Anne Shirley, created by Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery, first appeared in the 1908 novel Anne of Green Gables. The series includes several more novels and has sold over 50 million copies. Anne is an imaginative orphan who goes to live with Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert on Prince Edward Island. She is known for her mistakes, including dying her hair green and accidentally getting her friend drunk. Anne’s later novels follow her as a young adult and mother, and the series has been adapted into plays, films, and TV shows. Anne is considered a feminist heroine who pursues her dreams while also becoming a wife and mother.
Anne Shirley is the beloved creation of Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery. Anne Shirley was first introduced to the world in the book Anne of Green Gables published in 1908. Montgomery would go on to publish many more novels featuring Anne Shirley including: Anne of Avonlea, Anne of the Island, Anne of Windy Poplars, Anne’s House of Dreams and Anne of Ingleside. In addition to these, Montgomery has published four other books that take place in the setting she established for Anne, two with Anne’s children as the protagonists.
Anne Shirley’s novels became very popular almost immediately. Since its initial publication, the initial novel has sold approximately 50 million copies and been translated into numerous languages. Anne Shirley is thought to have been the model for Astrid Lundgren’s Pippi Longstocking.
We first meet Anne Shirley as an eleven-year-old orphan, accidentally sent to live with siblings Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert on their Green Gables farm on Prince Edward Island. Marilla and Matthew had originally requested a boy, but a series of mistakes send Anne instead. Marilla, at Matthew’s insistence, decides to keep and raise the thin red-haired girl.
Anne is an inveterate talker who drives Marilla into distraction with her inability to control her tongue and her frequent plunges into fantasy and imagination. However, Marilla recognizes that Anne Shirley is also a sweet and pure-hearted girl who is generous and intelligent. Although Marilla can’t get over her rather grumpy side to express her feelings to Anne, her first book deals with Marilla’s growing but private musings on how much she loves Anne.
Anne Shirley is famous for getting into the “scratches”. In the first novel she smashes a chalkboard over a boy’s head, dyes her hair green, spices a cake with the feature and tries to walk on a roof ridge with tragic consequences. She also becomes “bosom friends” with Diana Barry, but their friendship takes a turn when Anne accidentally “gets Diana drunk” on currant wine. Although their friendship is finally restored, Anne suffers for many months away from Diana.
In the first book, Anne Shirley forms a distinct dislike for Gilbert Blythe, who calls her “carrots.” They become rivals at Avonlea School, and then at Queen’s College. At the end of Anne Shirley’s first novel, Gilbert and Anne finally become friends. The couple will get married at the beginning of Anne’s House of Dreams.
Anne Shirley is loved by many fans for her sweetness, her propensity for mistakes, her vast spaces of imagination and, later, for the refined moral compass that guides her decisions. She voluntarily forgoes college to care for Marilla, whose eyesight threatens her. She is also a budding writer.
Anne Shirley’s later novels deal with Anne as a young adult and young mother. While the novels are overtly sentimental, they remain fascinating. The latest in the Anne Rilla of Ingleside series is perhaps Montgomery’s best novel. It is the least sentimental and concerns Canadian involvement in World War I. It depicts the devastation of Montgomery at the start of the war and provides an interesting contrast to American sentiment regarding World War I.
Due to the popularity of the books, Anne of Green Gables has been adapted into plays, teleplays, films and even a cartoon. Most agree that the best performance of Anne Shirley belongs to actress Megan Follows in the 1980s PBS versions of Green Gables and Anne of Avonlea. However, the same audiences tend to deplore a PBS adaptation of later books produced in the late 1990s.
Modern critics have regarded Anne Shirley as a feminist heroine. Anne pursues her dreams and eventually attends college. She laughs at the conventional thinking about a woman’s place, but she of her choice becomes her wife and mother. In this way she resembles Louisa May Alcott’s great heroine, Jo March.
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