Anne of Green Gables — Chapter 10

About This Passage

We chose this passage because Lucy Maud Montgomery uses two perfectly contrasted figures — Marilla erect and triumphant, Anne drooping and dejected — and then quietly upends the contrast in a single sentence: 'Anne's dejection vanished as if by enchantment.' The student copying these sentences will feel how a writer can hand a reader one picture and then, with one verb, replace it with another. The phrase 'no meek penitent' is the chapter's hidden joke, and copying it teaches the student to listen for an author's tone.

Narration Prompt

Retell the chapter in three parts: Matthew's secret visit to Anne in the east gable; Anne's grand kneeling apology in Mrs. Rachel Lynde's kitchen; and the walk home to Green Gables in the starlight, ending with Anne's hand slipping into Marilla's.

Discussion Questions

1. What in the story tells you that Matthew Cuthbert had to gather all his courage to creep upstairs to Anne's east gable, and why does this make his loyalty to Anne especially moving?
2. How do you know that Anne's apology to Mrs. Rachel Lynde was sincere in some ways and theatrical in others — and what makes you think Lucy Maud Montgomery wants us to like Anne for both at once?

+ 3 more questions in the complete study guide