Anne of Green Gables, Week 3

Welcome to Week 3 of the Online Book Club discussion of Anne of Green Gables. 

In this section, we meet Gilbert Blythe and see Anne interact with him. Gilbert sure pushes her buttons immediately, doesn't he? I love that he is so desperate for her to notice him the way other girls do, but when she finally does, he gets a lot more than he bargained for. Anne must have hit him pretty hard to break her slate on his head. Were you surprised that Gilbert wasn't angrier? Or that Anne stayed mad for such a long time? 

I have to confess that I didn't really like Mr. Phillips, the teacher, at all in this section. I was shocked that to punish Anne for her spelling, he lifted up her marked up slate so all the other students could see, and I was really surprised that he punished only Anne for being late to class, even though a bunch of the boys were late, too. What did you think of Mr. Phillips in this section? Do you think you would have liked being his student? 

I like all the old-fashioned details sprinkled throughout the story. At one point in chapter 15, Diana complains that one of the Pye girls put her milk bottle in Diana's spot in the brook. It's interesting that the children brought their own milk bottles to school, and especially that they kept them cool by leaving them in a brook. 

One of the most famous events from this section is the tea party where Anne accidentally gets Diana drunk on currant wine. That whole scene is so sad. Anne wants so much to be grown-up and proper, but she makes so many unfortunate mistakes. If you'd like to experience how the raspberry cordial should have tasted, this recipe from the Mirlandra's Kitchen blog should help.

Anne's been admiring puffed-sleeve dresses throughout the book, and she finally gets one at the end of this section. Matthew was so incredibly sweet to get it for her. Didn't your heart just break for him as he was attempting to talk to the saleswoman about the dress? I was so glad that Rachel Lynde came through in the end. I'm also relieved Marilla let Anne keep the dress—I was a little afraid she would decide it was too frivolous.

I was having a hard time imaging what these huge sleeves would look like, so I did a little research. Check out this article from the Historical Sewing blog if you want to see a whole bunch of pictures of dresses with huge sleeves. Make sure to leave a comment to tell me which style of sleeve is your favorite. Watch the video below if you're interested to see how filmmakers interpreted the gown and Matthew's interaction with the saleswoman. 

What other parts of this section stood out to you? How did you feel about Anne walking across the rooftop? What did you think about the chapter when Marilla thought Anne lost her amethyst brooch? Did I miss any other scenes that you really enjoyed? Make sure you tell me in the comments section!

I hope you're able to read the rest of the book for next week. I'm excited to hear what you think.