Anne the College Gal!
Anne of the Island, Chapters 1-10
Welcome Back, Kindred Spirits, and welcome to Anne of the Island!
We begin just a week later from where we left off in Anne of Avonlea, with Anne preparing to leave for college, Diana newly engaged, and Mrs. Lynde about to move in with Marilla.
As I read the opening pages of Anne of the Island I am once again so enthralled by the imagery and feel a deep longing to visit Prince Edward Island. Among our readers, has anyone visited themselves and does it live up to the description? I think by the end of this read-along I will have made a visit a reality, because with each new description of the emerging spring at Green Gables, the harvest of a new autumn, and the blue, blue, blue sea in the distance, I am finding it more irresistible.
I wanted a better understanding of where Anne is located throughout the books, so below is a map of Nova Scotia and I’ve added little images of Anne in 3 relevant spots.
Green Gables in Prince Edward Island where Avonlea is imagined to be
Halifax is where the orphanage was right before the start of the 1st book
Redmond in Kingsport where we are spending the majority of Anne of the Island is pinpointed on Nova Scotia near the Bay of Fundy
Anne’s first day at Redmond is off to a good start, when she and Priscilla quickly make a new friend, Philippa “Phil” Gordon, the stylish, boy-obsessed girl afflicted with indecision who is from Bolingbroke, Nova Scotia, where Anne was born before becoming orphaned at 3 months old. Anne states confidently afterwards, “I believe I’ve put forth a tiny soul-root into Kingsport soil this afternoon. I hope so. I hate to feel transplanted”.
I adore this term, soul-root. It elegantly demonstrates the feeling of building community in a new place. What are moments of putting forth soul-roots that you have experienced lately?
Anne felt like a stranger for the first three weeks, and then it suddenly came together. Rather than all of the details of her life feeling as “detached fragments” it all began to “fall into focus”.
I often find myself in the midst of a routine, stopped in my tracks, remembering what a particular sight looked like to me while it was brand-new and out of focus. I am always comforted by these reflections as they remind me how all comfortable spaces were once unfamiliar. Next time you find yourself moving along in autopilot, take a moment to look around you and absorb your setting from that fresh perspective. As you walk around your neighborhood or grocery store or workplace, can you put yourself in the point of view of seeing it for the first time? What does this practice feel like for you?
Anne returns home for Christmas and is met with a sea of love at Green Gables. All of her friends, family, and childhood wonders are waiting for her, but she also experiences disillusionment when she receives her first proposal(!) Billy Andrews has asked his sister Jane to ask Anne for him. Anne is not interested in Billy to begin with, but his proposal by proxy does him no favors. She feels a sting of disappointment that this moment isn’t filled with the romance she once expected. The shocks to her “romantic sensibilities” continues as she receives another proposal in the form of Charlie Sloane, to which her rejection leads to a year-long strife between the two.
Other aspects of Anne's world are working out nicely when she learns that another friend from Queens, Stella, will be joining them at Redmond next year and has suggested that they rent a home together with Priscilla, rather than continuing on in the boardinghouse. Finding a house seems impossible until the storybook home “Patty’s Place” that already enamored the girls becomes available to rent!
I remember so clearly the excitement of my first college rental after two years of living in the dorms. I moved into a 7-bedroom house that was quite dingy and in disrepair, but the 7 of us who moved into this old, dirty house were in love because it was to be ours! The first summer of living in this house was pure magic, and I feel it so viscerally as I read the description of Anne’s walk-through of Patty’s Place!
I have a feeling that this book’s primary theme will be around change. And it is not just a change for Anne, but for all in the community, as Anne is the first Avonlea girl to ever go to college. It would have made Matthew so proud, and I feel grief at thinking about how he isn’t here to see it. Within the first 10 chapters, we have travelled through Anne’s first academic year at Redmond and she is about to head back home to Green Gables for the summer. Onwards to more college experiences for our dear Anne!
Thank you for reading
Thank you for reading and joining me on this read-along of Anne of Green Gables!
To get these updates in your inbox, subscribe to Community Corner and turn on notifications for the Kindred Spirits Bookclub.
Your bosom friend,
Bri
Thank you for the map! I was getting confused when the sun was setting over the sea in Kingsport, but Bay of Fundy makes sense!
The exciting college years! I shared an apartment with 10 other students, it was in a decrepit Soviet communal flat, but in a beautiful Art Nouveau building with high ceiling and stained glass windows. It hosts a museum- Rīga Art Nouveau Centre - now. I was also very lucky with my student room in Uppsala, Sweden. It was generally very difficult to find any but I managed to get a nice one in the very center. No furniture though, so I really had to "scare up a few sticks of furniture." But it turned out very nice.
I was born and grew up in Latvia, but for the last 15 years I've been living in Georgia (Eurasian country). So I know what being transplanted feels, but recently I've become more aware that I've put some roots here and feel more at home here than in Latvia.
“Yes, I feel like Byron’s ‘Childe Harold’ — only it isn’t really my ‘native shore’ that I’m watching,” said Anne, winking her gray eyes vigorously. “Nova Scotia is that, I suppose. But one’s native shore is the land one loves the best, and that’s good old P.E.I. for me."
Great to start the third book. It’s funny that I’m retired now and still remember the first days in college. Stays with one for a lifetime.