Anne of Green Gables: Chapter 15: A Tempest in the School Teapot Summary & Analysis

Anne and Diana are walking to school by way of some of their favorite wooded paths. They emerge onto Avonlea’s main road and climb the hill to the school, a whitewashed building with big windows and old-fashioned desks covered with generations of student carvings. After school, Marilla’s fears about Anne’s behavior at school are calmed—the first day went well. Anne enjoyed herself, though she thinks the teacher, Mr. Phillips, spent too much time flirting with Prissy Andrews, a 16-year-old student. Marilla scolds Anne for disrespecting the schoolmaster by spreading rumors.

Anne assures Marilla that she was a good girl in school. She’s behind most of her peers in her studies, but she feels her superior imagination makes up for it. She received several little gifts and compliments from new friends, even overhearing that she has “a very pretty nose.” (Marilla agrees, but she won’t flatter Anne’s vanity by telling her so.) The first three weeks of school pass uneventfully.

One September morning, Diana tells Anne that Gilbert Blythe, a handsome boy who teases all the girls, is back from a summer in New Brunswick. Anne recognizes the name—it was written up along with a girl’s name on the school porch with “Take Notice” printed above. Anne thinks the “Take Notices” are silly, though part of her regrets that there’s no danger of her name ever appearing that way. Diana says that isn’t true—Charlie Sloane is “dead gone” on Anne—and anyway, she’s rumored to be the smartest girl in school. Anne would rather be pretty—though she does like being the head of her class.

Diana warns Anne that Gilbert will be joining her class—though he’s nearly 14, he spent a few years in Alberta where he didn’t attend school much—and that Anne will find it difficult to maintain her lead. Anne says she looks forward to the challenge. In class, Diana points out Gilbert sitting across the aisle. He’s tall, curly-haired, hazel-eyed, and has a teasing smile. After pranking another girl, he winks at Anne. Anne tells Diana that Gilbert is handsome, but she thinks he has bad manners.

That afternoon, while Mr. Phillips is preoccupied with Prissy Andrews, the rest of the students are doing what they like. Gilbert is trying to get Anne’s attention, but she stares out the window, lost in daydreams. Gilbert isn’t used to being ignored by girls. He reaches across the aisle and holds Anne’s long braid aloft, loudly whispering, “Carrots!” Anne jumps to her feet, calls Gilbert a hateful boy, and cracks her slate over his head.

The entire school watches with shock and delight as Mr. Phillips demands an explanation. Gilbert speaks up to take the blame for teasing Anne, but Mr. Phillips ignores him. He accuses Anne of “temper and […] vindictive spirit,” and he makes her stand in front of the blackboard for the rest of the day. Above her head he writes, “Ann Shirley has a very bad temper. Ann Shirley must learn to control her temper.” Anne stands there bravely all afternoon, red-faced with anger and resentment. She refuses to look at Gilbert. After school, Gilbert tries to whisper an apology to Anne, but she acts like she doesn’t hear him. She tells Diana she’ll never forgive Gilbert.

During the noon hour, students often climb the trees in Mr. Bell’s spruce grove and pick nuts of gum to chew. At the end of the hour, they have to race back to the school in order to be in their seats before Mr. Phillips returns. One day, Anne is wandering at the grove’s far end with a lily-wreath on her hair, and she’s among the last into the school. Though she arrives among a crowd of boys, Mr. Phillips picks her as a scapegoat and makes her sit with Gilbert Blythe for the rest of the day, since she’s “so fond of the boys’ company.” To Anne, this is the worst of insults. She buries her head in her arms all day. At one point Gilbert slips a candy heart under her arm, which Anne pointedly crushes with her shoe.

At the end of the day, Anne takes everything out of her desk and tells Diana she isn’t returning to school as long as Mr. Phillips is there. Marilla calls this nonsense, but she’s struck by the stubborn look on Anne’s face and decides to ask Mrs. Rachel for advice. As expected, Mrs. Rachel has already heard the whole story—and she loves being asked for advice. She advises Marilla to humor Anne for the time being. It wasn’t right for Mr. Phillips to single Anne out, she says, and it was immodest to make her sit with a boy. So Marilla decides not to make a fuss. Anne happily studies at home, does her chores, and plays with Diana after school. She continues to hate and ignore Gilbert.

One evening, Marilla finds Anne weeping by her window. Anne explains that she loves Diana so much that she can’t bear the thought of someday losing her—she hates whomever her husband will be one day. Marilla tries to keep a straight face, but soon collapses into a chair, laughing heartily. If Anne must borrow trouble, she should borrow it closer to home—she has quite an imagination!