Anne of Avonlea

Anne wakes one morning with a vicious toothache and heads to school in a very foul mood. Her interactions with her students are very much unlike the loving, affectionate teacher they are used to, and her cutting remarks to them result in tears and confusion. Barbara Shaw thinks that “never before ha[s] her beloved, sympathetic teacher spoken to her in such a tone or fashion” (76). The more the students grow upset, the angrier Anne gets at the circumstances.

She sees St. Clair and Joe Sloane passing a parcel between themselves and, believing it is a package of nut cakes popular with the children of Avonlea, orders Joe to throw it in the stove. Joe stutters and begs Anne not to make him do this, but she insists, only to find that the package is filled with firecrackers and pinwheels that are soon set off across the room. This unfortunate mistake ends in more hysterics and drama, and it takes Anne an hour to quiet the room. Rather than laughing at the mistake, as she normally would, Anne “ignore[s] it in icy disdain” (78).

When the class returns from lunch, Anne opens her desk to find a mouse someone hid there. She screams, and Anthony Pye is the only student who laughs. Angered even more now, Anne asks Anthony if he put the mouse in her desk, and he confirms that he did. Anne calls him up to her desk and whips him with her pointer until he cries, breaking her vow to never whip a student. He returns to his seat, and she sinks into hers, “feeling ashamed, repentant, and bitterly mortified” (79). When she gets home that evening, she cries for a long time in her room until Marilla comes to comfort her.

She wakes the next morning out of pain and believing in the promise of a new day. As she walks to school through the freshly fallen snow, she meets Anthony, who offers to carry her books for her. Shocked by the change in attitude, she smiles at him, and he grins back, proving to Anne that she has finally earned his respect.

Anne and Diana meet at the bridge on their way to the other’s house and discuss plans for a picnic. Anne wants to celebrate her birthday, which was the month before, because she wishes she had been born in the springtime. Priscilla and Jane will be home, and the girls wish to make a day of it.

That Saturday, the girls traipse across the field on their way down to the woods, and Anne and Priscilla’s imaginations carry the practicality of Jane and Diana. They discover a shallow pool in the woods, and Anne insists on naming it. The girls put their suggestions in Anne’s hat and draw “Crystal Lake,” which was Jane’s suggestion, much to Anne’s dismay, who finds the name boring. They push through the woods towards the back of Mr. Sloane’s pasture and come across an area Anne believes must be ripe with fairies. All the girls make a wish—Diana to be tall and skinny, Priscilla for fame, Jane for beauty and intelligence, and Anne for it to “be spring all the time and in everybody’s hearts” (85).

As they continue across the back fields of many farms, they stumble across a little garden tucked back in the corner of a birch grove. Overgrown yet beautiful, the garden is surrounded by a crumbling stone wall but flowering with gorgeous cherry blossoms, rose bushes, and white narcissi. Diana proclaims, “It must be Hester Gray’s garden” (86), and the girls gather around to hear the story of the young woman, Hester, who died 30 years ago in the arms of her young husband in the garden she adored. Though Hester knew she would die of consumption—modern-day tuberculosis—she planted the entire garden believing that someone would find beauty in it someday. This romantic story triggers Anne’s love for beauty, and as they eat lunch together in the garden, Anne finds poetry and beauty in every aspect of the world around her. However, she can’t stop thinking about the story of Hester Gray.

Anne runs into Mrs. Rachel on the way home one evening, and the older woman asks about Marilla’s recent visit to her eye doctor. Anne reveals that the doctor is quite pleased with Marilla’s improvement and does not think she will ever lose her sight completely. The conversation drifts into the upcoming Ladies’ Aid Society supper that Mrs. Rachel is organizing. Mrs. Rachel asks if Anne knows anyone with a blue willowware platter she may borrow. Anne does—Miss Josephine Barry, Diana’s aunt and Anne’s good friend, has one.

When Anne hands Marilla the mail, there is a letter from the twins’ uncle, who writes that he can’t take the children this spring as planned. This news pleases Anne and Marilla, who secretly do not want to lose the twins, even though Davy constantly gets into mischief. Recently, Anne found him in the closet eating an entire jar of Marilla’s plum preserves.

That evening, the A.V.I.S. meets to discuss their recent accomplishments and promote more ideas for the betterment of Avonlea. Suddenly, Gertie Pye rushes in and declares, "Mr. Judson Parker is going to rent all the road fence of his farm to a patent medicine company to paint advertisements on” (95). Nothing affects the group more than the thought of having advertisements affecting their plans for the beautification of Avonlea. The A.V.I.S. decides to send Anne, Jane, and Diana to try and convince Mr. Parker to change his mind, but he charmingly dismisses the idea and proclaims that the money he will make is too good to pass up. However, at the next A.V.I.S. meeting, Anne shocks everyone when she stands up and announces that Mr. Parker has changed his mind and will not allow the advertisements to be painted on his fence.

Anne refuses to tell anyone how she convinced the man to change his mind and, truthfully, she didn’t have to do anything at all. While walking home one evening, she came across Mr. Parker and Jerry Corcoran, a local politician who was trying to buy Mr. Parker’s vote on the upcoming election. Both men saw Anne, and the meeting ended, but Parker, convinced that Anne heard every word of the bribe, offered to “not let [his] fences to that company after all” in exchange for Anne not “mention[ing] that little conversation of [his] with Jerry” (99).

As summer vacation arrives, Anne leaves the schoolhouse and makes her weekly pilgrimage to Matthew’s grave. She is the only one, except for Marilla, who has not forgotten him. Paul waits for her at the bottom of the hill with his own flowers to put on his grandfather’s grave and some to put nearby “in memory of his little mother” (101) on the third anniversary of her death. He shares that the pain of losing her hurts him so very much, but Anne understands. He doesn’t want to forget her memory, even though it pains him. Paul senses that Anne knows what he means and tells her that she would be his favorite person, second to his father, if he didn’t have to love his grandmother more.

Paul’s birthday is approaching, and his father has written to tell him to expect a great present. He thinks it has already come in, for his grandmother suddenly began locking the bookcase drawer. Anne asks him about his rock people, and Paul reveals that the oldest Twin Sailor has become quite the mischievous ruffian, to the point where Paul does not want to associate with him any longer if he doesn’t behave. When Anne asks if she could come visit the rock people, Paul says no because he is the only one that can see them. However, he assures her that she could see her own rock people because she is “one of the kind that can” (104). They reach the graveyard and place the flowers on the graves.

Anne sees Mrs. Allan, the minister’s wife, there as well—a woman who faced her own trials in the past few years with the loss of a baby and the long sickness of another. She asks Anne about teaching and offers her advice about holding strong to her ideals, even if she can’t reach all of them. As they walk together from the graveyard, Mrs. Allan asks Anne if she ever plans on going to college. Anne, though she visibly wants to, refuses to leave Marilla and the twins alone without any help. Thankfully, Anne’s lovely friendships mean the world to her, but as Mrs. Allan looks at the girl, she sees “far more of the child than of the woman” (107) and does not wish to push Anne toward growing up before she’s ready.