Anne of Green Gables: Chapter 27: Vanity and Vexation of Spirit Summary & Analysis

Marilla walks home from an Aid meeting one spring evening feeling content and looking forward to the warm fire and tea awaiting her at Green Gables. When she arrives, however, she finds the kitchen cold, with no fire or meal. Annoyed, she starts preparing it herself, figuring Anne is off writing stories or wasting time with Diana. Mrs. Allan might say that Anne is “the brightest and sweetest child,” but Marilla still thinks Anne’s head is too full of “nonsense.” Even so, she never thought Anne would be neglectful of her duties like this.

At suppertime, there’s still no sign of Anne. When Marilla goes upstairs to borrow Anne’s candle, she’s surprised to find Anne herself, huddled despairingly in bed. Anne begs Marilla to go away, but Marilla insists on knowing what’s wrong, so Anne finally gets out of bed and tells Marilla to look at her hair. Lifting the candle, Marilla sees that Anne’s red hair has turned an ugly, dull green. As they go downstairs, Marilla gets the story out of Anne: she dyed her hair, fully knowing it was a “wicked” thing to do. She’d been told it would turn “a beautiful raven black.”

Anne admits that a peddler had stopped by the house that afternoon and touched her heart with his story of trying to earn enough money to bring his wife and children to Canada from Germany. She noticed the hair dye among his offerings, and the peddler promised it wouldn’t wash out. He sold it to Anne for 50 cents. She used up the whole bottle immediately, but as soon as the saw the color of her hair, she repented her actions. Marilla says she hopes Anne sees where her vanity has brought her.

Anne scrubs her hair vigorously, but the dye doesn’t wash off. She says she’ll never live down this mishap—it’s worse than the liniment cake, the raspberry cordial, or yelling at Mrs. Lynde, because it makes her look disreputable. After a week of daily washings, Marilla concludes that there’s no hope but to cut Anne’s hair. Anne laments this “unromantic affliction”; at least girls in books lose their hair from fevers or cut it off to sell for charity.

When the haircut is finished, Anne’s new look isn’t flattering. At first she turns her mirror to the wall, but then she decides she needs to see her reflection regularly as a reminder of how vain she was. She now realizes that despite her hatred of her red hair, she was nevertheless vain about its length and thickness and curl. When she returns to school, nobody can guess the reason for Anne’s haircut, and she even bears Josie Pye’s insults patiently. She has decided to put all her energy into being good from now on and to stop worrying about being beautiful.