I'm reading this book out of curiosity and am almost done with it. I understand it's a product of its time; I roll with its eccentricities, though some of them may not fit with the times. The usage of the words "ejaculate" and "queer" often is amusing. Not to mention a subplot where a teacher is supposedly grooming one of Anne's more developed classmates
Anne is a unique character. She starts at around 11 years old, but she reminds me of several characters combined: Calvin from "Calvin and Hobbes" (not a literary work, I know) because of her vocabulary and insightful thought process despite her age, Howl from the "Howl's Moving Castle" book due to how melodramatic she can be sometime, and Amelia Bedilia and Curious George due to the hijinks and situations she finds herself in. She talks A LOT and her emotional, outspoken nature is overwhelming at times. She has a wild imagination yet understands more mature concepts such as contrition and penance, though she starts a bit too immature to fully understand forgiveness. She describes her bosom buddy like a huge soulmate or spouse, like she's married. I'm inclined to believe that most married couples nowadays don't even think of their spouses like THAT. And she finds and tries to find kindred spirits in everyone.
One way to describe it is that she can be annoying yet nevertheless is refreshing at the same time. She's still virtuous yet acts her age and making her way through the world.
I'm just surprised at the sheer popularity of the character, series, and franchises. Of course, movies, TV shows, and plays were expected as adaptations. I was astonished to find there were books chronicling her life into her 70's. Not to mention I believe 2 anime series. The book supposedly sold tens of millions of copies and translated into many languages. It's a unique character, story, and series, but I don't fully understand its mass appeal and longevity.
What do you think of Anne of Green Gables?
by thunderdragon517
10 Comments
I read it as a child in India and loved it. She was joyful and innocent and her world seemed lovely and essentially uncomplicated. Like Little Women and other classics like Sweet William, she was a part of the growing up years of the reading class around the world . She is also not a part of the mean girl narrative that really went mainstream in the 90s. People did have best friends like that. A lot of letters written by big names in early 20 th century are very effusive and now being read as gay. I doubt that. I have never seen any shows etc, might be more popular in east Asia. I would still recommend to my nieces to get them to read. That is how classics are made.
The recollections of childhood are the most precious gift of nature. It’s not only capable to bring a smile to a person’s face, but also able to fill him/her with heavenly bliss and happiness.
The author in her novel depicted the juvenility of a red-headed girl named Anne. Her struggles in her early life, and how her imagination got broader with every bitter experience of life which she encountered with.
Lucy narrated how, after eleven years of Anne’s tormented life, she was adopted by siblings (Mathew and Marilla)in the Green Gables. This was the epoch of her life, it not only helped her to know who she was but, moreover, it has benefited her to nourished herself into an astonishing person.
This book is not about mere Anne, but it illustrates the adolescence of every child. It is the sentiments, desires, expressions, and longings of every youth.
It is the verbalized and unverbalized utterances of every juvenile. This book is wholesome.
This book also teaches us growing up is not everything but to enjoy every aspect of life is that what matters, like once the authoress said; ‘If you can’t be cheerful, be as cheerful as you can’.
This may be my experience, but I think it may be easy to miss that while TODAY we have loads of quirky female protagonist, back then, they did not.
Hell, even during my lifetime, this has changed. Anne helped me see I could be myself instead of always trying for perfection. She helped me see the beauty in the mess.
It’s rare to find that. Anime does it now, and a lot of YA books, but it’s still new in literary terms. For a lot of us, Anne’s adventures were liberating.
As an undiagnosed neurodivergent child, Anne of Green Gables made me ‘feel seen’. I no longer felt like my weirdness meant there was something wrong with me. I related to her more than I related to any of the other children around me. It’s not exaggerating for me to state that this book was a lifeline for me growing up. I’m not sure I would have survived being bullied throughout primary school if I had not found this book.
It’s a period series like Little House on the Prarie.
They use old fashioned words and use words in old fashioned ways (like how “Gay” used to mean “happy” and not sexually attracted to other males).
