Thread by @lainasparetime

Today's Anne chapter has a surprising amount of notes for a chapter where not a ton happens #LainaReadsAnne

#LainaReadsAnne It's now the next day, and Marilla still hasn't told Anne she's staying. She's not really sure why. Maybe she's nervous, even.

She has been having Anne do chores all morning though - not to the extant of the other people she lived with. Just normal chores.

#LainaReadsAnne Like, Anne's 11 and she's just moved to a farm. A certain amount of work was expected of children that age back then, and really should be of most kids now, and she's not raising peoples' children or anything.

#LainaReadsAnne Marilla concludes that Anne is "smart and obedient, willing to work and quick to learn", but she has a tendancy to stop to daydream in the middle of a task.

#LainaReadsAnne Two side notes here. One, forenoon" is a cool word. Means morning.

Two, is this a thing in the US too where the means used to be "breakfast, dinner, supper"? Lot of older people here still call the noon-time meal "dinner".

#LainaReadsAnne So I'll probably say "dinner" as they use it in these threads, fyi.

So after washing the dinner dishes, Anne breaks down and begs just to know if she can stay or not. Not knowing either way is killing her, which, SAME. It me for real.

#LainaReadsAnne Marilla FINALLY tells her yes, and Anne happy cries. Which has never happened to her before in her life.

Marilla doesn't approve of this, lol. And it's not that she doesn't feel things - she's just a more private person emotionally.

#LainaReadsAnne Marilla very much keeps her emotions inside and doesn't display them very much.

Anne worries about being good enough because Mrs Thomas told her she was "desperately wicked". Like a lot.

And again I hate these women so much.

#LainaReadsAnne Since it's only two weeks til summer vacation, Anne won't be starting school til September.

So I don't know when summer breaks used to be, but it does make me feel like this is around mid-May since like. You'd want June free because kids would be working, right?

#LainaReadsAnne This part is quite interesting. Marilla isn't big on being called "Miss Cuthbert". Most people in Avonlea don't call her that, and she doesn't want Anne to, either.

Anne, however, worries very deeply that just plain Marilla is disrespectful.

#LainaReadsAnne This is something I really get. When I grew up, I didn't call adults "Miss" or "Mr" anything besides teachers, but also no one TOLD me what to call them so I kinda just didn't say names at all for most adults.

#LainaReadsAnne When I worked at the library, I would always introduce myself as my first name to the kids I worked with, but their parents sometimes called me "Miss (MyName)" and I didn't mind that or anything.

#LainaReadsAnne However, I think I've talked before about how when I'm emailing (i.e. mostly querying) I really dislike when people decide I'm a "Ms" without asking. Makes me really uncomfortable.

But also I know that my perspective is like. Like I'm white, clearly.

#LainaReadsAnne And I know that definitely changes things as to what's respectful, culturally and also location based?

The attitude of the book is almost a modern attitude, though.

#LainaReadsAnne Marilla says that if you speak respectfully, there's nothing disrespectful about calling someone by their name if that's what they want you to call them. Like I said, almost a modern attitude!

#LainaReadsAnne Marilla also does not like the idea of Anne calling her "Aunt Marilla", as she doesn't believe in "calling people names that don't belong to them", and this leads into Anne being rather shocked that Marilla isn't big on imagining things.

#LainaReadsAnne We go a bit religious again as Marilla decides Anne should learn the Lord's Prayer instead of winging it at night. Anne does go off on a tangent here and Marilla says when she tells Anne to do something, she should do it and not ramble on.

#LainaReadsAnne This is one of those things that sounds harsh but honestly isn't unreasonable. They live on a farm! Sometimes you need to do things in a timely manner. Like... milk the cows... or something. I do not live on a farm.

Plus, what about emergencies?

#LainaReadsAnne Rather demonstrating this point, when sent to get something from another room, Anne immediately gets distracted by a picture in the sitting room. It's called "Christ Blessing Little Children" which seems to be kind of a popular title for paintings.

#LainaReadsAnne I don't think it's meant to be important which specific painting it is, if it's a real one, more that Anne is very drawn to it.

Marilla mildly scolds her for being "irreverant" when she talks about how Jesus is depicted in it.

#LainaReadsAnne You can tell Marilla isn't really angry though. Anne thinks that pictures of Jesus shouldn't make him look so sad because if he really looked like that, children would have been afraid of him.

Which is kind of an interesting idea tbh???

#LainaReadsAnne And I can see how so much of the religion stuff can get a bit old, but at this point I like the idea that they might allow Anne to explore religion in her own way a bit, and see things a little differently. Might not play out that way, but there's the hints.

#LainaReadsAnne Anne likes the Lord's Prayer because it makes her feel like poetry does, and also she memorizes it in a couple minutes? How long is that thing, is that impressive? I'm not familiar with it.

#LainaReadsAnne Like, Anne can memorize something I assume is semi-long in just a few minutes and then immediately gets distracted by the flowers on the table. We also know she used to borrow the older girl's books at the asylum.

#LainaReadsAnne At the very least, we can say she's probably not being challenged academically enough, yeah???

Also, about said flowers, it's a jugful of apple blossoms that Marilla "eyed (...) askance" but didn't comment on when Anne brought them inside. Marilla soft spot again

#LainaReadsAnne Poor Marilla is trying to get Anne to focus but it is a lost cause because Anne has moved on to wondering if she'll ever have a "bosom friend" - a best friend. A kindred spirit.

#LainaReadsAnne A @soveryqueer, even.

Marilla mentions Diana Barry, but says Mrs Barry "won't let Diane play with any little girl who isn't nice and good".

#LainaReadsAnne Anne is just grateful to learn Diana has black hair and not red. She's seriously messed up about the hair

Marilla, meanwhile, thinks it's more important that Diana is "good and smart", but Anne is very delighted she's pretty and deeply hopes they'll be friends

#LainaReadsAnne Okay look. I realize history changes how we view things.

But if you look at a girl who immediately asks if another girl is pretty and gets all dreamy over the fact that she is - a modern lens reads that as a touch queer.

Please enjoy that queer subtext.

#LainaReadsAnne Then Anne shares about the imaginary friends she made up as a child to try and alleviate her loneliness and it's beautifully written, but it's one of those things you look at as an adult and just feel bad for her. She was SO lonely.

#LainaReadsAnne And I suspect that this is one of those things that is very much based on Montgomery's childhood. Though she grew up near cousins, she was also alone very often as her grandparents were not affectionate people, and she was very imaginative as a result.

#LainaReadsAnne Marilla doesn't approve of all the imagining and thinks it'll be good for Anne to have a real friend.

This is a small thing that really does show how differently she intends to treat Anne than the other women. Living with them, Anne didn't have time for friends

#LainaReadsAnne Though Marilla expects Anne to do chores around the house, she also thinks that Anne will have time to play and be a normal kid. She's raising a child to be responsible, not keeping a child... I'll say "servant" with heavy sarcasm.

#LainaReadsAnne I also think it's interesting to point out that Anne still feels safe telling Marilla about her daydreams even though Marilla doesn't really approve. She tells her things she wouldn't tell other people, even. She already trusts her.

#LainaReadsAnne Marilla realizes Anne can't concentrate lol and sends her to her room to finish memorizing the one line of the prayer she didn't have down.

Anne finishes on the stairs and instead ends the chapter daydreaming. It's much happier, though, and not just an escape.

#LainaReadsAnne Gosh this was a lot to talk about in this chapter! And again, not actually a lot happening plotwise but it certainly doesn't feel boring, hey?

Tune in tomorrow, same bat time, same bat channel, for the next chapter!