Anne of Green Gables :: Discussion Post #2

And we're back for discussion #2! By the by, have I mentioned how very much I love our Anne-girl? Her delight in all and sundry (well...except for Gilbert, of course) never ceases to make me smile. (And I smile at her intensity of dislike for Gilbert as well! ;)

So! I think three of my very favorite things from these chapters are as follows:

1. Matthew and the puffed sleeve incident! I adore Matthew and Anne's relationship
2. Marilla's slow awakening to how much she loves Anne, which springs upon her very sudden-like. (Marilla and Matthew have such different relationships with Anne, but yet both connections are beautiful in their own way. And both need the other, I think, too.)
3. GILBERT (enough said ;)

Also, I particularly enjoy the way Ms. Montgomery tells about Anne's escapades from Anne's perspective. Either the moment happens off page and we then hear Anne describe it, or we experience it firsthand alongside her. I just love the way Anne looks at the world, so I'm especially fond of the moments when she's describing the happening to Marilla or Matthew. (But goodness, I wonder when the girl ever takes a breath! Her speech-making is quite lengthy! ;)

Now then! Onward to the discussion.


1. Anne has a gift for loving nature in all its forms, she even gives them delightful names. Do you find yourself appreciating nature more as you read this?

I hadn't thought about it, but yet I think I do! And I can certainly say that reading her effusions makes me want to sit outside and just enjoy "being".

2. We have finally met Gilbert! What do you think of him? Do you think Anne is justified in hating him so much?

I LOVE Gilbert! I love that he's a boy who likes a girl, which causes him to make a crucially horrible decision (which, in his defense, he had no idea how much Anne hates her hair, so...not 100% his fault?), and immediately regrets it thereafter and does all he can to make it up to her. While I can understand Anne's reaction (at least to a point) that day, I don't think it was worth months of grudge-holding. And yet I kind of think it's good for Gilbert to have to work for Anne's favor? In her first descriptions of him, Ms. Montgomery states how most of the girls thought him handsome and so he'd never had to put forth any effort to make them like him. Anne's refusal to fall at his feet causes him to realize how much power his words can hold and also that making an effort toward building a friendship with someone is completely worth it. I don't know that I'm describing it right, but maybe you understand what I'm trying to say...??

Suffice it all to say, that I LOVE Gilbert angd his genuinely friendly, all-around-nice-guy persona, as well as his steadfast loyalty to Anne, no matter what she's done so far, just endears him to me. :)

3. Anne's imagination finally got the better of her in the Haunted Wood. Do you think she learned anything from that experience? Do you think she'll tone down the imagination a bit?

She definitely learned something. She even references it later herself and acknowledges that she shouldn't have allowed herself to do that...to herself! I think it does cause her to tone down her imagination maybe a teeny, tiny bit. Just enough to realize when she's almost to go too far. And since I know how the story goes forward, I'm confident she'll continue to tone her imagination in an acceptable, adult-like manner, but we know she'll never let go of it completely. It's too much an inherent part of her! And WE certainly don't want her to lose it either!

4. What do you think of Diana and the other school girls? Do you think Anne chose wisely for her bosom friend?

I do think Anne chose wisely! For all Diana tries to match a little of Anne's imaginativeness, once she's decided on something she can be fairly stubborn herself. So they really chose each other. The incident where they were forced to not speak to one another enforces that thought for me. Diana was just as heartbroken as Anne. Her loyalty and genuine love for Anne is wonderfully sweet. And that moment when Anne hears Diana express out loud that she loves her? Ah, my heart! Diana may be a bit more pragmatic than Anne, but she completely understands Anne's heart. And knew just what Anne needed in that moment.

I suppose I just love the way they love and care for each other. Their friendship is one of my favorite things about this series.

5. I've always dreamed of visiting Prince Edward Island some day. Do you want to visit there also? What other real life literature places do you want to visit?

YES. I would LOVE to visit PEI! I had some friends that visited a few years back and I thoroughly enjoyed seeing their pictures and hearing about their trip. Everyone that's ever posted anything about visiting PEI always says what a delight it is, so hopefully someday! :)

Another place on my bucket list would be Jane Austen's England. Of course! ;) I know there are tours centered around Jane's life and writing and if I ever, ever, ever got the actual chance to go I would jump on it immediately! *happily daydreams*


A Few Favorite Quotes:
{I find myself highlighting so many of the quotes that everyone already knows. But they're quite wise! And Anne is just so eminently quotable.}

"Boiled pork and greens are so unromantic when one is in affliction."

"What a splendid day!" said Anne, drawing a long breath. "Isn't it good just to be alive on a day like this? I pity the people who aren't born yet for missing it. They may have good days, of course, but they can never have this one. And it's splendider still to have such a lovely way to go to school by, isn't it?"

"I like that lane because you can think out loud there without people calling you crazy."

"I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers. It would be terrible if we just skipped from September to November, wouldn't it?"

"But really, Marilla, one can't stay sad very long in such an interesting world, can one?"

Matthew nodded over a Farmers' Advocate on the sofa and Anne at the table studied her lessons with grim determination, despite sundry wistful glances at the clock shelf, where a new book that Jane Andrews had lent her that day. Jane had assured her that it was warranted to produce any number of thrills, or words to that effect, and Anne's fingers tingled to reach out for it. But that would mean Gilbert Blythe's triumph on the morrow. Anne turned her back on the clock shelf and tried to imagine it wasn't there. {Oh how I have been there myself, miss Anne! But no amount of imagination can make the anticipation of a good book go away.}

"Oh, Matthew, isn't it a wonderful morning? The world looks like something God had just imagined for His own pleasure, doesn't it?"

"Miss Barry was a kindred spirit, after all," Anne confided to Marilla. "You wouldn't think so to look at her, but she is. You don't find it right out at first, as in Matthew's case, but after a while you come to see it. Kindred spirits are not so scarce as I used to think. It's splendid to find out there are so many of them in the world."

And now....onward to the last third of the book! For more wonderful fun with Miss Anne with an e.