Forested shawl over river-stream dress. Boots of soil and petal-laced gloves. A tiara atop with wild rose ornaments, holding on hand a garden of dreams. Anne of Green Gables is poetically romanticized from the start, at times amusingly so in its earnestness, as the story unites with your run-of-the-mill young protagonist orphaned as a child exploding with imagination that would make the most devastating volcanoes forego their activities in shame. Words upon words rocket on all directions like a machine gun as never-had-friends-and-family Anne Shirley finally finds for herself targets that don't run at lock-on, effectively shielding to nullify the ever-creeping shadows of monotony and boredom. In a coming-of-age story ingrained in everyday life, we follow this dear young girl on her adventures to color both grayscale and rainbow with further meaning outsourced from her endless pool of imagination, experiencing the joys and sorrows of change and growth as many as sand on the beach.
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Crestfallen and ravaged by a tempest of despair of having tasted the exquisite goblet of home and an environment which essentially has a strong affinity with Anne's wild imagination, what with the lush greenery, the kingdoms of cherry blossom trees, and the shining waters, among many others, yet its sweetness eventually shoved away for the return of loneliness, Anne breaks down at this romantic tragedy.
The next afternoon came and Anne was sent back to the adoption house along with Marilla. On the roads Marilla convinced the young girl to open up, albeit reluctantly. Anne's parents who were teachers died of illness when she was only 2 months old. She was sent to two families before being accepted in the orphanage she belonged, experiencing loss, famine, separation, taking up caretaking responsibilities, and most especially, suffering loneliness along the way. Using her imagination, she weaved for herself a fabricated reality where she has a friend named Katie Maurice. Although aware that Katie is only imaginary, she persisted with the play until she was told to part ways with that one household due to a financial crisis stemming from poverty and a vice-filled father figure. She spent more than half a decade in the orphanage seeing off children like her who had no parents finally having their own families while she stayed rotting in the adoption house until being mistakenly delivered to the Cuthberts.
From this we can understand that the traumatizing events Anne has been through solely due to the lack of family and a home that comes with it is heartbreaking to say the least. That sudden dark turn of the tone grabbed my well of sympathy and offered it to this dear crimson apple with a tree in sight no longer. Yet, it is due to her imagination that she nurtured and smithed into a defense mechanism against sorrow that she pulled through and retained that childlike vitality that is hopeful for the future.
After encountering Anne's would-be familial prospect should she reject the adoption, Marilla's heart softened and decided to keep Anne in the Green Gables. Finally with a home she can ground herself on, in a conducive environment meant for sustainable maturation, Anne's daily adventures of learning something new everyday begins.
The Story's Flesh: Of Loving Relationships
Anne of Green Gables is akin to a regular Saturday morning show with its relaxing atmosphere one can easily fall under comfort to. The feeling of ease arises from a mellifluous soundtrack directed by Urakami Yasuo playing the sound of rural life and art design handled by Ioka Masahiro that thoroughly replicates the rose-colored beauty of nature. I was going to say, Ioka's craft on the natural environment is astounding, truly bringing out nature's deep and manifold aesthetic blessings. It turns out that Miyazaki and Takahata Isao (the anime's director) expressed their praises for Ioka's depiction of nature as well.
Although it doesn't really require much brain power to appreciate and comprehend because it's more face value, it is nevertheless a story that abounds in life lessons one would expect from a classic children's novel (still written with all ages in mind) and excelling in that regard so much that its novice complexity is not at all a weakness, but rather a strength. Its encompassing scope is reached from its lessons regarding doing chores, temper regulation, forgiveness, self-love, the value of friendship, balancing fun and studies, discovering and pursuing dreams, and most importantly, loving your family. All of these concepts and more explored in six cycles of spring, summer, fall, and winter are executed with immense grace.
Were I to read the novel or watch this anime whether in my innocent years or my rebellious phase I would still take the story's tender intentions taught with love to heart. It does not come off as overbearing, it really rings convincing all the way, soothing down angst and cynicism and all its cronies.
Anne and the cast and everything behind it are simply great teachers capable of understanding the events of human life and telling a story that would alleviate doubts while fortifying virtues.
The protagonist Anne Shirley at eleven started off like your ordinary kid: causing mischief, unbelievably noisy, inhibiting self-deprecating behaviors concerning physical features, prideful, and rather oblivious to the environment. I myself found her a bit intolerable during the first quarter of the series, so close to the border of annoyance. She basically exhausted all her many faults in the beginning. But there is one thing about her she herself is already aware of, something I find very much admirable especially since she's just a child, and it's that she learns from her mistakes and is confident that it would never happen twice.
