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Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert had made the entirely sensible and practical decision to request a ''boy'' from the local orphanage to help the aging Matthew around their farm, Green Gables. Instead, they found themselves confronting a very redheaded little ''girl'', fantasizing about having 'raven black' hair 'rippling back from an alabaster brow' and being dressed in blue satin with puffed sleeves. Oh, and would they mind calling her 'Cordelia'?
What follows would probably be hundreds of pages' worth of nauseating, and largely forgotten, sentimentality - except that Montgomery had what so many children's authors of the time lacked: a sense of
The compromises she reaches tend to be uneasy at best. Anne's impulsiveness and daydreaming gets her into trouble as often as her boundless creativity wins her friends and accolades; her sensitive appreciation of the natural beauty around her is relentlessly tempered by the down-to-earth sense of the people that inhabit it. Her eventual emergence as a beloved wife and mother is marred by personal tragedy, and her involvement in the tragedies of others.
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== The books are: ==
* ''Anne of Green Gables'' - Chronicling Anne's initially reluctant acceptance by the Cuthberts and her subsequent conquest of the rest of Avonlea -- save impertinent new boy Gilbert Blythe, who gets the most famous slate in literature smashed over his head when he calls her 'Carrots'. Also contains the famous scenes in which Anne dyes her hair green (going for that 'raven black' again) and gets best friend Diana 'dead drunk' on what they think is raspberry cordial.
* ''Anne of Avonlea'' - Still living at home -- and now 'good friends' with Gilbert, who has given up the local school so that she can [[Schoolmarm|teach there]] for a couple of terms. Between times she has a lot of uncharacteristically frothy, girlish adventures. Written under duress mostly to satisfy
* ''Anne of the Island'' - Anne finally leaves for college, meets and explores adulthood with a lively set of new room-mates, and receives a proposal from Gilbert. But what to do with her long-cherished dreams of Prince Charming?
* ''Anne of Windy Poplars'' - Actually the last sequel written, filling in Anne's life between college and marriage (while Gilbert is away at med school). She takes a three-year contract as principal of Summerside High School, and shortly becomes her usual persuasive, pervasive force for good in the local community, facing professional rivalries and helping untangle personal dilemmas. Used as the basis for most of the second TV miniseries. The UK edition is known as ''Anne of Windy Willows'' but is otherwise unaltered.
* ''Anne's House of Dreams'' - Now 'Mrs. Dr. Blythe', Anne moves to a tiny house across the Island and near the sea. The strange, wild, darkly comic setting inspires some of Montgomery's best and most adult writing. We meet kindly Captain Jim and the man-hating Miss Cornelia, and probe the grotesque tragedy of the Moores, a beautiful but tormented woman and her imbecile husband.
* ''Anne of Ingleside'' - Anne's six precocious children, aged from seven to infancy (and spanning five or six years), have various small coming-of-age adventures. Meanwhile, Anne faces what appears to be Gilbert's mid-life crisis on the eve of their anniversary. Has he fallen out of love with her at last?
* ''Rainbow Valley'' - The
* ''Rilla of Ingleside'' - The spotlight shifts to Anne's beautiful but willful youngest daughter, Rilla, as she goes through her teen years and [[Growing Up Sucks|becomes a young woman against the backdrop of WWI]] and her stalwart homefront community.
* ''The Blythes Are Quoted'' - A combination of short stories, poetry, and vignettes narrated by the Blythes, divided into two parts according to chronology: pre-World War I and post-World War I up until World War II. Originally, most of the short stories were published as a collection without the Blythe-centric framing (and with some minor abridging) as ''The Road to Yesterday'', making it another short story collection outside the series. However ''The Blythes Are Quoted'' was apparently intended all along as the ninth book in the series and has recently been re-established as such.
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* [[Abusive Parents]]:
** Anne's guardians prior to Matthew and Marilla used Anne to look after their own children, neglected her education, and did not always provide her (and possibly their own children) with enough to eat. One of these guardians, Mr. Thomas, was frequently intoxicated and Anne was exposed to his violent
** Further examples include the emotional abuse inflicted upon Elizabeth Grayson by her grandmother and grandmother's maid (in ''Anne of Windy Willows''), and the physical abuse experienced by Mary Vance in the care of Mrs Wiley (''Rainbow Valley'').
** A friend of Di Blythe's claims to be abused by her stepmother in ''Anne of Ingleside'', and Di is very moved by the girl's plight, until it turns out to be untrue.
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* [[Affectionate Nickname]]: Several.
** Gilbert takes to calling Anne "Anne-girl" after their marriage; Anne calls him "Gil" in return. Gilbert may have gotten the "Anne-girl" nickname from Diana's Aunt Josephine Barry, who originated it upon befriending Anne in the first book.
