Within the last decade, it has come out that Lucy Maud Montgomery, the beloved writer of Anne of Green Gables had potentially committed suicide. This has pushed readers and critics alike to read deeper into her novels in order to discover precursor signs of a dark depression that she experienced for a substantial period of time. That being said, Lucy Maud Montgomery’s opinions and feelings are certainly reflected in her works, and more particularly in her biggest success Anne of Green Gables. The story, according to blank, acts as a vehicle to uncover Maud’s deepest emotions and also her, “social outlook” (1) To begin with, Montgomery makes a direct line of connection between the events of Anne’s life and her own, which only serves to point …show more content…
out how Anne of Green Gables acts as a vessel for her to capture her true sentiments. Having experienced tragic events in her life, it is understandable that she would have gone through such a presumably dark depression. Next, Marilla and Anne act as separate facets of Lucy; The two characters are a mixture of who she wants to be and who she actually is. In addition, there is a disjunction between what Anne’s life has been and how she acts as a result of it, which is what Maud wants to capture. She wants to show how, despite having gone through such difficult circumstances, one can come up on top of them. This perhaps could connect to Montgomery’s struggle with mental illness, and how she works to come out on top of it all. Additionally, Montgomery notes the strength of the connection between Anne and Matthew. This is not to discredit Anne’s connection with Marilla, but to note how thinking positively, appreciating the little things and having a vivid imagination can get one through the tough times. In some senses, it points out how Marilla is isolated (like many people who experience mental illness feel). Besides that, Lucy points out her struggle to fit into one category in a time where a type of “New Woman” is turning up in Canada. Finally, Anne has a new outlook on loss by the end of the novel, which may be considered eerie because of the recently uncovered details of Montgomery’s death. A critic of Maud has explained that Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables provides, “a rich picture of a reader as poacher, actively producing meanings in the context of her own life” (Sheldrick Ross, 1). The reader can speculate Montgomery’s life so extensively, because it is a clear reflection of who she is, and in some cases whom she desired to be. Anne’s life is largely a reflection of Lucy Maud’s personal life. Much like her character, Maud’s mother died when she was young and was then sent by her father to be raised by her strict grandparents. Additionally, as a child, she had two imaginary playmates, Katie Maurice, and Lucy Gray. Also, at 16, she returned to living with her father and her verbally abusive stepmother (much like Anne’s struggle with her previous foster family). Later, Montgomery went to university to get a degree in English literature, obtained a teaching certificate and began to publish afterwards. Maud’s life certainly reflects in Anne’s story and because of that, these biographical details of Montgomery’s life serve to prove the strength of the connection between Maud and her work. Montgomery married Ewan Macdonald, who suffered depression, just as it is said that Montgomery experienced “Melancholia” (someone, 1). It is notable that she had a son who died in the war. After experiencing the death of her son, Montgomery wrote a letter to correspondents where she discusses her sentiments on the war, “I expect conscription will come in and they will take my second son and then will give up all effort to recover because I shall have nothing to live for” (someone, 1). Simply, Montgomery, could not bear the loss of another son. It is most certain that Montgomery’s depression arose from her troubled family life which never left her (she went from childhood trauma to adult strife). In many ways, Maud is the “ideal biographical subject” (fun, 1). She wrote her own life story through Anne, which is why it is possible to uncover Maud’s depressive tendencies and outlooks reflected in the novel. She began with a nearly identical setting and circumstance and ended with putting a part of her deepest darkest emotions into her work. It is arguable that Montgomery may be considered a combination of both Marilla and Anne.