Another thing about Anne is that she respects Marilla and Matthew a lot. She doesn't talk back disrespectfully despite Marilla's many disagreements, nor does she do anything with the intent of causing trouble for her guardians in mind. She fulfills her household responsibilities faithfully. It is very clear that Anne cherishes the very first family that accepted her, and that's as sweet as honey.
The sentiment is reciprocated by the Cuthberts. Matthew is literally overflowing with love and affection for Anne, going so far as to sacrifice his already weakened body for honest work that pays in order to give Anne the most comfortable life she can get and for her to forget her haunting past. Matthew possesses boundless care and understanding for Anne, being a firm believer of the child's capabilities. He has complete and utter faith in Anne's personality as well. Matthew's love is quiet, but persevering, gentle, yet fiery. Its boundlessness is absolutely wholesome.
Marilla doesn't fall short in loving Anne. Being rather airheaded and clumsy, Marilla is a much-needed slap to bring Anne back to reality whenever she wanders away into fantasyland. She teachers her the value of religion, nurturing the importance of morals and duty within Anne. As a pragmatist, it was very wise for Marilla to not spoil the girl at her tender age and rather train her to be sensible amidst the extravagance around the neighborhood.
Marilla is not without faults, however. There were times where she was too stern and needlessly strict and distrustful of Anne without ever hearing her side of things. Some moments she was seen to be dismissive of Anne's latent ability to imagine, which the story urges is an extremely pivotal intelligence to enhance as it transcends the world of dryads and nymphs and seeps into reality. Overtime, however, as Anne continues to grow, Marilla "mellowed out" as per Avonlea's very own Rachel Lynde's words (who I feel deserves her own religion because of her everything-ness). The mother figure painstakingly floated through the stark age gap and learned to understand the needs of the youth, especially one such princess who was never raised by proper parents.
All in all the Cuthberts of the Green Gables make for one of the best families in fiction and therefore one of my high favorites in the expression of family love.
The story doesn't limit to familial expositions. As a show focusing on the conglomeration of relationships from mere shards to complete figures, it is also important to take note of Anne's friends, specifically Diana Barry. To put it simply, I adore Diana. At first I shared Anne's anxiety in thinking that she will never have her bosom friend and Diana would be weirded out by her outgoing energy, which would mean that Avonlea would be a desolate place for the child, incomplete despite already fulfilling the having-a-family requirement. It turned out that their friendship would last until the end of time, the oath on the garden stream fulfilled.
Diana and Anne are always in sync. Both of them are basically as one, never separating from one another inside and outside the classroom. They're practically two little flowers in one stem. I grew so fond of their interactions; their friendship, I found, is one of the most sincere ones. I too would like to have my own Diana who connects with me and my eccentricity. She is a real gem, always there through thick and thin, unafraid to call out her friend's mistakes.
Their relationship also has its own share of conflicts. Once they had a huge argument which would have spelled the end of their wedding vows. It was triggered when both of them realized, they were two different individuals after all. Diana and Anne were too in touch with each other such that both of them could regard each other as their own selves in the intricate coalescence of their souls. Were it not for Jerry Bout's prank on Anne in telling her she'll die from the poisoned apple which prompted her to apologize to Diana for her childishness, things would never be the same for the inseparable duo of Avonlea. In the end, Anne decides to join the study session for Queens while Diana paves her own path, both still cherishing their bond nonetheless.
Time Will Not Cease Its Flow
The author does not condone naivety nor irresponsible deeds--it is always addressed at some point in the story. It isn't always rainbows and sunshine in one countryside of Prince Edward island. Time flows and it carries along with it both blossoming petals and withered leaves. It is an inescapable fact that problems always catch us ever so suddenly in surprise, and we have no choice but to accept destiny's decree.
We witness Anne grow so much throughout 50 episodes, and I truly felt like I've overseered her like my very own child. Puberty didn't exempt the young girl to shoot up in height. That alone brought a sense of melancholy. Anne eventually became sensible and spoke less of her endlessly meandering fantasies. She experienced exhaustion in dedicating her time to study hard to ace the Queens Entrance Exams. She tied with Gilbert Blythe at #1, and after a few months, lived in the city boarding house away from the Green Gables.