** Rilla, the youngest Blythe child, has many nicknames. "Roly-poly" was a common one when she was young, having been a cherubic child. Her older brother, Jem, called her "Spider" when she hit her teens, thanks to her gangly
** Jem was called "Little Jem" by his mother and the family's housekeeper, Susan Baker, for years. He ''hates'' it, and tries valiantly to eradicate it. Finally, they promise not to call him "Little Jem"... when he's within ear-shot.
** Shirley, the second youngest, is nicknamed 'little brown boy' by Susan, owing to his dark
** Susan takes to calling Rilla's war-baby, Jims, "Little Kitchener", as she claims "Jims" is not a good Christian name for a child.
* [[Age Lift]]: In at least one of the many adaptations.
* [[Alpha Bitch]]: Josie Pye, especially in the movieverse of the books.
* [[Altar the Speed]]: In ''Rilla of Ingleside'', Rilla's friend Miranda and her sweetheart Joe have a rushed wedding because Joe is about to ship out for World War I and Miranda's father doesn't approve of the marriage.
** This happens hilariously in "Anne of Windy Poplars." Anne facilitates a hasty
** Inverted with Anne and Gilbert's wedding; they wait three years to get married so Gilbert can attend medical school.
* [[Always Identical Twins]]: Averted with Di and Nan Blythe. The fact that they're fraternal girl twins is always seen as somewhat of a mystery to their friends, who are convinced that twins always look alike. One mean-spirited little girl convinces Nan that another little girl is the real Nan Blythe, having red hair like her twin, Di. Nan does the honorable thing and tries to switch back, only to find that the supposed "real Nan Blythe" is nearly a year older than she is, and that she takes after her paternal grandmother.
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* [[Carrying a Cake]]: In ''Anne of Ingleside'', five-year-old Rilla is asked to take a cake to a church function for a fundraiser. [[It Makes Sense in Context|She is under the impression that it is disgraceful to be seen carrying a cake]], and dumps it in the river the first chance she gets. She then feels very foolish when she sees her beloved Sunday School teacher carrying her own cake to the church fundraiser.
* [[Catch Phrase]]: Rebecca Dew says, "This ''is'' the last straw!" nearly every time something goes wrong. Cornelia Bryant often tells unflattering stories about men that end with, "Wasn't that like a man?" or a similar phrase. Mrs Rachel Lynde seems to end every other sentence with "That's what!" and Davy Keith is always "wanting to know."
* [[Childhood Friend Romance]]: ''So'' many -- fairly typical of the turn of the century small-town
** Anne and Gilbert
** Miss Lavendar and Stephen Irving
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** Nan and Jerry
** Una and Walter
* [[Childhood Marriage Promise]]: Miss Lavendar and Stephen Irving, though the latter ended up marrying someone else and having a son. It's a giant series of coincidences that bring them back together again, and they eventually
* [[Children Raise You]]: Rilla, after she ends up taking care of orphan baby Jims for the duration of the war.
* [[Christmas Cake]]
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** Anne and Gilbert's daughter Diana is noted several times as being her father's favorite. It's speculated in-story that it's because she looks just like Anne but shares Gilbert's temperament.
* [[Dance of Romance]]: Gilbert and Anne share one in the 1987 film adaptation of ''Anne of Avonlea''. It's one of the first signs that Anne may have feelings for Gilbert; they dance for a few moments before she gets flustered and pulls away, apologizing and blaming it on her "two left feet".
* [[Darker and Edgier]]: ''The Blythes Are Quoted'' in terms of tone and topic. In re: adaptations, also applies to the ''Anne of Green Gables: The Continuing Story"
* [[Darkest Hour]]: ''Anne of the Island'', when Gilbert is dying of typhoid.
* [[Daydream Surprise]]: There is a hilarious one near the end of ''Anne of Avonlea.'' While Anne and Diana are discussing Diana's engagement to Fred, Diana is worried that she won't know enough about running a home to be a good wife. Anne reassures her that she'll be fine and that she has three years to plan for her "house o' dreams." Being Anne, the phrase strikes some romantic chord and she
* [[Dead Guy, Junior]]: Most of Anne's kids are named after dead people or family/friends. Ditto Leslie's kids, and most of the other Islanders'. This was a fairly standard naming convention in that place & time.
* [[Dead Little Sister|Dead Little Brother]]: Leslie's little brother Kenneth, whose death is the first step toward [[Break the Cutie|breaking]] her heart. Her [[Dead Guy, Junior|son]] is named after him.