There are several facets of Montgomery that can be seen through two of her main characters. Depression is generally associated with drab colours, such as black, brown, and grey. The word itself has a dark sounding intonation. Anne’s eyes are constantly searching, constantly alive and constantly looking to understand the world around her by means of language. Blank claimed that Anne has, “starry-eyed sensibilities” (1). By stark contrast, Marilla is always pictured as a woman with “angles and without curves” (Montgomery, 1). Her hair is always twisted in a knot, and most important, her eyes are described as “gray”. Through Anne’s eyes, everything is bright and in her words, “tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it” (Montgomery, 1). In Anne’s world, everything is possible. Marilla, on the other hand, is limited. Her life seems to be held back and haunted by this grayness in her eyes. Montgomery, in this case (no matter how much she would like to be Anne), is similar to Marilla. Lucy’s days are full of melancholy because of her familial strife. On another note, perhaps the two characters show a transformative timeline of Montgomery’s life. While she was young, she would dream and imagine her worries away, but those things seem to catch up with one as one grows older (and becomes Marilla). Anne, who is full of imagination, asks Marilla “Do you never imagine things different from what they are?” (Montgomery, 1) and of course, Marilla answers confidently, “No” (Montgomery, 1). As Montgomery got older it became harder and harder for her to imagine away her problems. She became Marilla, who could not imagine away her problems or in Maud’s case, her depression. On a similar note, one widely recognized idea concerning mental illness is that one has trouble coming to terms with one’s life and surroundings and thus, has trouble identifying with oneself. Montgomery vocalizes this idea
through Anne when she claims that “There’s such a lot of different Annes in me. I sometimes think that is why I’m such a troublesome person. If I was just that one Anne it would be ever so much more comfortable” (Montgomery, 1). Experiencing mental illness is experiencing a disconnection with oneself. That being said, this could be a direct line of connection between Anne and Montgomery, who both feel like a lot of different people at once. They are coming to terms with the people they are and the way that they feel, and all the while they are being scrutinized by a society to be something different. Perhaps the most interesting of ideas is spoken by Anne when Marilla asks her why she does not talk so much anymore, Anne answers that she does not like to have her thoughts, “laughed at or wondered over” (Montgomery, 1). If we hold on to the connection between Anne and Montgomery, this is the breath of Montgomery speaking her true emotions through Anne. She is holding her emotions, and hiding them from the society (In a not so accepting age of mental illness). She fears being scrutinized. Montgomery forges a direct connection between herself and her characters. She lets her true sentiments slip through Anne and she comes to realize she is slowly becoming Marilla without much control over the matter. There is an incongruity between the tough early life Anne has been forced to live through and Anne’s outlook on life. This is largely due to the fact that Anne has trained herself to use her imagination to separate herself from traumatic events. For Anne, imagination, “incorporates elements of the fantastic, the beautiful, or the ideal” (Somebody, 1). Imagination enables Anne to experience the ideal life that she seeks. As blank has pointed out, “imagination in Anne of Green Gables serves not only as a source of pleasure for Anne, but also as a source of survival, motivation, and power” (1). In other words, it is the one area in her life that she is allowed to take control of. Before being adopted by the Cuthberts, Anne sought refuge with her imagination as a kind of safe haven. The child has experienced such tribulations that she convinces herself that if the Cuthberts do not come for her (and in saying this she half expects them not to) she will “go down the track to that wild cherry tree at the bend, and climb up into it to stay all night” (Montgomery, 1). The child is preparing herself for hurt by imagining it away. This is what Lucy comes to appreciate. Montgomery is looking for this kind of separation from her terrors. This is Montgomery’s last plea to come out on top of her mental illness. Like Anne, she wants to overcome all of her disappointments and dissatisfactions. There is no doubt that Anne develops a strong connection with both her pseudo-parental figures. That being said, there is a degree of difference between her connection with Marilla and her connection with Matthew. Anne teaches Matthew to see the world in a different light, she teaches him the importance of aesthetic detail, the importance of a little romance in one’s life and the significance of imagination. What is notable about this is that Matthew grasps these concepts immediately, while Marilla struggles with understanding all the nonsense she believes spouts from Anne. Marilla is, in some sense, isolated, with regards to Matthew and Anne’s connection (which is one of a kind). Maud is perhaps noting the isolation she feels (because of her illness) or she is noting all the good that comes from imagination and appreciation. During the late 1800’s and beginning 1900’s women were exploring and discovering new ways of being. This change affected the way women dressed, lived and dreamed of their future. This the beginning of the era of the “New Woman”. Conservative Marilla represents the old way of life. As discussed, she wears unflattering clothes with her hair constantly tied in a little knot. Her appearance mimics the moral standards of her cultural upbringing. Anne, on the other hand, highlights an example of the “New Woman”. Anne is difficult for Marilla to accept, just as the “New Woman” idea is hard for those who are products of the old ways to accept. Anne and Marilla encompass a generational shift in women’s ambitions. Marilla grew up content in being a housewife. In her youth, she was not even allowed to touch a novel, while Anne constantly has her nose in a book. Anne points out Marilla’s sensibility when she claims that, “Marilla is such a sensible woman” (Montgomery, 1) and how she does not want to be a sensible person, “because they are so unromantic” (Montgomery, 1). This points out Montgomery’s social outlook. Montgomery was in