She’s an orphan, who was used as free house labor for most of her childhood, and her only amusement was her imagination. And the books she could read, or her interpretations of the religious sermons and texts she had access to. So her imagination grew in misery.
Because she was an orphan free laborer, she dreamed of finding a found family. A best best friend, a real home, love, school, acceptance etc. she missed out on a lot of that for 11 years so she needs more and drives harder for those things.
That’s why her words, her imagination, her dreams and her love are big.
It was published in 1908.
The first Calvin and Hobbs was in 1985
Howl’s moving castle was in 1986
The first Amelia Bedelia was in 1963
The first Curious George was in 1941
Anne of Green Gables predates everyone of these.
I loved it and still do, my 9yr old daughter loves it as well.
I have my own connections to the Canadian TV series as I worked with many actors from it, my husband as well. And on the newer series, which I do not like because they took a story that I felt should be left alone and made it darker, but many loved that adaptation.
I think it’s pretty timeless and charming, but does have subjects about death, forgiveness, betrayal, poverty and love throughout so many ages can enjoy it. The supporting characters are also well developed.
Why should the use of the words queer and ejaculate be amusing? Queer means strange, and it’s only relatively recently that the word has been co-opted as a synonym of homosexual. Same thing with gay, which just means happy. There’s nothing peculiar about an older work using them with their original meanings, since this new usage did not even exist then. So if you read in a proper old book that the main character went to a gay party, it just means happy or jovial.
The situation with ejaculate is slightly different. It comes from a Latin word meaning expelling, but the sexual meaning has been around for centuries (it can be traced back to the 16th century). However, it has more meanings than the sexual one. The meaning of “exclaim suddenly” can be traced back to the 17th century. Local usage would determine if the sexual connotation is too strong to use with a non-sexual meaning or not. In Harry Potter, for example, it’s used with that non-sexual meaning, like in the line: “We’re not allowed to use magic?” Ron ejaculated loudly.
“Anne or Green Gables” is such a great novel. It’s cozy and amusing to read. Anne herself is likeable and she has great character development. Her habit of using her imagination was the result of upbringing since she was a baby. Before she was adopted by the Cuthberts, Anne was often being treated like a servant and she had to assist her guardians to do household chores. She never had much time finding friends and received little education so she resorted to her imagination to cope her stress. By the time she was adopted by the Cuthberts, Anne experienced being loved and understood through them and other people she met in Avonlea. As for adaptations, I only have watched the 1979 anime version and it was wonderful since said show was directed by Isao Takahata, one of the well-known directors in Japanese animation. As for its sequels, they’re either hit and miss but it was nice the author continued to write stories about Anne. “Anne of Green Gables” is definitely worth a read.
Anne is a dreamer. She’s a little strange, but I think she resonates with those of us who have lived inside of our heads, who had relatively few friends, but those we did had were those who could understand and nourish our imaginations. I’m a grown woman and my best friend and I call each other soul mates and true loves etc just being silly. I have always been the sort of person who has a head full of stories, and as a kid I often led the others in games and pretend worlds. It’s not that uncommon, especially in those who have faced some sort of trauma in their childhood.
She’s also a pre-teen, and then a teenager. The dramatics are the most believable parts of the stories. You’ll see that Matthew and Marilla are often overwhelmed by her large emotions as well, and Marilla works overtime to try and calm them.
Green Gables is timeless because Anne’s experiences and dramatics are the sorts of things many, many young women go through. Perhaps not the being an orphan shipped off to work on a farm, but the little things. That’s the appeal to me.
I will say that my grandmother read the book and she “didn’t get it” but she’s a very practical sort of person.
Even though the books were written so long ago they still stand up amazingly well. I re-read the first book a few years ago and seriously, apart from one random page where Marilla talks about being grateful they ended up with Anne instead of “some Italian boy” (lol at old-fashioned racism), they are ageless. Anne could have been me. High-spirited, nature-loving, booknerd girls everywhere see themselves in her.