* [[Deadpan Snarker]]: Marilla would be horrified to actually be considered one, but Montgomery ''does'' make great play of her emerging 'sense of
* [[Dead Person Impersonation]]: It turns out that Leslie's husband {{spoiler|actually is dead, and on the way to tell her the news, his [[Uncanny Family Resemblance]] cousin got a [[Tap on the Head]] and ended up with [[Identity Amnesia]]. Everyone presumed that he was the dead husband, and only an operation lets them all know this was the wrong assumption.}}
* [[Death by Childbirth]]: Anne comes very close to it, twice. Once with her oldest child {{spoiler|Joy, who passed away soon after}}, and with her sixth child and youngest son, Shirley.
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* [[Free-Range Children]]: The Blythe and Meredith children.
* [[Friendly War]]: Anne and Gilbert's academic rivalry, at least on Gilbert's side. To Anne, after her 'humiliation' at Gilbert's hands, it's almost a matter of life and death.
* [[From the Mouths of Babes]]: A cute one happens in ''Anne of Ingleside''. Anne comes back from a trip to Avonlea to find the two china dogs that grace the hearth, Gog and Magog, are gone. Susan explains that she removed them from sight after an
* [[Friendless Background]]: Anne had one prior to coming to Green Gables, leading her to create two imaginary friends.
* [[Full-Name Basis]]: Anne and a number of other characters in ''Windy Poplars'' find it impossible to refer to Rebecca Dew by anything but her full name.
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'''Anne''': Oh, would you?<br />
'''Phil (teasingly)''': We don't like that idea one little bit, although we don't want Gilbert ourselves, oh, no.... }}
* [[Half-Identical Twins]]: Heavily averted with Davy and Dora Keith, who despite superficial
* [[Happily Adopted]]: It goes both ways: Anne Shirley is very grateful for her upbringing by the Cuthberts, and both Marilla and Matthew are very proud of Anne.
* [[Happily Married]]: Anne and Gilbert, for the most part.
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* [[Heartwarming Orphan]]: Anne, obviously.
* [[Heel Face Turn]]: Subverted in "The Road to Yesterday" of ''The Blythes Are Quoted''. It turns out that the person believed to be braggart and [[The Bully|bully]] Dick is actually [[Strong Family Resemblance|his second cousin who looks just like him]], [[Nice Guy]] Jerry Thornton.
* [[She Is All Grown Up|He Is All Grown Up]]: Anne
* [[Held Gaze]]:
** Gilbert and Anne share a Passionate Look when the two reconnect in a gazebo in the second TV miniseries. After having held each other's gaze at least ''twice'' in the first miniseries, during important tests at school.
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* [[Howl of Sorrow]]: Little Dog Monday does this at his train station post the night {{spoiler|Walter is killed in World War One.}}
* [[I Am Not Pretty]]: Anne. In the first book she's justified in thinking so, since she really ''is'' homely by the standards of her day. Her later belief that she's still not pretty, even when she's grown more attractive with age, mostly stems from how teased she was as a child.
* [[I Ate What?]]: More like "I cooked with what?" Anne has such a terrible cold that she can't tell vanilla
* [[I Don]]'tWantToRuinOurFriendship: Anne's reason for rejecting Gilbert's first proposal.
* [[I Will Wait for You]]: In ''Rilla of Ingleside'', during the war, Jem's dog greets every train at the station in hopes of Jem being in one of them until Jem eventually ''does'' come home from the war. It's a [[Tear Jerker]].
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* [[Sibling Rivalry]]: Surprisingly absent, considering there are six Blythe children.
* [[So Beautiful It's a Curse|So Beautiful, It's A Curse]]: Leslie, Leslie, ''Leslie''. Railroaded into marriage with a [[Jerkass]] who's implied to be a drunk and unfaithful, and who only went after her because she's incredibly pretty. At one point in ''Anne's House of Dreams'' she says she wishes she had been "as brown and plain as the brownest and plainest shore girl" so her unwanted husband would never have taken notice of her. This being L.M. Montgomery, she does get a happy ending.
* [[Strong Family Resemblance]]: Even Dick's ''wife''
* [[Slap Slap Kiss]]: Anne and Gilbert started out this way. Only it was more like Taunt Taunt Crack Slate Over Head. Eventually, they matured beyond it and landed in [[Just Friends]] territory.
* [[Slice of Life]]: pretty much the whole series is this.
* [[Speech Impediment]]: Rilla has a pronounced lisp as a child. She outgrows it by ''Rilla of Ingleside'', but it still crops up when she's nervous. Much to her
* [[Spell My Name with an "S"|Spell My Name with an E]]: Anne famously insists that her name to be spelled with an "e", regardless of the fact that it's silent anyway. In her mind's eye it ''looks'' far more dignified than just plain Ann.
* [[Spirited Young Lady]]: Anne.
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