Thread by @lainasparetime

Alright, time for an Anne thread! And depending on how long this takes, we might get a surprise. #LainaReadsAnne

#LainaReadsAnne Just a note on a thing I didn't touch on before because it didn't fit the scene, but Carmody has a new train branch that makes it much easier for the Avonlea students to come home from Queen's on weekends as long as the weather is nice.

#LainaReadsAnne Diana and others are generally there to meet them and walk them home. Note that Gilbert walking with Ruby Gillis is coded as somewhat romantic.

Diana walks with Anne.

Just. Saying.

#LainaReadsAnne Ruby is described as laughing a lot, cheerful, and enjoying life. Hopefully she's stopped collapsing in a panic every time someone stubs their toe.

I remember your childhood, Ruby. I like you, but I don't want you around in an emergency.

#LainaReadsAnne Diana doesn't particularly think Ruby would be Gilbert's type. Anne does kind of think Ruby isn't the type to discuss "ideas about books and studies and ambitions" and secretly agrees with Diana.

#LainaReadsAnne Ruby is also linked to Frank Stockley who has "lots more dash and go" but isn't as handsome as Gilbert. However, she tells Jane Andrews she doesn't understand half the things Gilbert says and "he talked just like Anne Shirley did when she had a thoughtful fit on".

#LainaReadsAnne You know, if that queer Anne of Green Gables retelling was ever a thing, Anne might be Ruby's type as well. Just saying *eyebrow wiggle*

#LainaReadsAnne Anyways, Anne's feelings about Gilbert aren't particularly romantic at this point. "There was no silly sentiment in Anne's ideas concerning Gilbert. Boys were to her, when she thought about them at all, merely possible good comrades."

#LainaReadsAnne It also says she wouldn't have particularly cared who Gilbert hung out with if they were actually friends. She's just envious because they aren't, as she wants to be challenged by a friendship with him and experience interesting conversations.

#LainaReadsAnne Honestly it's so interesting looking at this. Anne is coming up on sixteen in the spring, and she's only really once expressed interest in "courting" as a concept, not any particular interest in any specific person.

#LainaReadsAnne The idea of romantic suitors used to interest her, but more as a theoretical, like the idea of fainting or the name Cordelia.

#LainaReadsAnne Also note I'm using the word romance in the modern sense as we use it. Romance in Anne's words often means more wonder or awe. It's about the aesthetic, not romantic love.

#LainaReadsAnne Very much draws from the original stories we called romance, aka stories written in Romantic languages. Some were love stories, but some were adventures, too, and not just the love stories were considered romantic. Further reading here: classichistory.net/archives/roman…

#LainaReadsAnne (Also it's Romance languages. Typo.)

I just find it interesting how romance as we know it, always seems like something Anne likes the idea of more than actually wants. She's had basically no interest in boys her whole life.

#LainaReadsAnne Like Charlie Sloane has been kind of into her for SEVERAL years, and she's never given him the time of day either. Meanwhile a lot of girls her age seemed to experiment a bit more with romance, with the "take notices" and such.

#LainaReadsAnne I'm working on a theory about that, but it's gonna be a multi-book theory.

#LainaReadsAnne Making friends with girls, however, is easy for Anne, and she slowly builds a group of friends not just with the other Avonlea students but with other Queen's students.

Note one of her friends is named "Priscilla Grant" so no One Steve Limit.

#LainaReadsAnne Anne also calls Priscilla the "dream girl". She means Prischilla seemed like she dreams a lot, like Anne, but wow that reads queer. Also, it's phased as they "became intimate".

#LainaReadsAnne After Christmas, they all stop going home on weekends to focus on the hard work of the rest of the year. Anne, Gilbert, and a Lewis Wilson are the most likely candidates for the medal, but the winner of the Avery scholarship is more up in the air.

#LainaReadsAnne Overall, our Avonlea scholars have settled in well both academically and socially. Anne spends lots of time with Aunt Josephine, too, including most Sunday dinners.

Aunt Josephine loves Anne more and more and thinks Anne does nothing but improve with time.

#LainaReadsAnne Before long, it's spring again and time for exams. Obviously this is a might bit stressful for everyone involved.

Well, except Josie Pye, who says if she doesn't pass her father can afford to send her back next year.

#LainaReadsAnne And of course, she doesn't miss a chance to try to bring Anne down by saying others will totally get the medal/Avery scholarship and not Anne.

Hey, Josie, would you mind meeting me in the parking lot? I just wanna talk.

#LainaReadsAnne Anne isn't bothered, though. She knows she tried her best and there's nothing else she can do. We close the chapter with Anne taking a quiet moment to be proud of herself, and to just dream about the future and all the possibilities in it.