Anne of Green Gables

by L. M. Montgomery

Overview

The first chapter in the "Anne" saga, "Anne of Green Gables" is the story of its title character, Anne Shirley, an orphan who is adopted by Miss Marilla Cuthbert and Mr. Matthew Cuthbert. The novel begins the story of Anne at age eleven and follows her life and schooling through to age sixteen. "Anne of Green Gables" is the beginning of Lucy M. Montgomery's most popular and well-loved series.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781596742000
Publisher:	Digireads.com Publishing
Publication date:	01/01/2011
Series:	Anne of Green Gables Series
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	1 MB
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Dr. Collett Tracey teaches Canadian literature at Carleton University. She brings her interest in Canadian modernism and women's writing to her introduction.

Lucy Maud Montgomery was born in Clifton (now New London), Prince Edward Island on November 30, 1874. Raised by her maternal grandparents, she attended Prince of Wales College in Charlottetown and obtained her teaching certificate. She later studied literature at Dalhousie University in Halifax. She eventually married Ewan Macdonald, a Presbyterian minister, and had 3 sons with him. She published 12 books in total and died in Toronto in 1942.

Read an Excerpt

Daring was the fashionable amusement among the Avonlea small fry just then. It had begun among the boys, but soon spread to the girls, and all the silly things that were done in Avonlea that summer because the doers thereof were “dared” to do them would fill a book by themselves. . . .

Now, to “walk” board fences requires more skill and steadiness of head and heel than one might suppose who has never tried it. But Josie Pye, if deficient in some qualities that make for popularity, had at least a natural and inborn gift, duly cultivated, for walking board fences. Josie walked the Barry fence with an airy unconcern which seemed to imply that a little thing like that wasn’t worth a “dare.” Reluctant admiration greeted her exploit, for most of the other girls could appreciate it, having suffered many things themselves in their efforts to walk fences. Josie descended from her perch, flushed with victory, and darted a defiant glance at Anne.

Anne tossed her red braids.

“I don’t think it’s such a very wonderful thing to walk a little, low, board fence,” she said. “I knew a girl in Marysville who could walk the ridge-pole of a roof.”

“I don’t believe it,” said Josie flatly. “I don’t believe anybody could walk a ridge-pole. You couldn’t, anyhow.”

“Couldn’t I?” cried Anne rashly.

“Then I dare you to do it,” said Josie defiantly. “I dare you to climb up there and walk the ridge-pole of Mr. Barry’s kitchen roof.”

Anne turned pale, but there was clearly only one thing tobe done. She walked towards the house, where a ladder was leaning against the kitchen roof. All the fifth-class girls said, “Oh!” partly in excitement, partly in dismay.

“Don’t you do it, Anne,” entreated Diana. “You’ll fall off and be killed. Never mind Josie Pye. It isn’t fair to dare anybody to do anything so dangerous.”

“I must do it. My honour is at stake,” said Anne solemnly. “I shall walk that ridge-pole, Diana, or perish in the attempt. If I am killed you are to have my pearl bead ring.”

Anne climbed the ladder amid breathless silence, gained the ridge-pole, balanced herself uprightly on that precarious footing, and started to walk along it, dizzily conscious that she was uncomfortably high up in the world and that walking ridge-poles was not a thing in which your imagination helped you out much. Nevertheless, she managed to take several steps before the catastrophe came. Then she swayed, lost her balance, stumbled, staggered and fell, sliding down over the sun-baked roof and crashing off it through the tangle of Virginia creeper beneath — all before the dismayed circle below could give a simultaneous, terrified shriek.

If Anne had tumbled off the roof on the side up which she ascended Diana would probably have fallen heir to the pearl bead ring then and there. Fortunately she fell on the other side, where the roof extended down over the porch so nearly to the ground that a fall therefrom was a much less serious thing.

Nevertheless, when Diana and the other girls had rushed frantically around the house — except Ruby Gillis, who remained as if rooted to the ground and went into hysterics — they found Anne lying all white and limp among the wreck and ruin of the Virginia creeper.

“Anne, are you killed?” shrieked Diana, throwing herself on her knees beside her friend. “Oh, Anne, dear Anne, speak just one word to me and tell me if you’re killed.”

To the immense relief of all the girls, and especially of Josie Pye, who, in spite of lack of imagination, had been seized with horrible visions of a future branded as the girl who was the cause of Anne Shirley’s early and tragic death, Anne sat dizzily up and answered uncertainly:

“No, Diana, I am not killed, but I think I am rendered unconscious.”

