Anne of Green Gables (Anne of Green Gables #1)
Lucy Maud Montgomery
Puffin Books
Published August 28, 2014 (Orig. 1908)
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About Anne of Green Gables
The cherished favorite featuring everyone’s favorite red-headed orphan, now in a deluxe hardcover edition with beautiful cover illustrations by Anna Bond, the artist behind world-renowned stationery brand Rifle Paper Co.
Anne, an eleven-year-old orphan, is sent by mistake to live with a lonely, middle-aged brother and sister on a Prince Edward Island farm and proceeds to make an indelible impression on everyone around her.
Anne Gets Into a Lot of “Scrapes”
I remember reading this series to my daughter when she was in fourth grade. We both enjoyed the wild stories about Anne, Matthew, and Marilla and their neighbors at Prince Edward Island. It’s funny reading this book now, in the days when people are so quick to challenge a book, and thinking about some of the scenes and the age group we target this book toward.
For example, Anne accidentally gets her best friend drunk, which causes no small stir. At one point, her teacher shows obvious romantic interest in one of the other students. If a middle grade book published today included those scenes, would people be so quick to accept it, the way we are with Anne of Green Gables?
Perhaps because this is a book that many parents grew up reading or hearing about, it feels like a safe story and isn’t scrutinized the same way that books being published today might be.
I love this series, and I’m not a fan of book bans, so I’m not at all arguing that we should take a closer look at classics and start banning them, too. I do think it’s appropriate to consider the historical context of the work and to reflect on classic literature through the lens of equality, to note things like references to colonialism, which may be tempting to take for granted. Noting those things helps us realize how unchallenged and accepted those ideas were in the time a particular book was written.
My Review
For me, scenes like the one in which Anne accidentally gets her best friend drunk reflect information about Anne’s character and her life before coming to Green Gables. She often gets into “scrapes,” as she calls them, over information she might have known had she grown up with Matthew and Marilla or information she would not have known had she had a more sheltered upbringing with a family on Prince Edward Island.
Her behavior routinely challenges the people in her community, who think of themselves as being the most upstanding and proper. Most often, Anne eventually charms these judgmental characters with her sincerity and exuberance. I love that about her and about the people in her life (that they allow themselves to warm to her).
I love the author’s use of the omniscient point of view. Usually I prefer a close first-person narrative, but Montgomery has a keen sense of when to zoom into a particular character’s viewpoint to deliver a meaningful observation. She reveals Marilla’s surprising love for Anne and shows Matthew’s debilitating shyness.
I also love the strong characterization of the cast. Anne remains dramatic and imaginative. Diana loves Anne’s whimsical nature but remains more practical herself. Marilla grumbles and fusses, but underneath it, her soft heart is moved by her love for others. Matthew is the sweet, softhearted, quiet man who does what needs doing without making a fuss about it.
The novel also centers women as characters, from Anne and Marilla to Mrs. Rachel Lynde, the woman who knows everything going on in the neighborhood, to Miss Stacey, Anne’s teacher, to Mrs. Allen, the minister’s wife and a mentor to Anne, to Anne’s best friend Diana and the other girls she knows from school.
Conclusion
It’s such a sweet book and so full of insight into love and humanity. My older daughter was nine when we read this book together, which turned out to be the perfect age for her.
I enjoyed this reread, and I suspect it won’t be the last time I revisit Anne of Green Gables.
Content Notes
Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.
Representation
Characters are white. Marilla has chronic headaches and a degenerative vision problem. The text describes some characters as fat, often implying that it’s an asset.
Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.
Romance/Sexual Content
Anne’s teacher has what appears to be a romantic relationship with one of the older students.
Spiritual Content
Anne attends church, and Marilla instructs her to say her prayers every night. There’s a bit of commentary about Christianity off and on throughout the book. For instance, Anne speaks critically of a minister’s prayers, saying it seems like he’s not interested in the words he’s saying or has forgotten their meaning. She questions why paintings of Jesus always show him looking so somber.
When she meets the new minister’s wife, she reflects that Mrs. Allen’s faith brings her joy and comfort and that she’s the kind of person who would be a Christian even if she didn’t need to in order to get into Heaven.
Violent Content
Brief reference to colonialism (people settling on Prince Edward Island). Anne witnesses the death of a person close to her and experiences profound grief after the loss.
Anne relates the plot of a story she’s written to Diana. The tale involves a woman who pushes her best friend off a bridge. The woman’s lover leaps into the river after her, but both drown. The story concludes with the murderer having a mental breakdown and being confined to an institution.
Drug Content
Anne mistakenly offers her best friend Diana currant wine instead of raspberry cordial. Diana drinks three glasses of the beverage and goes home drunk, scandalizing the neighborhood.
Other Negative Content
Brief body shaming. Early in the book, a neighbor criticizes Anne for being too skinny and ugly. Anne retaliates by calling the woman fat. Later, Anne suggests a schoolmate could not play the role of the fairy queen because she’s plus-sized and a fairy queen “should be thin.”
Marilla makes a derisive comment about Italians (not wanting them around or in her house).
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