Is this what being a parent feels like? Rather than connecting with Anne in this aspect as a growing teenager, I felt more strongly the side of the Cuthberts. Seeing one's child away arises a debilitating kind of loneliness. Parents have their own feelings too. They cope with their own problems too. They love us children too, and I can't help but think about my personal situation and how I lack in gratitude for my own family. I became sensitive to their feelings whenever I am absent from school and silent for my studies. Those sorts of things and many others I reflected due to the movement of the story.
Spring had its turn for more than half of the tale. Anne of Green Gables is an expert in setting up the tone of the atmosphere, giving glimmers of inevitable conflicts without disregarding the shining perception it advocates for. Matthew experienced frequent attacks due to his heart problems. Marilla's headaches were an indication of blindness. Even Anne wasn't exempted to the party--the Cuthbert doctor warns of a possibility of Anne acquiring lung problems were she not properly supplied with fresh air. And this is where the author teaches us to balance studies and fun lest we fall unstable and threatened by ailments.
And so I feared for the lives of the two old angels as the pages turned. Sure enough, Matthew died, which brought me my own kind of heart attack. Marilla was getting frail and with her own visual problems; she couldn't possibly provide for the family. The fall of the bank's financial conditions made it so that she had to make a difficult choice of considering to sell the house while she shelters inside the Lynde household as Anne continues her studies far away. The rain poured into a typhoon, the snow frosted into blizzards. It all felt so hopeless. And Anne isn't a superhuman--despite her blinding optimism, she regressed into the shadows for a while too. But with her dutiful nature, and most especially, the power of her imagination, she was able to concoct a plan to put them out of this misery. She gave up her studies despite a hard-earned scholarship and sought a teaching job instead.
Anne...was so admirable. She was determined to shoulder finances at the age of 17. She was so quick in recovering and putting her wits together; I would have brooded it over for a week at least, paralyzed. The culmination of her hard work grew not solely for her own sake, but for a massive tree of fruitful bearings dedicated to the people who truly loved her for who she is. As she aged, she realized how home is the most important thing for her. That was the very thing she lacked for the first full decade of her life on Earth. That is something a lot of us take for granted. Anne of Green Gables preaches how we should also understand our parents for they are imperfect beings like us and to give thanks to the reasons for our nourishment.
A bit of a tangent here, but there was a scene which I find unforgettable. It was during Anne and Diana's trip to Charlottetown sponsored by Josephine Barry. They basically experienced the finer things in life like casual regals. Upon being questioned whether the city life is more suitable for her than life in the countryside, Anne stated that, no, she prefers the simple elegance of the Green Gables to the luxury of the city. In arriving home after a few days of fun, Anne said,
"I've had a splendid time, and I feel that it marks an epoch in my life. But the best of it all was coming home."
If that isn't one of the best things you could ever hear from your child. Often, the saddest part of hanging out with friends is parting ways to go back home. For Anne, however, that notion is reversed. To her, being in the Green Gables is much better than eating ice cream, sweets over tea, witnessing opera performances, and sleeping inside a royal bedroom.
Anne Shirley is the essence of what it means to appreciate what you have. Half of her life thus far was dedicated to grasping at straws and sleeping with utter lack. The orphanage's mistake turned out to be one of the greatest blessings for her, and that is something she will never release from her grip. She grabs the chance by the collar and pours it with genuine love as she continues to learn what it means to live with a family by her side. Allowing the main character to have that kind of background assures the universality of the story's impact. Deservingly, Anne of Green Gables the novel became a world-renowned classic. Anne's teacher profession goes far beyond the confines of the screen for the personal lessons she educates permits a blossoming garden of wisdom.
Despite the prickling of thorns and bladed grass after reaching solid ground, despite the howling of uncertainties and the Death God's almighty shears, Anne Shirley braved every obstacle and lifted herself up the clouds by the power of her divine imagination providing her the strength to strive for her dreams and the magnetic attraction on kindred spirits as she bestows colors of joy around the narrow road's field like a basket girl throwing out flowers past the meadow.
The achievement of simultaneous romanticization and pragmatism is a testament to L.M. Montgomery's writing prowess, interpreted by Takahata with his own magic. In this kind of storytelling where ebb and flow are not discarded but rather incorporated in full disclosure, Anne of Green Gables finished as a long-lasting definitive oeuvre, a heartwarming tale brimming with realizations. I firmly believe the story is a must to experience across all adaptations as it educates with love through timeless grounding art.
