The Heaviness of Adulthood

Anne of the Island, Chapters 11-20

Hello Kindred Spirits,

This week of reading felt different for me. It was heavier in many ways, yet it also brought me back to the spirit of the first book much more than I ever felt throughout Anne of Avonlea, with all the little joys of homelife at Patty’s Place and the descriptions of the springtime. In these 10 chapters we cover another year of time, beginning with Anne’s 1st summer after college all the way up to the start of the 2nd summer.

Anne’s 1st summer back in Avonlea is filled with catching up with friends and writing. She makes her first attempt at publishing a story and is faced with the rejection of two magazines, making her want to quit the attempt altogether. Diana secretly submits it to a competition for an advertisement for baking powder, and Anne wins, much to her mortification, feeling that such a competition is stooping below her standards for her art. 

I was hoping for a resume in childhood with a fun filled summer in Avonlea, but instead this summer is faced with the harsh and tragic realities of life.

Another devastating heartbreak comes to Avonlea with the much too early death of Ruby Gillis. This is not Anne’s first glimpse of death, but it is the first death of a schoolmate, the first death of someone her age, the first death to lead to a contemplation of her own death. Anne was able to visit Ruby many times throughout the summer before her death, always with Ruby and her family dancing around the inevitable. In Anne’s final visit, Ruby acknowledges that her death is imminent and she tells Anne how scared and sad she is about it. This may have been Ruby’s only time speaking these feelings into the world, and Anne gives her the space to do so. 

As it always is with grief, life continues on for the living and Anne returns to Redmond. We get to read the lovely descriptions of the girls’ new home at Patty’s Place. I was ready to never forgive Anne as I read about the attempt to kill Rusty the cat, but thankfully that endeavor failed.

I am a huge lover of cats. I have two of my own, Strider and Benji featured below, and I was always amongst cats growing up. Cats are and always have been a part of my family. My first word as a child was cat! I loved reading chapter 6 as it was filled with descriptions of cats, the stray Rusty, forcing his way into Anne’s home and heart, and then later with the arrival of Aunt Jamesina with her 2 cats, Sarah-cat and Joseph. A house becomes a home as it fills with cats in my humble opinion, and Anne’s new home is now filled with 3!

Anne goes back home for Christmas and finds herself missing Redmond and Patty’s Place. Although she will always love Green Gables, she is finding herself lonely on this visit and missing the home she has built with Priscilla, Stella, Phil, Jamesina, and the 3 cats. 

How lucky it is to love more than one place. This is something I have reminded myself as I grieve my life in communities that I have moved away from.

Anne fears that she won’t be able to afford her 3rd year of college without a scholarship. However, this fear is unnecessary, because her beloved Aunt Josephine has sadly died and she unexpectedly left Anne $1000 in her will.

We end this section with Gilbert’s proposal, which Anne refuses. Oh Anne. She claims she doesn’t love him. But she does, right? She must! (I’m not the only one to feel this way, right?). I am instantly brought back to her refusing his friendship at age 11, and then rejecting him again several years later when he tries to reconcile. Remember how she regretted turning down his friendship that time at the pond? Will she regret turning him down this time? She grieves the thought of her world without Gilbert in it. Phil tells her that she has an expectation of love built up by her imagination and that she is unable to recognize love for what it truly is. Do you think this is right? Is it fear getting in her way? 

Summer break is beginning and Anne will be going to Bolingbroke with Phil for two weeks and then back home to Avonlea. Gilbert has a job offer and won’t be going to Avonlea at all this summer, so they will be apart for several months after Anne’s rejection. What a place to leave us at!

My heart feels heavy as I read this chapter. I feel Anne’s sorrow and confusion at this 3rd and most meaningful proposal, as well as the utter heartbreak of Gilbert, after years of taking it slow for Anne’s sake. I feel the loss of Ruby and Aunt Josephine. Adulthood is not all it’s cracked up to be and I am hoping for a little lightness in Anne’s summer to come.

Thank you for reading

Thank you for reading and joining me on this read-along of Anne of Green Gables! 

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Your bosom friend,

Bri