Table of Contents

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS	ix
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS	xi
I THIS DARK WORLD	3
II PRETTY PLAYS OF CHILDHOOD	6
III ST ANTHONY'S PIGS	17
IV COUGH NOT, NOR SPIT	29
V SET ON HIS BOOK	38
VI DUTY IS THE LOVE OF LAW	53
VII MOST HOLY FATHER	65
VIII WE TALK OF LETTERS	71
IX IF YOU WANT TO LAUGH	87
X THE WINE OF ANGELS	96
XI HOLY, HOLY, HOLY!	112
XII CRAFT OF THE CITY	118
XIII MILK AND HONEY	129
XIV A JOLLY MASTER-WOMAN	141
XV KINGS' GAMES	151
XVI THE BEST CONDITION OF A SOCIETY	165
XVII WHOLLY A COURTIER	180
XVIII HE SAT UPON A THRONE OF GOLD	194
XIX MY POOR MIND	203
XX EQUES AURATUS	214
XXI I AM LIKE RIPE SHIT	224
XXII LONG PERSUADING AND PRIVY LABOURING	235
XXIII THY FOOLISH FACE	251
XXIV YOU ARE BUT ONE MAN	263
XXV FOOLISH FRANTIC BOOKS	276
XXVI WE POOR WORLDLY MEN OF MIDDLE EARTH	287
XXVII INFINITE CLAMOUR	313
XXVIII ALL THE BEASTS OF THE WOODS	330
XXIX THE WRATH OF THE KING MEANS DEATH	347
XXX THE WEEPING TIME	359
XXXI PECK OF TROUBLES	384
XXXII CALL FORTH SIR THOMAS MORE	393
XXXIII THE KING IS GOOD UNTO ME	399
SOURCE NOTES	407
INDEX	435

What People are Saying About This

Alfred Breit

Lawrence was concerned with one end: to reveal how love, how a relationship between a man and a woman can be most touching and beautiful, but only if it is unihibited and total.

Mark Twain

The dearest and most lovable child in fiction.

Reading Group Guide

1.  The critic Julian Moynahan argues that “Lady Chatterley’s Lover dramatizes two opposed orientations toward life, two distinct modes of human awareness, the one abstract, cerebral, and unvital; the other concrete, physical, and organic.” Discuss.

2.  What is the role of the manor house, the industrial village, and the wood in the novel?

3.  Many critics have argued that while Lady Chatterley’s Lover represents a daring treatment of sexuality, it is an inferior work of art, though other critics have called it a novel of the first rank. (“Lady Chatterley’s Lover, ” F. R. Leavis writes, “is a bad novel, ” while Anaïs Nin, on the other hand, describes it as “artistically . . . [Lawrence’s] best novel.”) What do you think?

4.  In “Apropos of Lady Chatterley’s Lover” (a defense of the book that he published in 1930), Lawrence wrote that “the greatest need of man is the renewal forever of the complete rhythm of life and death, the rhythm of the sun’s year, the body’s year of a lifetime, and the greater year of the stars, the soul’s year of immortality.” How is the theme of resurrection played out in the novel?

5.  From the time it was banned from unexpurgated publication in the United States and Britain until the trials in the late 1950s and early 1960s that resulted in the lifting of the ban, and even more recently, critics have argued over whether Lady Chatterley’s Lover is obscene and vulgar. Lawrence argues in “Apropos of Lady Chatterley’s Lover”that “we shall never free the phallic reality [i. e., sex] . . . till we give it its own phallic language and use the obscene words”; his goal was to purify these words. Critics have disagreed as to whether he succeeded in this goal; Richard Aldington notes, for example, that the words are “incrusted with nastiness” and “cannot regain their purity” and Graham Hough argues that “the fact remains that the connotations of the obscene physical words are either facetious or vulgar.” Do you think the novel is obscene or vulgar, or do you think Lawrence succeeds in his mission?

6.  “The essential function of art is moral, ” Lawrence once wrote. “Not aesthetic, not decorative, not pastime and recreation. But moral.” Do you think this proposition informs the shape, structure, and meaning of Lady Chatterley’s Lover, and if so, how?

7.  Critics have often complained that one of Lawrence’s weaknesses as a novelist is his characterization. So John Middleton Murry writes of Sons and Lovers that “we can discern no individuality whatever in the denizens of Mr. Lawrence’s world. We should have thought that we should have been able to distinguish between male and female at least. But no! Remove the names, remove the sedulous catalogues of unnecessary clothing . . . and man and woman are as indistinguishable as octopods in an aquarium tank.” And Edwin Muir comments generally that “we remember the scenes in his novels; we forget the names of his men and women. We should not know any of them if we met them in the street.” Do you think this applies in the case of Lady Chatterley’s Lover? If so, do you think it is a fault or a virtue?

