Anne of Green Gables Study Guide

The Syllabus Series, Week Two: Connecting with Nature, Finding Inspiration in Your Own Journals, Writing Prompts, and Activities

Photo by Camila Cordeiro on Unsplash

About the Syllabus Series

Welcome to the second installment of the Syllabus Series! Over the next few weeks, we’re going to take a deep dive into Classic Children’s Literature. If you want to know about the Syllabus Series click here. You can find the first lesson here.

Anne of Green Gables, Lucy Maud Montgomery, and Me

When life gets difficult, I call my youngest sister and we talk about our imaginary plans to run away to Prince Edward Island. We dream of walking in the footsteps of Anne of Green Gables. We share photos of the cottages we will stay in. Sometimes we imagine we will live there, maybe own a bookshop-bakery and spend out days walking the shores of the island.

I didn’t read Anne of Green Gables when I was young. She didn’t come to me until my thirties, but that’s okay. I believe books appear in your life when you need them and, as a mother of a young child, Anne came to me and showed me that raising a child with simplicity, nature, imagination, and friendship was a very good mission indeed.

Now I’m going to tell you a secret-I’ve only read the first in the series of Anne of Green Gables. I know some fans will be appalled but I just didn’t feel the need to continue the series. I love Anne as I first met her and didn’t need to know the story of her entire life. Apparently, I wasn’t alone in the feeling. Lucy Maude Montgomery, the author of Anne of Green Gables, wasn’t thrilled with being asked to write more books about Anne. She wrote to her friend,

“I’m awfully afraid if the thing takes, they’ll want me to write her through college. The idea makes me sick. I feel like the magician in the Eastern story who became the slave of the ‘jinn’ he had conjured out of a bottle.”(1)

Little did poor Montgomery know that she would be writing about Anne through college and beyond.

If I’m honest, my favorite of L.M. Montgomery’s books is The Blue Castle, the story of an “old maid” (unmarried at the age of 29!) who has been diagnosed with a heart condition and decides to break with societal expectations and live life to its fullest. It’s one of her few books written for adults. I’ve read that some people consider it one of Montgomery’s best books.

Reconnecting with Nature

I think the thing that interests me most about Lucy Maude Montgomery is her intense love of the natural world. She had, when she was in nature, what she called “flashes”-moments of intense spirituality when in nature and she used “forest bathing” as a way to deal with her depression before “forest bathing” was trendy. I often think of her and her ‘flashes’ when I’m walking in nature.

In her series, Emily of New Moon, LM Montgomery mentions the flashes,

It always seemed to Emily, ever since she could remember, that she was very, very near to a world of wonderful beauty. Between it and herself hung only a thin curtain; she could never draw the curtain aside—but sometimes, just for a moment, a wind fluttered it and then it was as if she caught a glimpse of the enchanting realm beyond.— Emily of New Moon, LM Montgomery

Growing in Middle Age

In addition to reconnecting with nature through reading Anne of Green Gables, you can also find lessons about being open to new experiences in late, middle age. Both Marilla and her brother, Matthew, change and grow once Anne enters their life.

Margaret Atwood wrote that she thinks that it is really Marilla who experiences a transformation in the first book, not Anne. (2) I think that’s an interesting way to approach the book, especially as an older woman. I know my daughter’s childhood deeply changed my life and her growth continues to change me.

Inspiration for Artists and Writers

Once you have finished Anne of Green Gables, you might want to explore more about L.M. Montgomery. She kept journals and scrapbooks about her life and her craft. I know I’m personally excited to read more about her and find out if I can find inspiration in her journals for future The Meta Journal Workshop prompts.