Series: Anne of Green Gables Book #5
Author: L.M. Montgomery
Genre: Historical Fiction, Classics, Romance, Young Adult
Publication date: 1917
Book description: Anne's own true love, Gilbert Blythe, is finally a doctor, and in the sunshine of the old orchard, among their dearest friends, they are about to speak their vows. Soon the happy couple will be bound for a new life together and their own dream house, on the misty purple shores of Four Winds Harbor.
A new life means fresh problems to solve and fresh surprises. Anne and Gilbert will make new friends and meet their neighbors: Captain Jim, the lighthouse attendant, with his sad stories of the sea; Miss Cornelia Bryant, the lady who speaks from the heart—and speaks her mind; and the tragically beautiful Leslie Moore, into whose dark life Anne shines a brilliant light.
Thoughts:
My enjoyment of the series is going down. The books are becoming more of a chore to read as we go along in the series. But my main complaint is the character development. I guess it makes sense for the time period they were written in, but it's very disappointing.
When we first get to know Anne she is an imaginative, girl with a thirst for adventure. She is growing up in each new book, but this one is the final straw. Anne was strong, independent, and willful, with dreams and ambitions of writing. I liked to see how she reached out over the heads of many women who were confined to traditional roles. She was always defying social expectations and in hilarious ways getting away with them.
Suddenly, our heroine has her goals completely swapped. Her one and only ambition is to be married and raise a family. It feels so out of character for her. I suppose at those times, women were expected to contentedly give up everything to raise the children but Anne used to have her heart set on so, so many things. And for her to give all that up without even the slightest protest? We do follow only her so at least she could have been given a more active role in her life choices, or a more independent life from her husband. She fought so hard to be able to teach and write, then in a single instance, everything in her life revolved around her house and husband. She is portrayed with no inner struggle to give up all her dreams, she does not seem to have an organic change of heart; its like we started a whole new story with a different young woman.
She does still have her quiet dreamyness and her thoughtless meddling, but everything is so much more domestic. She becomes the type of woman who meddles in everyone's business and wants the young men and women to fit the mold of what she thinks is convenient for them to do.
This whole book had me questioning everything. Namely, what was even the point of the first four books? We spend so much time following Anne through her education. She spent so many years of her life doing her best in school solely so she could become a school teacher. The struggles she faced, fighting the belief that she needed no further education and that she should be focusing on finding a husband. She literally fought back against such notions from the women in town. Then, only a few years in, she completely drops everything? It would have made more sense for her to try to continue teaching after being married, after all, she even became the School Principal at one point.
L. M. Montgomery forced Anne into marriage and erased convenient bits of her personality to fit her into the mold. I am struggling to care for the new personality Anne has developed. Gilbert is not a bad man, but I simply can't appreciate the marriage when it feels like both of them morphed into different people and both took overly traditional roles of husband and wife. Gilbert is now a man who is overly focused on his medical career, held in high esteem by his patients, and has absolutely no issue with the fact that Anne simply becomes known as the wife of the good doctor.
I will continue reading the series but I am less enthusiastic about it. Hopefully, the characters will once more warm their way into my heart.
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Around the World: Canada.
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