I finished "Anne of Green Gables" by LM Montgomery earlier this week for my Classic Moms class at Abigail Adams Academy. I didn't take notes while I was reading like I usually do, but I put arrows next to bits that I thought were thought provoking and kept that page turned down. Yesterday, I went through the book and wrote out my thoughts about those bits in the hopes that I will remember them better. I'm terrible about reading a book and then completely forgetting all the details.
I wasn't excited about reading this book when I saw it on the list, I have to admit. It looked like a girly, feel-good book that wouldn't give me much but warm fuzzies about it. It WAS that, but so much more. When I was a kid, I used to watch the TV show and I loved it. The TV did well capturing the characters as they are portrayed in the book, but I wonder if the lessons or morals in the book are in the show. I'd have to go back and watch it again.
It's hard to pick a favorite character, but I'd have to say mine is Marilla. An "old maid" turned adoptive mother of a highly imaginative little girl quite by accident, she changes throughout the book and I grew to love her so much. I can't imagine what kind of shock it would be for someone like her to raise this kind of a child that isn't even her own. She probably has ideas about how children are raised up proper but those change as your children grow and you have experiences of your own, not just ones you've heard or read about. Mrs. Lynde tells Marilla's brother, Matthew, just that. Raising kids isn't like mathematics. There is no formula to follow and it's constantly changing for each child and each family.
One of my favorite quotes from Anne is that she has grown but she hasn't changed really on the inside, "I'm only just pruned down and branched out.", she says. Jesus used this analogy as well and I've always loved it. If you let a tree or vine grow wild without pruning, it never bears good fruit. It may have it's good years, but you have to prune it (or train it) to get it to really show its colors.
Another one is toward the end when Anne's future has changed a bit. She used to see her future laid out before her straight and she could see all that was going to happen, but now things are different. Her future isn't ruined and she has no reason to break down and sink into inactive depression about it. Her future road now has "a bend in it" and she knows it's out there but she's unsure of what will happen. It makes life exciting for someone like her. When she was an orphan going from home to home, there was a bend there too, and around the bend was Green Gables and her wonderful adoptive parents. So what could be around the bend for her this time? I already know because I love the books so much, I've already read the next one! Ha!
I'm going to read this one to the boys because I know they will love her as much as I do!
I wasn't excited about reading this book when I saw it on the list, I have to admit. It looked like a girly, feel-good book that wouldn't give me much but warm fuzzies about it. It WAS that, but so much more. When I was a kid, I used to watch the TV show and I loved it. The TV did well capturing the characters as they are portrayed in the book, but I wonder if the lessons or morals in the book are in the show. I'd have to go back and watch it again.
It's hard to pick a favorite character, but I'd have to say mine is Marilla. An "old maid" turned adoptive mother of a highly imaginative little girl quite by accident, she changes throughout the book and I grew to love her so much. I can't imagine what kind of shock it would be for someone like her to raise this kind of a child that isn't even her own. She probably has ideas about how children are raised up proper but those change as your children grow and you have experiences of your own, not just ones you've heard or read about. Mrs. Lynde tells Marilla's brother, Matthew, just that. Raising kids isn't like mathematics. There is no formula to follow and it's constantly changing for each child and each family.
One of my favorite quotes from Anne is that she has grown but she hasn't changed really on the inside, "I'm only just pruned down and branched out.", she says. Jesus used this analogy as well and I've always loved it. If you let a tree or vine grow wild without pruning, it never bears good fruit. It may have it's good years, but you have to prune it (or train it) to get it to really show its colors.
Another one is toward the end when Anne's future has changed a bit. She used to see her future laid out before her straight and she could see all that was going to happen, but now things are different. Her future isn't ruined and she has no reason to break down and sink into inactive depression about it. Her future road now has "a bend in it" and she knows it's out there but she's unsure of what will happen. It makes life exciting for someone like her. When she was an orphan going from home to home, there was a bend there too, and around the bend was Green Gables and her wonderful adoptive parents. So what could be around the bend for her this time? I already know because I love the books so much, I've already read the next one! Ha!
I'm going to read this one to the boys because I know they will love her as much as I do!
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