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Chapter 5: Anne’s History
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
When they reach Mrs. Spencer’s, Marilla gets directly to the point: she’d told Mrs. Spencer’s brother that they wanted a little boy, but somehow the message got garbled. Mrs. Spencer says it must have been the fault of her “flighty” niece, Nancy. Marilla concedes it was the Cuthberts’ fault for not bringing the message themselves. They discuss sending Anne back to Nova Scotia, and Mrs. Spencer says it might be unnecessary: Mrs. Peter Blewett has been looking for a girl to help with her large family.
Marilla’s discussion with Mrs. Spencer shows how it's taken for granted that orphans will be useful to the families that adopt them. Because Anne was expected to serve a particular function at Green Gables and isn’t the kind of child they expected, she has become a problem to be solved. Anne is forced to listen to such negotiations unfold, probably not for the first time in her life.
Themes
Though Mrs. Spencer calls this development “providential,” Marilla, to her surprise, feels uneasy. Mrs. Blewett is rumored to be hard-driving, ill-tempered, and stingy. Marilla shrinks from surrendering Anne to such a person. Just then, Mrs. Blewett happens to come up the Spencers’ lane. As the guests sit in the parlor, Anne regards Mrs. Blewett worriedly and tries not to cry.
A short time ago, Mrs. Blewett’s arrival would have been welcomed by Marilla as an easy solution to the problem of Anne. Now that she’s gotten to know Anne a little and pictures her being put to work in yet another loveless household, however, Marilla rethinks the whole “problem.”
Themes
When Mrs. Spencer explains the situation, Mrs. Blewett looks Anne over sharply. She concludes that Anne looks delicate but “wiry,” and that the wiry ones are often the best. If Anne lives with her, she warns, Anne will have to “earn [her] keep.” Since she’s exhausted with caring for her baby, she agrees to take Anne home. But Marilla looks at Anne’s helpless face and says that she and Matthew will have to discuss the matter further.
Mrs. Blewett looks Anne over in a disturbingly objectifying way—defining her in terms of her surface characteristics and the expectation that Anne will justify her presence in the household. This is the opposite of being welcomed into a family. In contrast to her feelings just a day ago, Marilla realizes this and retreats from her plan to dispose of Anne.
Themes
Anne’s expression is slowly transformed from despair to hope. When the other women step out of the room, she rushes to Marilla in joy, but Marilla warns her that nothing’s decided yet, and scolds Anne for criticizing Mrs. Blewett’s looks (though she hides a smile of agreement). She tells Anne she’d better sit down and behave, and Anne says she’ll do whatever Marilla wants, if only Marilla will keep her.
Anne realizes that her hopes for a home and family may not be lost. Even if Marilla has partly decided, however, she maintains a strict exterior around Anne. Anne’s heartbreaking willingness to be agreeable and obedient shows how desperately she longs for acceptance.
Themes
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Later, back at Green Gables, Matthew and Marilla discuss Anne while milking the cows. Marilla has no idea how to raise a girl, and she’s afraid she’ll mess it up, but she has decided that Anne can stay. Matthew’s face lights up; he finds Anne so “interesting.” Marilla says it’d be better if Anne were useful, but she can be trained—and Matthew had better not interfere. Matthew agrees, but he urges Marilla to be good to Anne—he thinks Anne will be teachable if she feels loved.
Even though Marilla has softened toward Anne and is reconsidering her view of an adoptive child’s role in the household, she still expects Anne to contribute to life at Green Gables by being “useful.” Though Matthew doesn’t completely disagree, he has a more instinctive understanding of what Anne really needs—to be loved. If that happens, he senses that everything else will fall into place for Anne.
Themes
