Anne of Green Gables — Chapter 15

About This Passage

The chapter's central scene in two long sentences. Anne, daydreaming of her own visions, is wrenched out of her reverie when Gilbert Blythe lifts her braid and whispers 'Carrots! Carrots!' Her response — eyes flashing, tears, the slate brought down hard — is the chapter's pivot. Ten Tier 2 words gather here (PIERCING, INDIGNANT, SPARKLE, QUENCHED, PASSIONATELY, EXCLAIMED, VENGEANCE, FANCIES, CURELESS, DISPLAYING), and the passage shows Montgomery's care in giving each step of Anne's reaction its own beat — the look, the spring to her feet, the words, the slate.

Narration Prompt

Retell Chapter 15 in four parts: first, the walk to school through Lover's Lane and the Birch Path with Diana; second, what Gilbert does to Anne in class and what Anne does with her slate; third, the next day's lateness and Mr. Phillips making Anne sit beside Gilbert; fourth, Anne's vow never to return to school and Mrs. Lynde's advice to Marilla.

Discussion Questions

1. Anne hits Gilbert with her slate hard enough to crack it. The chapter calls Anne's anger 'a vindictive spirit' through Mr. Phillips' words but tells us, in Anne's view, that 'It was asking too much of flesh and blood' to repeat the word 'Carrots' aloud in front of the school. Whose framing of Anne's anger is the chapter quietly endorsing, and what evidence in the text supports your reading?
2. Gilbert apologizes immediately ('It was my fault, Mr. Phillips. I teased her'), tries again at the porch, and slips Anne a candy heart with 'You are Sweet' on it. Anne grinds the heart to powder under her heel. Has Gilbert done what apology requires, or is Anne right that something more is owed before she can forgive? Use the chapter to defend your view.

+ 3 more questions in the complete study guide