Ouch, I forgot that line about Diana's first memory of her mother. I remember as a child being disappointed that Anne didn't stay in Avonlea and her children be besties with Diana's. As an adult I realize that probably would've been pretty boring as Montgomery clearly felt she exhausted the Avonlea story beats and moving Anne away created more drama.
Found the line!
"This is my little girl, Diana," said Mrs. Barry. "Diana, you might take Anne out into the garden and show her your flowers. It will be better for you than straining your eyes over that book. She reads entirely too much-" this to Marilla as the little girls went out-"and I can't prevent her, for her father aids and abets her. She's always poring over a book. I'm glad she has the prospect of a playmate-perhaps it will take her more out-of-doors."
Sullivan casts the blame on Mrs. Barry for Diana joining the Queen's class, but the book just says "Diana Barry did not, as her parents did not intend to send her to Queen's." Considering her earlier denouncing of too much book reading and that Montgomery flat out says she's a small-minded prejudiced woman I can see why Sullivan took that tack.
I get that Mrs. Barry is meant to represent the forces of ignorance in a small community showing that people can be prejudiced and antagonizing without being Gothic villains. Still it's pretty frustrating to have this epic friendship built up, sabotaged, and then sort of put away after book three. On the other hand it is more realistic the way Montgomery wrote it.
Both Rainbow Valley and Ingleside reference their cool trips abroad and I too wish we got to hear about them a bit more even though Montgomery couldn't/wouldn't write about those trips. It's also rather interesting that Anne is a bit alienated from Four Winds society because she and Gilbert are so worldly compared to their neighbors.
I don't love Anne and Gilbert as parents - they feel real only when something has gone wrong, like when Jem disappears and everyone is scared.
YES! On a very critical re-read of Ingleside this year I finally put my finger on why I don't like them as parents: they're too perfect. Anne always understands the children and always says the right thing at the right time. Gilbert is slightly more flawed but it defaults to a very dull Edwardian era middle class father stereotype. Which makes no sense because neither of them grew up in a stable two parent home so wouldn't they naturally make mistakes? Even people who did grow up in a traditional ideal home make parenting mistakes all the time. What makes Marilla and Aunt Elizabeth such great characters is that we see them learn as they struggle to be surrogate parents. Anne and Gilbert don't struggle, they're just Super Awesome with No Effort.
The problem with Anne's brood is not only do they fall flat contrasted with their parents they also are not nearly as interesting as Mary and the Manse Children. Rainbow Valley is only tangentially about the Blythes and Ingleside has some funny anecdotes but never really gels to form a whole. It doesn't help that Montgomery was very tired of the Anne universe by the time she got to the children and it shows on every page. (As an aside I really loved the saga of Aunt Mary Maria because showed everyone as flawed, real people trying to deal with a difficult relative rather than be just Family Circus style twee vignettes). But as you've said the Blythe children are still more interesting than Davy and Paul.
I'm going to be awful and admit that the only way I find Paul interesting is if he grew up to realize he was An Invert. Gasp.
Leslie has to be the best single book character. I mean yeah she's alive in the other books, but they never talk onscreen again which is a shame. I guess because the West sisters became the Tragedy Ladies du jour (and I adore them), but the Blythe children always talk about their visits to the House O'Dreams and we never see them. I have too many feelings about all these characters.
Found the line!
"This is my little girl, Diana," said Mrs. Barry. "Diana, you might take Anne out into the garden and show her your flowers. It will be better for you than straining your eyes over that book. She reads entirely too much-" this to Marilla as the little girls went out-"and I can't prevent her, for her father aids and abets her. She's always poring over a book. I'm glad she has the prospect of a playmate-perhaps it will take her more out-of-doors."
Sullivan casts the blame on Mrs. Barry for Diana joining the Queen's class, but the book just says "Diana Barry did not, as her parents did not intend to send her to Queen's." Considering her earlier denouncing of too much book reading and that Montgomery flat out says she's a small-minded prejudiced woman I can see why Sullivan took that tack.
I get that Mrs. Barry is meant to represent the forces of ignorance in a small community showing that people can be prejudiced and antagonizing without being Gothic villains. Still it's pretty frustrating to have this epic friendship built up, sabotaged, and then sort of put away after book three. On the other hand it is more realistic the way Montgomery wrote it.
Both Rainbow Valley and Ingleside reference their cool trips abroad and I too wish we got to hear about them a bit more even though Montgomery couldn't/wouldn't write about those trips. It's also rather interesting that Anne is a bit alienated from Four Winds society because she and Gilbert are so worldly compared to their neighbors.
I don't love Anne and Gilbert as parents - they feel real only when something has gone wrong, like when Jem disappears and everyone is scared.
YES! On a very critical re-read of Ingleside this year I finally put my finger on why I don't like them as parents: they're too perfect. Anne always understands the children and always says the right thing at the right time. Gilbert is slightly more flawed but it defaults to a very dull Edwardian era middle class father stereotype. Which makes no sense because neither of them grew up in a stable two parent home so wouldn't they naturally make mistakes? Even people who did grow up in a traditional ideal home make parenting mistakes all the time. What makes Marilla and Aunt Elizabeth such great characters is that we see them learn as they struggle to be surrogate parents. Anne and Gilbert don't struggle, they're just Super Awesome with No Effort.
The problem with Anne's brood is not only do they fall flat contrasted with their parents they also are not nearly as interesting as Mary and the Manse Children. Rainbow Valley is only tangentially about the Blythes and Ingleside has some funny anecdotes but never really gels to form a whole. It doesn't help that Montgomery was very tired of the Anne universe by the time she got to the children and it shows on every page. (As an aside I really loved the saga of Aunt Mary Maria because showed everyone as flawed, real people trying to deal with a difficult relative rather than be just Family Circus style twee vignettes). But as you've said the Blythe children are still more interesting than Davy and Paul.
I'm going to be awful and admit that the only way I find Paul interesting is if he grew up to realize he was An Invert. Gasp.
Leslie has to be the best single book character. I mean yeah she's alive in the other books, but they never talk onscreen again which is a shame. I guess because the West sisters became the Tragedy Ladies du jour (and I adore them), but the Blythe children always talk about their visits to the House O'Dreams and we never see them. I have too many feelings about all these characters.
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