Seeing as I’ve recently finished the book I am able to make comments on how the book progressed and an all round comment.
1)- Anne Shirley: Anne is the main character of the story. She is an orphan girl who’s wild imagination and out of the ordinary manners has landed her in a difficult position when it comes to finding a home. But when she is finally taken in by Marilla and Matthew the story follows her as she grows up, matures and comes to terms with how she is supposed to act. Anne is a very imaginative lively girl who longs to have lots of close friends. She is also quite rebellious in the fact that she continues to contrast with what is thought as the ‘typical young girl’. Anne also has a problem coming to terms with her appearance as she longs to have rid of her red hair and be conventionally gorgeous like her best friend Diana. Throughout the story Anne starts off as this out of control 11 year old, but as we follow through her 5 years leading up to college we discover that she has controlled her imagination and can see the difference between pretend and reality, as well as her extraordinary intellect appearing.
Marilla Cuthburt: Marilla is the unmarried woman that takes Anne into her home, although she first longed for a boy. She is very stern, dominant and strong willed. She also has a very clear idea of morals and expectations and she is determined to maintain the high class reputation expected of her and her family. We first see Marilla in the light that she hides and almost blocks out her emotions, she appears stern with Anne and does not comfort. But as the story progresses we can see that her emotions are unravelling and she does care a lot about Anne but treats her in a stern way that is intended to help her develop.
Mathew Cuthburt: Mathew is the unmarried brother of Marilla who lives at Green Gables with her. Mathew appears painfully shy at first but when the prospect of Anne coming to live with them arises he makes it clear he is determined to have her and pressures Marilla into keeping her. Although he is very shy he shows his emotions a lot more than his sister and makes it clear to Anne that he is very proud of her. Anne considers him as a ‘kindred spirit’. As the story progresses Mathew’s characteristics do not change much but we see him be more giving to Anne and relates with her well.
Diana Barry: Diana is Anne’s best friend and as soon as they are introduced they immediately decide to be ‘bosom friends’. The girls share a romantic heart and swear to each other that they will love one another for ever and be fully devoted. Although Diana and Anne get along well, she is a lot less intelligent than Anne and lacks her vivid imagination. We see throughout the story that Diana is a lot shier than Anne and prefers to befriend everyone and stay out of harms way, but the two remain the best of friends.
Gilbert Blythe: Gilbert is a very handsome intelligent boy from Anne’s school and the two fall out immediately when he makes a rude remark about her red hair. Anne’s dislike for Gilbert results in his name being a taboo, although references to him crop up a lot as she sees him as a rival in school. Throughout the story Anne’s strong willed determination mean that the two remain sworn enemies even when Gilbert saves Anne on the river. Then at the end of the novel the two decide to put their troubles aside and become good friends. Gilbert shares Anne’s determination and intelligence.
Mrs. Rachel Lynde: Mrs Lynde is the town gossip; she seems to know everyone and everything about them. She enjoys announcing her opinions and preaching about morals. She is normally outspoken on most things but when it comes to advice on how to raise a child, Mrs Lynde is always first to share opinions even though she has no children of her own. Mrs Lynde stays as a background character throughout the story.
Jane, Charlie, Ruby and Minnie: These are all children that live in the same town as Anne; she befriends them although all do not share her wild imagination.
2)- Most of the characters are motivated by the need to fulfil the expectations that their parents/the society have put upon them. This results in the children and adults finding it difficult to maintain order and precision when it comes to speaking to one another and their behaviour. Also especially for the younger characters, fashion concerns have a key issue on their lives. The younger characters all long to be prettier, more elegantly dressed, or perceived in a ‘better’ way.
3)- Basically the story is about an orphan girl who is taken in by an unmarried woman and her brother. They initially wanted a boy but have to come to terms with the fact a mix up left them with a girl. Anne finds it difficult primarily to fit in into the town and become one of the other children. An 11 year old Anne is very clever but her wild and distracting imagination makes it difficult for her to differentiate real life and dreams. The story follows Anne as she grows up and becomes more mature, as well as Marilla and Mathew discovering that they are actually proud of her and she is a credit. Towards the end of the story we see Anne have prosperous dreams of taking her scholarship to a college and getting a degree. However after Mathew death and Marilla has discovered that she is becoming blind, Anne decides to think with her heart and decides to stay at home and take care of Green Gables and Marilla rather than fulfilling her dreams.
I think the plot is sort of what I thought it would be as throughout the story I could tell Anne was very fond of Green Gables, Marilla and Mathew. However I did not really expect her to give up her dreams instead, as her whole life depends on dreams and imagination, so this decision really proves that she knows the difference between imagination and reality.
4)- Key themes that have emerged are
Vanity, and how Anne becomes almost obsessed with the way she looks and dresses, similarly the other younger characters share this worry about their appearance.
Rebelliousness and expectations of behaviour, because Anne is expected to behave in one way but she continues to rebel against this.
Forgiveness, and how throughout the story certain characters come to terms with one another and become more forgiving in their faults.
Conflict between imagination and social expectations as Anne’s imagination is really wild and crazy and this often causes problems with the way she is expected to behave.
Imagination, this is a key theme as it plays a huge part in the story in the way that Anne has such an extraordinary imagination and dreams such wild things and often creates scenarios to replace ones she is already in.
Romanticism, as Anne and similarly Dianna have such romantic hearts in the way they relate everything to being ‘romantic’ and love the idea of a happily ever after.
:):)
No comments:
Post a Comment