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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
One December evening, Matthew is taking off his boots in the kitchen when he hears Anne and her friends practicing their “Fairy Queen” dialogue in the next room. He’s too shy to walk in on a group of girls, so he shrinks out of sight. While he waits for the other girls to leave, he notices that there’s something that differentiates Anne from her classmates. All evening Matthew somberly smokes his pipe as he tries to put his finger on what it is. Suddenly he realizes that Anne dresses differently—Marilla always puts her in drab dresses. Matthew wonders what the harm would be in buying Anne one pretty, fashionable dress.
In his own way, Matthew is more attentive to Anne’s needs than Marilla is. Though he doesn’t know the first thing about girls or fashion, his love for Anne helps him recognize areas where she might be feeling left out. Clothing is one such area, since Marilla’s efforts to keep Anne looking plain and humble cause Anne to stand out from her peers.
Themes
Literary Devices
The next day Matthew goes to Carmody to buy a dress, visiting Samuel Lawson’s store instead of William Blair’s, where he normally goes. He dreads having to deal with Blair’s daughters behind the counter and assumes a man will wait on him at Lawson’s. But when he walks in, he’s alarmed to see a fashionable lady clerk behind the counter. He’s immediately overcome with shyness and awkwardness. When she asks how she can help him, Mathew falteringly asks to see some garden rakes, then some hayseed, and finally some brown sugar. Breaking out in a sweat, he asks for 20 pounds of brown sugar. Back at home, Marilla is baffled and critical of the unreasonable stockpile of sugar.
This humorously awkward scene nevertheless brings out Matthew’s great love for Anne—he’s willing to put himself in one of the most uncomfortable situations imaginable for a shy, reclusive man just to help her feel pretty and accepted by her peers. Still, purchasing material for a dress proves to be beyond him—he can ask for rakes, seed, or sugar from a lady clerk, but not a dress.
Themes
Matthew finally decides he must rely on a woman’s help, and since Marilla would never agree, he approaches Mrs. Lynde, the only other Avonlea woman he’s not afraid of. She immediately understands his plan and agrees to buy and sew a dress as a Christmas surprise for Anne. Matthew specifically asks for puffed sleeves. Mrs. Lynde is relieved that Anne will finally have a nice dress, having feared that Marilla’s attempt to keep Anne humble would only make her envious of others in the long run. She can’t believe Matthew had the idea, though—she thinks he’s “waking up after being asleep” for 60 years.
Together Matthew and Mrs. Lynde perceive that Marilla’s strategy to build humility in Anne is likely to backfire—there’s no advantage in dressing her in drab fashions when nobody else does. Mrs. Lynde also notices how Anne is stirring Matthew’s imagination in ways that would never otherwise have happened, showing the transforming effect of Anne’s love on the household.
Themes
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On Christmas Eve, Mrs. Lynde delivers the new dress. Marilla thinks it’s a pointless extravagance—the sleeves are wasteful, and Anne will become vain. But she doesn’t resist. Anne wakes up to a snowy Christmas morning and runs downstairs joyfully. Matthew greets her with the dress, and Anne gazes at it in stunned silence—the soft brown color, the frilly skirt, ruffle of lace on the collar, and puffed elbow sleeves. Her eyes fill with tears as she tells Matthew how much she loves it.
Anne finally achieves her dream of owning a dress with puffed sleeves. Ultimately, it’s not the fashionable dress that matters most—it’s the knowledge that Matthew, of all people, saw and understood Anne’s desire and made the dream come true for her. Thus it’s another symbol of how love can transform people in unexpected ways.
Themes
Literary Devices
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After breakfast, Diana runs down to Green Gables with a gift from Aunt Josephine. It contains a Christmas card to “the Anne-girl,” and inside is a delicate pair of leather slippers that will work perfectly for the concert tonight. The concert is a success, and everyone agrees that Anne was the star. She was frightened before her recitation, but she knew she had to live up to her puffed sleeves. Diana tells her that Gilbert picked up a rose that had fallen out of Anne’s hair onstage, but Anne says she has no interest in “that person.”
It's a triumphant Christmas for Anne, not only because of the loving gift and the inspiration it gives her, but because of her first successful public recitation. The only thing that can spoil it is the reminder of Gilbert, who despite Anne’s stubborn scorn, continues to feel affection for her.
Themes
That night, after Anne has gone to bed, Matthew and Marilla talk about the concert (their first such outing in 20 years). Marilla admits that Anne did well and that the concert wasn’t such a bad idea. She’s proud of Anne, though she doesn’t intend to tell her that. The Cuthberts agree that they should set aside some money for further schooling for Anne, though she’s not yet 13.
Marilla still maintains that showing too much pride or affection spoils a young girl, even though she has softened on the subject of the concert. Higher education for girls—especially in rural Prince Edward Island—was not the most common thing in the Victorian period, so the Cuthberts are forward-looking in this respect.
Themes
