Anne of Green Gables — Chapter 11

About This Passage

This is the moment Anne arrives at the Avonlea church alone, with her wreath of buttercups and wild roses on her sailor hat. Montgomery shows us first that Anne is not deterred by Mrs. Lynde's absence and then how the other little girls receive her. The passage captures the gap between Anne's confident decoration and the curious, unfriendly reception she meets at the church porch.

Narration Prompt

Retell Chapter 11 in three movements: Marilla's three new dresses and Anne's wish for puffed sleeves, Anne's walk alone to Sunday School with the wreath of buttercups and wild roses on her hat, and the conversation at home in which Anne tells Marilla what she really thought of Mr. Bell's prayer and the minister's sermon.

Discussion Questions

1. When Anne sees the buttercups and wild roses in the lane, she 'promptly and liberally garlanded her hat with a heavy wreath of them.' What does this single decision tell us about Anne's character — about how she meets a plain world with what she has, and about whether she is more concerned with what she sees or with what other people see?
2. Marilla tells Anne, 'I don't believe in pampering vanity,' yet by the end of the chapter Anne has confessed that 'every other little girl in the class had puffed sleeves' and that this made her feel that 'life was really not worth living without puffed sleeves.' Find the moments in the chapter that show Anne's longing for puffed sleeves is not vanity but something else. What in the story makes you think the wish for puffed sleeves is really about belonging?

+ 3 more questions in the complete study guide