Girl power
“Do you know,” says Anne confidentially, after finding out she is unwanted, and is to be returned home to an orphan asylum, “I’ve made up my mind to enjoy this drive. It’s been my experience that you can nearly always enjoy things if you make up your mind firmly that you will. I am not going to think about going to the asylum while we’re having our drive. I’m just going to think about the drive.”
Anne Shirley of Anne of Green Gables lives with her whole heart and a pervading sense of optimism. At age 11, the girl’s spirit is indomitable. Even the prospect of being returned to the orphanage by a potential foster parent—one more hardship in a childhood that’s already seen her passed from family to family—is not enough to dampen her enthusiasm.
Anne comes to Green Gables by accident. Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert, a brother and sister who run the farm in turn-of-the-20th-century Prince Edward Island, decide to adopt a young boy to assist the aging Matthew with his chores. When he arrives at the train station he finds Anne, a talkative redhead, waiting instead. Much in the way she does with the reader, Anne quickly endears herself to the Cuthberts. They decide to let her stay—and a heroine is born.
Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables has been a cherished novel for young readers ever since it was published in 1908. In Anne, they find a flower that refuses to wilt. Her endless chatter and comedic dramatics are entertaining enough, but she’s also unafraid to stand up for herself—even disrespecting her elders when it’s appropriate, like when she dresses down the local busybody for calling her homely. Though the book was released before women in Canada gained the right to vote, through its protagonist Montgomery quietly encouraged generations of girls to speak their mind and embrace their uniqueness, regardless of the social norms they might be straining against.
Anne of Green Gables is probably the most recognized of Montgomery’s works, but just the beginning of her “Anne” series. The first book was wildly popular, and followed by nine more novels about Ms. Shirley growing from a girl into a young woman, pursuing her education, and building a family with her childhood sweetheart. All the while, in these and other stories where she appears as a secondary character, Anne maintains the charm and humour readers come to expect from her.
Of course, there would be no Anne without Lucy. An early Canadian literary star, Montgomery earned her place in the country’s canon with her debut—but Anne was not her only claim to fame. She went on to publish 22 novels and books of short stories, a collection of poetry, an autobiography and numerous stories and articles. The author delved into fiction geared more specifically toward adults, like A Tangled Web and The Blue Castle. Montgomery also reexamined the archetypes that made her a household name with another orphan series, about Emily of New Moon (which I’d argue is actually stronger than the Anne series, but that’s a different story for another time).
Nowadays, Montgomery’s legacy lives beyond her printed works. Anne of Green Gables and many more of her books have been adapted for the stage and screen, sometimes numerous times over: For example, the new, eight-episode CBC series called Anne, which begins this Sunday night. Meanwhile, even the settings of her books have become tourist attractions. The Green Gables farmhouse in Cavendish, Prince Edward Island, draws visitors from all over the world. That site, and Montgomery’s home in Leaskdale, Ontario, have been designated National Historic Sites, and Montgomery has been declared a Person of National Historic Significance. And Anne Shirley, “the odd little figure in the stiff, ugly dress, with the long braids of red hair and the eager, bright eyes” was the character who started it all.
This story first appeared in Passport2017, a Strategic Content Labs and Heritage Canada project.