First, it is not just Anne, herself. Anne starts out as an enchanting half-child, half wild-sprite of a character, with fiery red hair (often streaming behind her as she runs, not just in two braids, as she's most often presented), and a milky (alas, to Anne, also quite Freckled) complextion. She has enormous green-gray eyes filled with dreamy starriness. She is thin and ungainly and unloved - at first - coming from the orphanage as she does.
This may or may not be sentimental; certainly Anne, herself, is often quite funny, though. She is really a beguiling spirit to encounter, although the older she grows, the more conventional she becomes. By time the reader comes to "Anne of Ingleside", Anne has been considerably subdued.
LM Montgomery presents this fate for Anne as perfectly fine - on the surface - but one wonders. Montgomery was constantly - slyly - poking fun of the conventions of her time and place - of a woman's time and place in the late 19th century. In that time, even a talented woman such as Montgomery (and Anne, herself) was too often repressed by many factors outside of her control.
This is not only true, but also realistic. We should not hold such a subduing against either Anne or the author of this delightful character. It is what it is, but there is much more to these books than merely Anne, herself.
Also: had Anne lived today, she might still have married Gilbert (he gets also becomes alot less interesting as he matures) and become a mother - or maybe not.
Maybe she would have become an artist and a writer and a bohemian. One thing is probably certain: she still would have been a romantic, with a romantic's take on the world. To deny this is to deny the most fundamental elements of Anne.
L.M.'s strength is that she presents this romanticism as a Strength - Not weakness - even withstanding all of Marilla Cuthbert's firm lectures on the nature and need of dutifulness to Anne.
Back in L.M.'s day, to be an "old maid" was a rather pathetic way to end up, it cannot be denied (and, even, today? Though we pretend otherwise...). So, she made Anne follow a very well-worn path to marriage and motherhood.
One can feel L.M. almost lose interest in this character as she ages.
No matter; the books are fun and informative to read for reasons Beyond just Anne, although one of my favorites in the series is when Anne is first married to Gilbert. It is titled (quite sentimentally) "Anne's House of Dreams".
There Is a wild, beautiful dreaminess to this book, enlivened with the spice of the dramatic seascape where Anne and Gilbert move to.
The books Were written for young girls, so this "spiceiness" can only go so far.
Still, one of the most original, funniest and sharp-tongued (yet tender-hearted) characters of the "House of Dreams" book is Miss Cornelia Bryant, an "old maid" and "man-hater" who is completely unrepetant of Either state. She revels in both, in fact.
Miss Cornelia, is always saying the most amusing things (Anne asks her: "surely you know of some Good husbands" and Miss Cornelia responds: "oh yes" and then gestures to the graveyard). Even Miss Cornelia ends up to be rather conventional, herself, though, by book's end.
Well, and what of it? She's still a character - among many characters in the series - who provides L.M. the means to critique the world and get away with it.
These books are just filled with sly humor - and it's most often directed at those who are hypocrites: the excesssively religious and the foolishly proud.
Miss Cornelia Bryant is also a way for L.M. to reveal the how men were often allowed to get away with so much, when women suffered at their hands. This is no laughing matter, although it's dressed up in bonafide humor. Heavy stuff for a series meant to enchant the youngsters.
Does everyone take all this from the "Anne" books? Maybe not, but rest assured: it's All there, anyway.
Considering that L.M, herself, was married to a staid minister, who was also a depressive, Alot can be read into her characterizations of many of the folks that populate her books.
L.M. Montgomery was not a man-hater, though. She was too complex for that.
Another, truly wonderful character from "Anne's House of Dreams" is Captain Jim. He has the soulful, salt-of-the-earth qualities of Mathew Cuthbert, the shy bachelor who, with his sister Marilla, takes in young Anne in "Anne of Green Gables".
At the heart of "Anne of Green Gables" is the dramatic, compelling relationship-of-opposites between impulsive, excitable, imagination-filled Anne and staid, stern, completely repressed and repressing Marilla Cuthbert.
Marilla, however, turns out to have a very dry, but very funny sense of humor. Anne humanizes Marilla and Marilla stabelizes Anne, and both come out stronger for their connection.
The Anne series are really wonderful stories for people who like to dream - and to sometimes escape to a time when, in many ways, life was a bit more gentle than today.
Or Was it, really?
Look underneath the surface of Any of these books, and you will learn much about the conventions, attitudes and practices of a bygone era.
An open mind will grant you much wisdom, as well, into the human spirit- the strivings, stirrings, glories, pettinesses, hatreds, humiliations and loves of people trying to get by in their various ways.
Just like today, in fact.
L.M. Montgomery could get rather preachy - but Nothing compared to Louisa May Alcott's totally saccahrine views in Little Women.
Plus, L.M. never spared the humor. These books are truly a delight to read for many reasons. Nature, Not a traditional, patriarchal god, is the true glory that is celebrated, and humor, Not convention, is truly at the heart of all.
