Anne of Green Gables, Week 4

Welcome to the final Online Book Club discussion of Anne of Green Gables!

This section sure starts interestingly with Anne accidentally dying her hair green. It's so sad that Anne has to have all her hair cut off to hide it. Isn't it funny how this whole incident wouldn't really be a big deal today? Anne could just dye her hair again, or she could just leave it green! She would have so many more options that what was available back then. 

Didn't it just kill you that Anne and Gilbert were so stubborn with each other throughout this section? I wanted to shake Anne and tell her she should forgive Gilbert. I know he embarrassed her, but it's not as if he mortally wounded anyone in her family! I was so hoping she would forgive him once he rescued her out of the pond, but she stayed firm in her anger. I did think it was interesting that he responded angrily back to her, and I was surprised that she regretted her wrath so soon after displaying it. 

What did you think of Anne's transformation throughout the book? It frustrated me that people made such a big deal of telling her that she wasn't as ugly has she had been before. Did you notice how many people seemed genuinely shocked that she changed looks as she grew? I thought it was a little sad, too, that she became so much more quiet and reserved as the book went on. I know she was maturing, but it was a little sad that she lost so much of her whimsy. What did you think of her fashion transformation? Wasn't it interesting that Matthew bought her so many different types of fashionable clothes? 

I felt like the section when Anne was at Queen's Academy was a little rushed. The book condensed a whole school year into just a couple of pages. Were you surprised when Anne won the Avery scholarship? I assumed that Queen's was a real place, but according to this blog post, it was fictional. If you're curious to read more about what was real and what was fictional in the book, make sure to read the post. 

How did you feel in the last chapter about Matthew? Were you surprised that he passed away at the end of the book? Did you feel like you knew it was coming, or was it abrupt? I felt like it was a little sudden. Maybe if we had known more about what was happening to Matthew and Marilla while Anne was at school, we would have been less surprised when he died. 

What did you think of the ending? Were you a little sad that Anne decided to stay close to home and teach? Were you surprised that Gilbert gave up his teaching position so Anne could have it? Were you glad that Anne and Gilbert made up by the end of the book? I was so glad that they ended the book as friends. I love Gilbert, and I know I'm not alone. Check out this article from the New Yorker that explains why a whole generation of girls fell in love with Gilbert. Some other essays about how Anne Shirley has affected readers have been published in Vanity Fair and The Guardian. 

I hope you enjoyed reading this book along with us this month. I hope you'll leave some comments about your favorite parts, and make sure to tell me if you watched any of the movie or television adaptations. You might also enjoy this list I made of similar titles, and let me know if you enjoy anything there!

Next month, we're reading Can You Ever Forgive Me? which was recently made into a movie starring Melissa McCarthy. I hope you'll join us again to discuss this exciting book and movie.