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Copywork
About This Passage
Montgomery gives us Marilla's private calculation in her own clipped idiom: the child talks too much, but 'might be trained,' is 'ladylike,' likely from 'nice folks.' Copying this quoted interior monologue lets students study how Montgomery briefly opens Marilla's private judgment, a practical mind talking itself, half-unwilling, toward keeping Anne.
“She’s got too much to say,” thought Marilla, “but she might be trained out of that. And there’s nothing rude or slangy in what she does say. She’s ladylike. It’s likely her people were nice folks.”
Full copywork activity with handwriting lines available in the complete study guide.
Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
Reconstruct the chapter's movement: Anne's decision to enjoy the drive, the story of her parents and the homes she passed through, Marilla's silent reconsideration, and the ride along the Shore Road.
Discussion Questions
- Anne begins by deciding to enjoy the drive even while she fears being sent back. Why might she have learned to live with disappointment this way, and does the chapter lead you to read that habit mainly as strength, mainly as self-protection, or as some uneasy mixture of the two? Use details from the chapter.
- For most of the chapter we hear Anne's voice, but Montgomery also slips into Marilla's unspoken thoughts ('She's got too much to say... She's ladylike'). How does the author's shift in point of view shape our sense of both characters, and why give us Marilla's private calculation at this moment? Use details from the chapter.
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Vocabulary Builder
Item 1
A bird's wings, especially the outer flight feathers.
Item 2
Not crushed or defeated; still whole in spirit.
Item 3
A hard, prolonged struggle or contest.
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Critical Thinking
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