Anne of Green Gables — Chapter 15

About This Passage

The chapter's central scene of provocation and reaction, taken in full. Anne — abstracted in her 'gorgeous dream-land' — is wrenched out of reverie by Gilbert's piercing whisper, and Montgomery slows the moment to its constituent beats: the look, the spring to her feet, the bright fancies fallen into cureless ruin, the indignant glance, the angry sparkle quenched in tears, the exclamation, the slate-blow. Six Tier 2 words gather here (vengeance, fancies, indignant, sparkle, passionately, displaying), and the passage rewards close attention to its temporal architecture — Montgomery uses sentence rhythm, not narration, to make the reader feel the speed of injury and the slower assertion of dignity.

Narration Prompt

Hold the chapter's six movements in mind simultaneously: the morning walk through Lover's Lane, Willowmere, Violet Vale, and the Birch Path; the schoolroom provocation with the pinning of Ruby's braid and the candy-heart winks; Gilbert's 'Carrots! Carrots!' and Anne's slate-blow; Mr. Phillips' chalked legend and Anne's vow to never look at Gilbert again; the next day's selective punishment and the candy heart ground to powder; Marilla's consultation with Mrs. Lynde and the chapter's closing image of Marilla laughing harder than Matthew has ever heard her laugh.

Discussion Questions

1. Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics distinguishes proper anger (orge) — anger directed at a real wrong, in proportion to the wrong, willing to be set down once dignity is restored — from vindictiveness, which seeks to inflict harm beyond what justice requires. Mr. Phillips brands Anne's slate-blow 'a vindictive spirit,' but the chapter's framing pushes back. Examine Anne's slate-blow under Aristotle's distinction: is it proper anger, vindictiveness, or something the chapter is asking us to see as a third category — the self-defense of dignity by a child who has not yet been given the words to name what is being assaulted?
2. Mr. Phillips' chalked legend — 'Ann Shirley has a very bad temper. Ann Shirley must learn to control her temper' — is read aloud so the youngest pupils can understand. The misspelling of Anne's name (without the 'e' she has explicitly insisted upon) is a separate but related wound. Examine the relationship between symbolic injury and physical injury in the formation of children, and argue why Anne's preference for a whipping over the chalked legend is not melodrama but accurate self-knowledge of the kind of person she is.

+ 3 more questions in the complete study guide