, Montgomery entered Prince of Wales College in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. Having received two teaching certificates, she taught for three years, before leaving the profession to care for her grandmother.
Montgomery had written articles and verse since her teens, and by 1901 US publishing houses had begun to accept her work. L. C. Page Company of Boston published Anne of Green Gables in 1908. The novel quickly went through four editions, and Mark Twain wrote Montgomery a personal note praising the central character.
On July 5, 1911, Montgomery married Ewan Macdonald, a Presbyterian minister. They had two sons—Chester Cameron (1912) and Ewan Stuart (1915)—and another son (1914) was stillborn. Montgomery's belief that her personality and values were incompatible with those required of a minister's wife, combined with her husband's declining mental health, made for an unhappy marriage.
Conflict plagued Montgomery's professional career as well. From 1920 to 1928 she was involved in a series of lawsuits with the Page Company, primarily about royalties and publication rights. She won all the suits and appeals but at great financial and emotional expense.
Following nervous breakdowns in 1937 and 1940, her health remained poor, and she died in Toronto on April 24, 1942.