Thread by @lainasparetime

Well, I'm feeling moderately human today. Shall we do #LainaReadsAnne chapter three?

#LainaReadsAnne So when last we left off, Matthew Cuthbert had just returned to Green Gables with our girl, who as we know was supposed to be a boy. She has already quite charmed him, and he's dreading telling her she can't stay.

Time to introduce her to Marilla.

#LainaReadsAnne Marilla is Not Pleased at this development. Now, this is more subtext, but you can tell Marilla likes things a certain way. She plans for things to go a certain way, and she expects them to turn out how she planned.

Our girl has thrown a hitch into this plan.

#LainaReadsAnne Marilla is by no means CRUEL about saying our girl isn't supposed to be there, but this isn't what she planned, and that simply won't do.

Our girl, reasonably, gets quite upset that she can't stay.

#LainaReadsAnne When Marilla tries to tell her not be upset, our girl rightfully points out that she very well has the right to be upset when she was expecting to have a home and instead is told that she's not wanted because she's not a boy.

#LainaReadsAnne Marilla has a hint of a smile when she says they won't be kicking our girl out that night or anything, which suggests she thinks our girl is being a little dramatic, but honestly it's a fair point! She was told she was getting a new family and a home!

#LainaReadsAnne And now, after she's gotten attached to the idea of living here, and seen all the pretty places, she's being told she can't stay? Of course that's upsetting!!! This is perfectly reasonable.

#LainaReadsAnne And this is when we finally get to know her name, and we are introduced to one Anne Shirley.

Who starts off by saying she would much rather be called Cordelia, because Anne is such a dreadfully plain name.

Marilla is not here for it.

#LainaReadsAnne Earlier when a neighbour's daughter was brought up and her name was stated to be Diana, Matthew expressed a preference for "plain"/"simple" names, and Marilla also finds them more suitable.

Anne vehemently disagrees.

#LainaReadsAnne But, she says, if she must be called Anne, it has to be Anne-With-An-E, because just Ann is dreadfully boring.

Sorry, Anns of the world.

She says that when she sees names, she sees them spelled out in her mind, and some are prettier than others.

#LainaReadsAnne Marilla is like "sure, cool, why not" and they go to eat dinner. She's very critical that Anne isn't eating much, but Anne is too upset to eat. Poor thing.

Also the food descriptions are very good and I'm getting hungry from reading them XD

#LainaReadsAnne Eventually, it's getting late, and Marilla worries about where to put her. They had originally prepared the "kitchen chamber" for the boy they were expecting, but that is apparently not appropriate for a girl.

#LainaReadsAnne Ngl, I had to look up what a kitchen chamber was hwlongfellow.org/house_children…

The "spare room" apparently also isn't appropriate for her to stay in (there are so many rules!) so she ends up in the east gable room.

#LainaReadsAnne The east gable room is described like much of the rest of the house - extremely clean and tidy, but not the least bit welcoming. It's also fairly bare, with plain white walls and only a rug on the floor. It seems like it could be a sweet little room, but not yet

#LainaReadsAnne Marilla is kind of awkward and doesn't really know what to say to Anne or what to do. Eventually she just tells her to change and she'll be back to blow out the candle.

#LainaReadsAnne Funny moment in linguistic changes - Anne's nightgown and some of her clothes in general are described as "skimpy". By this they mean plain, lacking any kind of frill or lace but it's funny reading that now because wow would a skimpy nightgown mean something else

#LainaReadsAnne Marilla comes in once she's in bed, and she's awkward saying goodnight, but not unkind. Anne is just very upset, obviously.

Great character development moment - Marilla picks up the clothes that Anne has left on the floor and folds them.

#LainaReadsAnne I think that shows both how she likes things to be tidy and in their place, and also that she's not unkind. She doesn't snap at Anne for leaving her things a mess or make her pick them up. She just cleans them up.

#LainaReadsAnne Good point, this is probably true as well!

https://twitter.com/NaomiKritzer/status/1081973248089305089

#LainaReadsAnne Marilla leaves her and goes to find Matthew in the kitchen. She's unsettled, and he's visibly worried and upset. It doesn't take much prodding for him to admit he doesn't want to send Anne back to the orphanage.

#LainaReadsAnne Marilla asks what good will a girl be for them (as in, farm work) and Matthew suggests they might be good for her, which is so sweet honestly. He's clearly charmed by her, and suggests she'd be good company for Marilla.

Marilla is not having this.

#LainaReadsAnne She says she doesn't need company and they simply can't keep her.

Matthew says she's right, but you can also tell he clearly doesn't agree, and he goes to bed upset.

Marilla is very unsettled by this all.

And Anne is crying herself to sleep as the chapter ends.

#LainaReadsAnne This is such a good character development chapter, honestly. You really get a solid sense of who these characters are, even though it's still so early in the book. Clearly from the title it's not a surprise she'll eventually stay but you still feel so bad for Anne

#LainaReadsAnne And Marilla and Matthew don't come off as the antagonists. Even Marilla, who is the one saying no, you understand why. It's a really interesting dynamic.

#LainaReadsAnne Also, three chapters in, it still has not actually said they're brother and sister, lol. Which can you imagine reading this for the first time and accidentally putting incest in Anne of Green Gables?