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Copywork
About This Passage
This passage is the novel's most compressed analysis of Anne's subversive relationship to authority. Montgomery renders the paradox precisely: Anne's sincerity is REAL ('breathed in every tone') AND she is enjoying herself ('reveling in the thoroughness'). Marilla's realization — that punishment has been transformed into pleasure — exposes the fundamental inadequacy of her disciplinary logic when applied to a child whose imagination can transfigure any experience. 'Plumed herself' (pridefully congratulated) is devastatingly ironic: Marilla's pride in her punishment is undone by Anne's pride in her apology.
There was no mistaking her sincerity — it breathed in every tone of her voice. Both Marilla and Mrs. Lynde recognized its unmistakable ring. But the former understood in dismay that Anne was actually ...
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Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
Summarize this chapter, then explain what you think the author most wanted the reader to notice or feel. What techniques did the author use?
Discussion Questions
- Anne's apology is simultaneously sincere and theatrical — 'there was no mistaking her sincerity' yet she is 'reveling in the thoroughness of her abasement.' Montgomery presents sincerity and performance as compatible rather than contradictory. Is this psychologically convincing, or does genuine sorrow exclude the possibility of aesthetic enjoyment — and what would someone who disagreed with you argue?
- Matthew persuades Anne to apologize not through authority but through love — 'I'd do anything for you.' Anne then frames the apology as something she does FOR Matthew, not for Mrs. Rachel or for moral correctness. Evaluate whether love-motivated moral action is as ethically valid as principle-motivated moral action — and what the novel's treatment of Matthew's approach reveals about Montgomery's moral philosophy.
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Vocabulary Builder
Item 1
Stubbornly resistant to authority — Anne's refusal to apologize is presented as temperamental rather than malicious, a distinction Marilla will gradually learn to make
Item 2
Immovably fixed in one's position — stronger than 'stubborn,' the word implies a hardness that resists all external pressure
Item 3
Intended to provide comfort — Matthew's 'consolatory rejoinder' that Mrs. Rachel 'got a calling down' reveals whose side he is really on
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Critical Thinking
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