Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Anne of Green Gables, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Home and Family
Beauty and Imagination
Friendship
Mishaps, Milestones, and Growing Up
Boys and Romance
God, Prayer, and Church
Summary
Analysis
Marilla has made Anne three new dresses for Sunday school: a “serviceable” gingham, a black-and-white checked sateen, and an ugly, stiff blue. The dresses are very plain in all details. Marilla asks Anne how she likes the dresses, and Anne replies that she’ll imagine she likes them, but they aren’t pretty. Marilla is offended—dresses should be sensible, and Anne should be grateful. Anne says she is grateful—but fashionable puffed sleeves would make her more grateful.
Anne finds beauty inspiring, and though she hasn’t owned much clothing in her life, she doesn’t hesitate to admit that she’d be happier to own prettier clothing, no matter how this affronts Marilla. The ornate, puffy sleeves, popular in the late 1800s, will have to be left to her imagination.
Themes
Literary Devices
The next day Marilla is too sick with a headache to go to church, so Anne heads off alone in her plain dress and hat. On her way, she picks some buttercups and roses to decorate her hat. Avonlea has already heard interesting rumors about Anne, so when she arrives at church in her festooned hat, she draws much curiosity from the other girls, but nobody approaches her. Anne is placed in Miss Rogerson’s Sunday school class. Miss Rogerson’s teaching method consists mostly of question-and-answer drills. Anne knows the answers, thanks to Marilla, but she doesn’t understand much—and she is the only girl who lacks puffed sleeves. She feels dreadful.
Especially in the Victorian period of the late 1800s, Sunday school was a major part of church life for young Protestant Christians—not just as an educational program, but as the center of social life for church youth. Anne stands out and doesn’t fit in with the other girls, an awkward introduction to Avonlea beyond Green Gables. Her lack of puffed sleeves (not to mention her flowered hat) symbolizes her different past and inability to fit in.
Themes
When Anne gets home, she tells Marilla that she hated Sunday school. Marilla is appalled. Anne explains that she behaved herself well during the opening part of the service, but she was bored—partly because Mr. Bell, the Sunday school superintendent, didn’t seem very interested in his own prayer. Then, in Sunday school, she was the only one of the 10 girls who didn’t have puffed sleeves. She also thought it was unfair that Miss Rogerson got to ask all the questions. Finally, church was difficult because the minister’s sermon was too long and lacked imagination. Marilla finds it hard to scold Anne, because she’s secretly had the same thoughts about both the minister and Mr. Bell.
From Marilla’s point of view, a good girl would enjoy and benefit from Sunday school. Anne, however, feels that some of the formalities of Sunday school don’t match the heartfelt sincerity she associates with real prayer. She stood out from the other girls, and there just wasn’t enough room for imagination. In a way, though, Anne’s “outsider” observations just bring out what others have always thought, but—being more accustomed to social expectations—are afraid to say aloud.
Themes
