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Copywork
About This Passage
These three sentences hold the chapter's central irony. Montgomery first insists the apology is wholly sincere — it 'breathed in every tone of her voice' — and then, with a dash, overturns our expectation: Anne is enjoying her own humiliation. Copying it lets the student study how the em-dash works as a hinge between two truths, and how the biblical phrase 'valley of humiliation' lifts a child's apology into something almost comic and grand at once.
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 en...
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Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
Summarize this chapter, then explain what you think Montgomery most wanted the reader to notice about Anne — her sincerity, her theatricality, or her growing love of home — and what techniques she used to make us notice it.
Discussion Questions
- Montgomery says Anne turns her punishment into something she can enjoy, 'revelling in the thoroughness of her abasement.' How does that irony complicate the apology scene, and why does it dismay Marilla while satisfying Mrs. Lynde? Use the narrator's language and each woman's reaction to support your view.
- The narrator says Mrs. Lynde, 'not being overburdened with perception,' missed what Marilla saw. What does this single line reveal about the difference between the two women, and why does the chapter let only Marilla see through Anne's performance? Use the chapter's account of each woman's reaction.
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Vocabulary Builder
Item 1
The act of humbling or lowering oneself.
Item 2
The ability to notice and understand things clearly.
Item 3
Too eager to give help or advice that is not wanted.
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Critical Thinking
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