favour of a new woman, one that breaks the boundaries of a patriarchal system. Being a housewife and a caretaker for a dysfunctional family is cause enough to want to break out and oppose the old system. By the end of the novel, Anne’s perception of loss changes almost entirely. At the beginning of the novel, Anne is full of longing for all that she missed out on as a child. She wants to go to the picnic, she wants to make a bosom friend, she wants to beat Gilbert Blythe in nearly everything. This is understandable for a child who has never had the chance to go on an excursion, have a close friend or even an enemy. Far be it to call Anne selfish, but she had a lot of expectation for her life in the beginning of the novel. By the end, Anne is almost complacent with the loss’ she is forced to endure. Having recently lost Matthew, and the Avery scholarship (because of her decision to stay at Green Gables) Anne is nearly complacent with what has gone on. She becomes accepting of loss, even if she does lose her kindred spirit, Matthew. One of the final lines of the novel claims that there is “always a bend in the road” (Montgomery, 446). There is always a bend in Anne’s road and she has come to accept these bends. This is a terrifying thought if the idea is held onto that Anne is an embodiment of Lucy Maud Montgomery. To be complacent with loss means something entirely different for Maud than it does for Anne. Anne is an optimistic girl with her whole life ahead of her while Montgomery is beginning her journey with being complacent at the loss of herself. In simple terms, this is Montgomery becoming comfortable with the prospect of death. Lucy Maud Montgomery illustrates her life by means of her fictional character Anne Shirley. To begin with, Anne’s life has a direct connection with the life of Montgomery herself, both went through childhood trauma. In addition, Marilla and Anne both serve as facets of Montgomery’s psyche. Next, Anne’s imagination acts as a means of escape that Maud attempts to achieve herself. Furthermore, Anne develops a connection with Matthew unlike any other, which points out the strength of imagination and perhaps the isolation of Marilla (Montgomery herself). Additionally, the idea of a “New Woman” is born around the time of Maud, and her novel shows her support of this new idea through the portrayal of Anne as this “New Woman”. Lastly, Anne’s perception of loss changes at the end of the novel to something of acceptance. This is poignant because if Anne is a mimic of Montgomery herself, then this could be connected to the acceptance of the loss of self in Montgomery’s case. In Montgomery’s suicide note she explains, “What an end to a life in which I tried always to do my best” (someone,1). Montgomery’s life was undoubtedly a struggle. With that being said, she certainly achieved her best in writing the series concerning Anne. She lives in the heart of countless fans of the series around the world.
Oftentimes, life is a treacherous and unforgiving place; coincidentally the underlying message of both “The Glass Castle” and “The Grapes of Wrath.” These texts include a series of challenges to the lives of two very different families in unique time periods. In order to survive, these families must overcome the challenges of addiction, poverty, and disparity in their own ways. Steinbeck’s, “The Grapes of Wrath,” details the lives of the Joads, Oklahoma farmers in the Great Depression of the 1930s; who travel west in search of a better life. A sense of community unifies the families and keeps the Joads together as a whole. Walls’s memoir “The Glass Castle,” tells of the highly unstable and nomadic life of protagonist Jeannette through the early stages of her life. The Walls children manage to prosper in their own individual ways, stemming from decades of suffering and adversity. The Joads and Walls’s alike share characteristics that help them get
The story of Anne's childhood must be appreciated in order to understand where her drive, inspiration, and motivation were born. As Anne watches her parents go through the tough times in the South, Anne doesn't understand the reasons as to why their life must this way. In the 1940's, at the time of her youth, Mississippi built on the foundations of segregation. Her mother and father would work out in the fields leaving Anne and her siblings home to raise themselves. Their home consisted of one room and was in no comparison to their white neighbors, bosses. At a very young age Anne began to notice the differences in the ways that they were treated versus ...
I chose to start this paper by quoting an entire poem of Anne Sexton's. Why? Because no one told the story of Anne Sexton's life as often or as well as Anne Sexton herself. Over and over she wrote, recounted, and recast her struggles with madness, her love affairs, her joys and griefs in parenting, and her religious quests. For example, "Rowing" touches upon the need for Anne to tell stories about herself, her longing for connection with others, her mental problems, and her searching for God - one could not ask for a better introduction to the world of Anne Sexton.
Writing based on their own experiences, had it not been for the works of Susan Glaspell, Kate Chopin, and similar feminist authors of their time, we may not have seen a reform movement to improve gender roles in a culture in which women had been overshadowed by men. In The Story of an Hour, the main character, Mrs. Louise Mallard, is a young woman with a heart condition who learns of her husband’s untimely death in a railroad disaster. Instinctively weeping, as any woman is expected to do upon learning of her husband’s death, she retires to her room to be left alone so she may collect her thoughts. However, the thoughts she collects are somewhat unexpected. Louise is conflicted with the feelings and emotions that are “approaching to possess her.”
In her autobiography, “The Life of an Ordinary Woman, Anne Ellis describes just that; the life of an ordinary woman. Ellis reveals much about her early—ordinary if you will—life during the nineteenth-century. She describes what daily life was like, living a pioneer-like lifestyle. Her memoir is ‘Ordinary’ as it is full of many occurrences that the average woman experiences. Such as taking care of her children, cleaning, cooking the—world’s greatest—meals. It also contains many themes such as dysfunctional families, insensitive men, and negligent parents that are seen in modern life. The life of Anne Ellis is relatable. Her life is relatable to modern day life, however, very different.
