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Chapter 11: Anne’s Impressions of Sunday School
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Anne of Green Gables, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Home and Family
Beauty and Imagination
Friendship
Mishaps, Milestones, and Growing Up
Boys and Romance
God, Prayer, and Church
Summary
Analysis
The following Friday, Marilla hears from Mrs. Lynde about Anne’s flower-decorated hat and scolds her for drawing attention to herself. Anne starts to cry—she didn’t think she’d done anything wrong; lots of girls had artificial flowers on their hats, after all. Marilla comforts Anne with the news that Diana Barry is home from a trip, so Anne can meet her today.
Marilla sees Anne’s impulsive behavior as reflecting poorly on Marilla herself. For her part, Anne doesn’t understand why she has to conform exactly to the other girls’ behavior. She’s not used to Avonlea’s small-town atmosphere—where anyone who sticks out is talked about—or to others’ lack of originality.
Themes
Right away Anne begins shaking with nervousness and excitement. She worries that Diana won’t like her. Marilla says Anne should worry about Mrs. Barry instead—she’ll expect Anne to be perfectly polite, or else she won’t let Diana play with her. They walk to Orchard Slope, where Anne nervously greets Mrs. Barry. Diana, a black-haired girl with a cheerful expression, is reading a book on the couch. Mrs. Barry tells them to go outside—Diana strains her eyes too much over books, she says, so perhaps a playmate will get her outdoors more.
Always inclined to extremes of emotion, Anne lets her imagination run away with her as she thinks of possible outcomes of meeting Diana for the first time—what if they aren’t bosom friends after all? Since she’s never had a real-life friend before, there’s lots of pressure on this first meeting.
Themes
In the Barrys’ lush garden, Anne and Diana look at each other shyly. Finally, Anne asks Diana if she thinks she could like Anne enough to become her “bosom friend.” Diana laughs, as she often does, and says she thinks so—she’s glad Anne has come to Green Gables, because there are no other girls nearby, and Diana’s sisters are too little. Anne asks Diana if she’ll swear to be friends forever. Diana is shocked, but Anne explains that by “swearing,” she just means “vowing and promising solemnly.”
In Anne’s mind, becoming a “bosom friend” isn’t a complicated matter—it’s mainly a question of one’s sincerity and openness to friendship. Since Diana is an open-hearted person who simply desires a playmate, the two are a good match, even before they know much about each other.
Themes
Diana agrees, so they join hands, and Anne solemnly swears to be Diana’s bosom friend forever. Diana laughingly repeats the oath and says that Anne is as strange as she’s heard, but she thinks she’ll like her a lot. By the end of the visit, the two girls are walking arm in arm. As she and Marilla walk home, Anne says she’s the happiest girl on the Island and chatters happily about all the plans she and Diana have made. Marilla just reminds her that she can’t play all the time; she’ll have her chores to do, too.
Anne and Diana’s friendship gets off to a promising start—Diana is ready to like Anne, no matter what strange things she’s heard about her, and to cheerfully go along with Anne’s imaginative fancies. Because of their mutual openness, the foundation for their friendship is already strong, and there’s every indication that the friendship will live up to Anne’s cherished hopes for a “bosom friend” of her very own.
Themes
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When they get home, they discover that Matthew has bought Anne chocolates. Anne happily plans to share half with Diana. Though Marilla grumbles about the candy, she privately admires Anne’s generosity. She also tells Matthew that even though Anne has only lived here for three weeks, it feels like she’s been here forever. She’s glad she kept Anne—but she warns Matthew to stop “looking I-told-you-so.”
More and more, Marilla is warming up to the strange orphan girl she never wanted or expected—showing that even in an orderly household that’s stuck in its ways, “family” can be a surprisingly flexible concept.
Themes