8.  How does nature imagery function in the novel?

Editorial Reviews

In The Life of Thomas More, acclaimed author Peter Ackroyd tackles the familiar story of the man for all seasons and manages to shed new light on a life that has been the focus of scholars and historians for more than four centuries.

bn.com

When mischievous orphan Anne Shirley arrives at the Cuthbert farm Green Gables, she knows she wants to stay forever. But the Cuthbert's were expecting a boy orphan -- someone strong enough to help with their farmwork. Can spunky Anne win their hearts? This beautiful picture book adaptation of L. M. Montgomery's classic novel will delight the author's many fans -- and captivate a new audience of younger readers.

barnesandnoble.com

This is the first biography of More to have absorbed the small revolution in Reformation scholarship of the last 20 years...and is able to see England, through the mists of Protestant and Whig propaganda, as one of the most authentically Cahtolic countries in the history of Europe. -- The New York Times Book Review

Andrew Sullivan

This simplified picture-book retelling of how the 11-year-old orphan comes to Prince Edward Island is adapted from L.M. Montgomery's classic. Ages 5-8. (Apr.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Montgomery is the latest author to join Running Press's ongoing "Courage Classics'' series of budget hardcover reprints of classic works. Along with the full text, this edition includes excerpts from the author's journal. Also new in the line is Short Stories and Tall Tales by Mark Twain ( ISBN 1-56138-323-6 ), which offers pieces gleaned from Running Press's The Unabridged Mark Twain . At this bargain price, both titles are excellent choices.

Library Journal

Gr 5-8-The nostalgic charm of Avonlea comes alive in Lucy Maud Montgomery's heart-warming tale set on the quaint island of Prince William about an aging brother and sister, Mathew and Marilla Cuthbert, and their decision to adopt a young boy to help with chores around their farm. However, as the result of a misunderstanding the boy turns out to be a feisty, independent, and wildly imaginative redheaded girl named Anne. Marilla's first reaction to this news is, "What use is she to us?" Wherein Mathew replies, "We might be of some use to her." Throughout this moving story these two statements mix and meld together so richly and completely that they become one truth. Three lives are changed so dramatically that none can imagine life without the others. Each new day brings a new set of adventures, often hilarious and always uplifting. Anne's vivid and overactive imagination is the cause of many mishaps, but her saving grace is her heart of gold. Her best friend and "kindred spirit," Diana, and her handsome admirer, Gilbert Blythe, often find themselves unintentional victims of Anne's escapades. Narrator Shelly Frasier's pleasant voice is especially enjoyable during the rapid ramblings of Anne and as the soft-spoken, slow-paced Mathew. Her voice reflects the human qualities of each character, switching seamlessly between broken and despaired, curt and crisp, or dreamy and absent-minded. This perennial classic, divided into convenient three minute tracks and containing a short biography of the author, is a must have for expanding audiobook collections.-Cheryl Preisendorfer, Twinsburg High School, OH Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal

This keepsake or gift edition provides a beautiful hardcover illustrated by Laura Fernandez and Rick Jacobson and using the complete, unabridged text used in the first 1908 edition of Anne. Any who love the story of the red-headed spunky orphan will consider this a fine keepsake edition.

This superb biography does more than narrate the life of the Lord Chancellor who was beheaded and later canonized for refusing to accept Henry VIII as head of the church. It describes the London More knew, the ferment of humanism to which he contributed, and the contemporary appeal of Catholicism. It also portrays an archetypal zealot: More denied heretics their rights of conscience, but later pleaded his own conscience without ever glimpsing the parallel between himself and the Protestants he had executed.

The New Yorker

Brilliantly conceived.

Time Magazine

Sensitive [and] well-informed.

The Wall Street Journal

Wonderfully vivid.

The Boston Globe

Brilliantly conceived....Ackroyd's vividly human More is...imperfect yet inspiring.

Time

A vividly evocative portrait of the lawyer and statesman who was 'the King's good servant, but God's first,' from award- winning biographer and novelist Ackroyd (Blake, 1996; T.S. Eliot, 1984). Thomas More was born in 1479 in Milk Street, in what is now the center of London's financial district, to Agnes and John More, a tradesman-turned-lawyer. Thomas would be one of the great intellects of his time, and Ackroyd gives particular attention to young More's rare and prolonged education: his apprenticeship at the court of the learned Archbishop and Chancellor John Morton of Canterbury, his grounding in the liberal arts at Oxford University, and his legal education at New Inn and Lincoln's Inn. More's upbringing and education, Ackroyd shows, left their permanent imprint upon him: His extensive training in dialectical logic served him well at the bar and on the bench, his time with Archbishop Morton made him familiar with the world of prelates and statecraft, and his Latin and literary training fitted him for his career as a humanist. Ackroyd vibrantly evokes the devout London in which More lived, where even successful lawyers meditated on life's transience and participated in endless rounds of prayer and ritual. He also gives an intimate picture of More's affectionate relations with his family and tells the familiar story of More's rise to favor in the court of Henry VIII, his friendship with Erasmus, his tenure as lord chancellor, and his fall from grace as the crisis of the king's divorce of Catherine of Aragon worsened. Ultimately, More's constancy to his church outweighed his obeisance to the king: Ackroyd gives what amounts to a transcript of the trial in whichMore refused to endorse Henry's marriage to Anne Boleyn, and narrates his imprisonment in the Tower of London and execution in 1535. A limpidly written and superbly wrought portrait of a complex hero who was truly, as his friend Erasmus stated, 'omnium horarum homo,' a 'man for all seasons.'

Kirkus Reviews