After five years of being raised and living with their grandmother whom they truly loved, the girls had a rude awakening. Their grandmother, Sylvia had passed away. “When after almost five years, my grandmother one winter morning eschewed awakening, Lily and Nona were fetched from Spokane and took up housekeeping in Fingerbone, just as my grandmother had wished” (Robinson 29). This was the final attempt that their grandmother had made in order for the girls to have a normal and traditional life. This is a solid example of how the sister’s lives are shaped by their family and their surroundings. Lucille’s ultimate concern in life is to conform to society and live a traditional life. She wishes to have a normal family and is sorrowful for all of the losses that she has experienced such as her mother’s and grandmother’s deaths. On the other hand, Ruthie, after spending more time with her future guardian, Aunt Sylvie, becomes quite the transient like her.
Glaspell authored this feminist short story, now considered a classic and studied in many institutions of higher education, in 1917, a story that underwent reawakening in the 1970s (Hedges). As the investigation of Mr. Wright’s murder takes the sheriff of Dickson County, neighbor Mr. Hale, and their wives to the Wright farm, the story “confines itself to the narrow space of Minnie’s kitchen--- the limited and limiting space of her female sphere. Within that small space are revealed all of the dimensions of the loneliness that is her mute message” (Hedges). It is evident through Glaspell’s writing that Minnie Wright feels distress from being trapped in the confines of her kitchen with no telephone and no outreach to the world outside her husband’s farm. Mrs. Wright being quarantined to her own home every day--- a common occurrence in housewives of ...
When Anne first began to realize how the white people really treated the blacks, she had a sense of hopelessness, and anger. But she came to understand that it's not hopeless, and no matter what challenges she was facing within herself, her mother or with the outside world that civil rights for all, was worth the fight. She overcame natural obstacles that all teenagers face as well as ones that were racial motivated. "That summer I could feel myself beginning to change. For the first time I began to think something would be done about whites killing, beating, and misusing Negroes. I knew I was going to be apart of whatever happened."4
The reader reads in order to feel sorrow for the protagonist in a manner the reader can assimilate. Yet, it seems that the nature of Margaret’s thoughts is inherently dialogic or, to work with Duke’s terms, empathic: neither Margaret nor the reader uses the text in order to solicit pity from the other. What function would a “pity party” serve a reader by herself? To the contra...
Fisher, Jerilyn, and Ellen S. Silber. Women In Literature : Reading Through The Lens Of Gender..
The third decade of the twentieth century brought on more explicit writers than ever before, but none were as expressive as Anne Sexton. Her style of writing, her works, the image that she created, and the crazy life that she led are all prime examples of this. Known as one of the most “confessional” poets of her time, Anne Sexton was also one of the most criticized. She was known to use images of incest, adultery, and madness to reveal the depths of her deeply troubled life, which often brought on much controversy. Despite this, Anne went on to win many awards and go down as one of the best poets of all time.
While other writers use their poetry to decipher the meaning of life, Anne Finch, Countess of Winchilsea was busy writing about how to live it. Five of her poems, “Jupiter and the Farmer,” “The Tree,” “The Shepherd Piping to the Fishes,” “Love, Death, and Reputation,” and “There’s No To-Morrow,” convey strong messages to the reader about how to live their lives. In her poetry, Anne Finch uses anecdotes to help illustrate the validity of her statements, thereby providing the reader with a strong, meaningful, and important message about how life should be lived.
Douglas, Ann. “Louisa May Alcott.” American Writers. Ed. Leonard Unger. Sup. 1, Part 1. New York: Scribner’s, 1979. Print.
Orphans are often forced to mature faster than any other child. Often, they are exploited and used for their labor at a young age, ridding them of any potential childhood. Moreover, orphans lack a sense of belonging and have trouble relying on anybody other than themselves because the people they loved broke the only trust they knew, this leads to an isolation among them and a struggle with social development. Throughout the texts and films such as Anne of Green Gables, Orphan Train, Sidekicks, and The Outsiders we see specific examples of how orphans are expected to behave more maturely than children who grow up in a secure family setting.
The persuasive attempts in both literary works produce different results. The effectiveness of the mother’s guidance to her daughter is questioned since the girl cannot recognize the essence of her mother’s lesson. Despite that, the mother’s beneficial instruction serves as a standard for the daughter to reflect her future behaviors in order to live up to the community’s expectations. On the other hand, Anne’s value of candid expression and lasting relationship dissuades her from obliging to her family’s meaningless duty to place her love and interest above to experience fulfillment in life.