Anne of Green Gables was a novel published in 1908 (turned into a film series and later a Netflix adaptation) about a young orphan girl with a traumatic upbringing. When she’s “accidentally” adopted by Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert (they had meant to get a boy instead) she weaves her way into their hearts, even Marilla’s, whose heart is mostly hidden by her stern appearance. The book generally follows a coming-of-age theme as Anne gets herself into many scrapes.
But I think when I watched Anne with an E I realized how special the book was. I think that Anne with an E’s attempt to turn the story into a Gothic tragedy misses the point of the original novel. In the original story, there’s a contrast between Anne’s dreaming and the rather sensible world she lives in. Every time (in later books as well) she travels to a new place she changes the status quo there, with some pushback at first, but ultimately encouraging the residents to choose hope over despair and monotony.
Yes, sometimes her imagination gets her into trouble and makes her forgetful, but she’s a light in the sensible world she lives in. Outwardly stern characters grow to love her and realize that the cold life they’re living is unsatisfactory. Anne looks at the world with hope. Several characters she “changes” are elderly women, who represent how older people get into a routine and never want to change their ways, but even they are influenced by Anne.
But the most impactful part of the series for me is in the second movie in the film series (Anne of Avonlea, a combination of a few Anne books), when Katherine Brooke, the stern principal at the school Anne is teaching at, relates to Anne about how no one loves her and it’s all because of her terrible childhood. She says it’s unfair how everyone loves Anne and not her, not taking responsibility for her stern, cold nature which drives people away. But the irony of this declaration is that Anne did have a terrible childhood (at least, before she came to the Cuthberts), but Anne still managed to be a hopeful, loving person. So Katherine’s excuse is paradoxical.
But Anne continues to have compassion for Katherine (while keeping boundaries) and eventually wins over the principal’s heart. Anne of Green Gables isn’t just about imagination and dreaming, it’s about having perseverance and compassion through tragedy without falling into so much despair that you close yourself off to the world like Katherine. Anne is loving despite the traumatic hardships she’d faced, and so loving that she helps others become loving as well.
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Hi Annabelle, this blog was really good. I kick myself that I haven’t seen or read the original Anne of Green Gables. I have only seen the Netflix series and I loved it so I can’t wait to see the original. I liked how you talked about how Anne’s personality changes the older Woman in the story's perspective. I really liked how you described it as how they get stuck in a routine and don’t like change. I really like how you compared the two even though I haven’t seen the original. It will be cool once I see it to be able to see the difference between the two now that you have pointed it out. Great Job!
ReplyDeleteHI annabelle! Your analysis of this novel/series was really good. When I try to find something new to watch on netflix, i usually come across this series, but you convinced me to watch it!
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