Anne of Green Gables :: Discussion Post #1

So remember how I said I was going to participate in this read-along this month?? And then how I completely missed the twitter chat and answering these questions on the actual day of the discussion? Ah yes, I do recall that... *hides face in embarrassment*

Anyhoo, leaving out all my good intentions to be on time for ALL THE THINGS, here I am at last! I could name off all the excuses (legitimate and reasonable and logical excuses, I'll have you know!), but in the end all that matters is that I'm late. And I'm sorry. But that doesn't mean I haven't been enjoying chapters 1-13!! Because Anne is just awesome, friends. It really has been way too long since I'd spent some quality time with her! And now I am officially ready to chat all things Anne. So let's get to it, how about it?! :D

{Click over to Suey's post for more discussion!}

1. In chapter 2, when Matthew is driving Anne back to Green Gables, she asks him: “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.” Given her tragic childhood, how do you think Anne is able to maintain such a positive attitude?

Her incredible imagination! I don't think her mind ever stops turning with new thoughts and new ideas and new words, which in turn keep her distracted from the dismal things in life. Also her sheer delight in life, period! I don't think it's something she has to choose, it seems more that it's just a natural instinct for her.

2. Anne is insistent on renaming places and inanimate things.  Why do you think she does this? 

Again, I think it comes back to her imagination. Her mind is so taken with life and everything in it and it makes sense that someone with such a vivid imagination would naturally create personas around inanimate things around her. Also? I think it may partly be because of her tragic childhood. She was so starved for love and attention and her mind and heart needed someone or something to focus her immense amount of love onto. Just look at how she created two friendships basically with herself, via the mirror on the cabinet and the echo. If she couldn't find love and care via the actual people around her, it makes sense that her imagination would then force her to create an outlet of some kind. Which in turn would cause her to want to name the objects that she is "befriending".

3. Marilla gives several reasons for finally deciding to keep Anne. What reason do you think most changed her mind? 

I think it was the combination of things actually. The final kicker being the little bit of motherly care that swept up inside her, especially once she found out Anne's terrible childhood. And also the fact that few people can meet Anne and not like her! :) Marilla thinks of herself as stern and no-nonsense, but deep inside she feels a kinship with Anne's vivacity of life. It brings Marilla to life! As much as Anne's chatter may have annoyed her, yet she secretly is drawn to that. I mean, looking at Matthew and Marilla's lives, it must have been terrible lonely! Anne's presence brings joy and happy to their house and I think Marilla realized that pretty quickly, but just didn't want to admit it to herself right then.

(Also, I think Matthew's opinions hold a lot of sway for Marilla, even if she'd never admit to it!)

4. If Anne grew up today, would she have been happier with how she looked? What would she have pined for, looks- and fashion-wise? What is our society's equivalent of plumpness, dark hair, and puffed sleeves? 

I do think her red hair wouldn't bother her today like it did then. And she'd probably be much more pleased about being skinny! Yet I feel fairly certain that there'd be something she didn't like about herself. Because most of us struggle with that in some form or other. But as for what she'd pine for instead? I don't really know. Fashion and I have never really understood one another!

5. How would Anne have turned out if Marilla had let Mrs. Blewett take her? Would that life have crushed Anne's imaginative spirit, or would she have changed in a different way?

She has proven so incredibly resilient so far in her harsh life that I feel like her imaginative spirit would have endured, regardless. But it may have changed somehow. A young person, especially, can only take so much before breaking. All I know is I don't like to think about it! Marilla kept her and all's well that ends well! :)


My additional thoughts:

I do love how Anne uses such big words! I think, were she real, she would very likely drive me a bit bananas at first with all her incessant speeches. But I'd soon adjust and end up loving her just as Marilla does! :) And her penchant for naming inanimate objects? I love it!!

Also one of my very favorite things? How Matthew simply loves her immediately. It only takes one little drive and he's a goner. I adore Matthew and Anne's relationship. :)

A few favorite quotes:

"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 scope for imagination then, would there?"

"Matthew Cuthbert, you don't mean to say you think we ought to keep her!" Marilla's astonishment could not have been greater if Matthew had expressed a predilection for standing on his head.
"Well, now, no, I suppose not--not exactly," stammered Matthew, uncomfortably driven into a corner for his precise meaning. "I suppose--we could hardly be expected to keep her."
"I should say not. What good would she be to us?"
"We might be some good to her," said Matthew suddenly and unexpectedly.

"My life is a perfect graveyard of buried hopes.' That's a sentence I read in a book once, and I say it over to comfort myself whenever I'm disappointed in anything."

"Why must people kneel down to pray? If I really wanted to pray I'll tell you what I'd do. I'd go out into a great big field all alone or into the deep, deep woods, and I'd look up into the sky--up--up--up--into that lovely blue sky that looks as if there was no end to its blueness. And I'd just feel a prayer."


See you next week for discussion #2! I promise I'll try and be on time for that one. ;)