Diana is an 11-year-old girl who lives at Orchard Slope, next door to Green Gables. She has a number of little sisters, although only Minnie May is named. Diana becomes Anne’s closest friend, or “bosom friend,” as Anne likes to put it. Diana has black hair, rosy cheeks, and a happy expression. She loves to read books, though she is not as naturally imaginative as Anne. A loyal friend, Diana is cheerfully game for all of Anne’s schemes and adventures. In a notable episode, Anne accidentally gets Diana drunk on Marilla’s currant wine, leading Mrs. Barry to temporarily forbid their friendship. Though Diana doesn’t have academic ambitions and doesn’t attend Queen’s Academy with Anne, the two remain faithful friends during Anne’s year away from Avonlea.
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Diana Barry Character Timeline in Anne of Green Gables
The timeline below shows where the character Diana Barry appears in Anne of Green Gables. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 2: Matthew Cuthbert Is Surprised
...Waters. Matthew points out Orchard Slope, the Barrys’ house, where a little girl of 11, Diana, lives.
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Chapter 8: Anne’s Bringing-Up Is Begun
...an “intimate friend” or “kindred spirit” in whom she can confide anything. Marilla mentions that Diana Barry, who lives at Orchard Slope, the neighboring farm, might be a good playmate. She...
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...Then she sits at the window and blows kisses to the Snow Queen, the trees, Diana’s house, and even Katie Maurice and Violetta.
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Chapter 12: A Solemn Vow and Promise
...had artificial flowers on their hats, after all. Marilla comforts Anne with the news that Diana Barry is home from a trip, so Anne can meet her today.
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Right away Anne begins shaking with nervousness and excitement. She worries that Diana won’t like her. Marilla says Anne should worry about Mrs. Barry instead—she’ll expect Anne to...
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In the Barrys’ lush garden, Anne and Diana look at each other shyly. Finally, Anne asks Diana if she thinks she could like...
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Diana agrees, so they join hands, and Anne solemnly swears to be Diana’s bosom friend forever....
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...they discover that Matthew has bought Anne chocolates. Anne happily plans to share half with Diana. Though Marilla grumbles about the candy, she privately admires Anne’s generosity. She also tells Matthew...
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Chapter 13: The Delights of Anticipation
One August afternoon Marilla sternly summons Anne inside—she played with Diana too long, and now she’s chatting with Matthew instead of doing her sewing. Anne bursts...
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As Anne reluctantly tackles her sewing, she talks to Marilla about Diana. Diana doesn’t have as much imagination as Anne, but she’s perfect otherwise. The two have...
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Chapter 15: A Tempest in the School Teapot
Anne and Diana are walking to school by way of some of their favorite wooded paths. They emerge...
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One September morning, Diana tells Anne that Gilbert Blythe, a handsome boy who teases all the girls, is back...
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Diana warns Anne that Gilbert will be joining her class—though he’s nearly 14, he spent a...
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...whisper an apology to Anne, but she acts like she doesn’t hear him. She tells Diana she’ll never forgive Gilbert.
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At the end of the day, Anne takes everything out of her desk and tells Diana she isn’t returning to school as long as Mr. Phillips is there. Marilla calls this...
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One evening, Marilla finds Anne weeping by her window. Anne explains that she loves Diana so much that she can’t bear the thought of someday losing her—she hates whomever her...
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Chapter 16: Diana Is Invited to Tea, with Tragic Results
...get supper for Matthew and Jerry the farmhand. In the meantime, she’s allowed to invite Diana over for afternoon tea. She can even use the leftover raspberry cordial she’ll find in...
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When Diana mentions Gilbert Blythe, Anne changes the subject by suggesting they go inside and have some...
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...tears. She confesses to Marilla that Mrs. Barry told Mrs. Lynde that Anne had sent Diana home in bad shape the other day—Diana was drunk. Anne is a terrible little girl,...
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...criticized her for making such strong wine. Marilla had retorted that a greedy child like Diana ought to be spanked for drinking three glasses of anything. That evening, Anne sneaks over...
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Chapter 17: A New Interest in Life
The next day, Anne glances outside and sees Diana beckoning to her from afar. She rushes down to the hollow and listens in dismay...
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...an armload of books and announces she is returning to school—at least she can see Diana there. Anne is warmly welcomed by her other friends, receiving fruit, flowers, and fond notes...
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Diana is silent at school. But the next morning Anne receives a note from her, explaining...
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...others” are so good at it. And she continues to be grieve the distance from Diana. Yet the world is so interesting that she can’t stay sad for long.
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Chapter 18: Anne to the Rescue
Just as Anne is coming up from the cellar with some apples for a snack, Diana rushes into Green Gables’ kitchen, and Anne drops everything, candle and all, in shock. Diana’s...
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...about the currant wine incident. She hopes Anne will forgive her and that she and Diana will be close again. Marilla indulgently lets Anne skip washing the dishes, and Anne runs...
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...Barry had tearfully kissed and apologized to her, and she had a lovely time visiting Diana—Mrs. Barry even let them use nice china for their tea. Anne felt so grown up...
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Chapter 19: A Concert, a Catastrophe, and a Confession
One February evening, Anne is desperate to go to Diana’s. She explains to Marilla that they’ve devised a system of signaling to each other from...
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...Many students have older siblings who are participating in the entertainment. After school, Anne and Diana have tea at her house and then retire to Diana’s room to dress. They spend...
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...and refuses to clap when he’s finished. When the happy concertgoers get home, Anne and Diana talk over everything while changing by the fire. Diana tells Anne that when Gilbert came...
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...they know it, the girls are flying upstairs in the cold and dark. Laughing helplessly, Diana explains that it’s Aunt Josephine, though she doesn’t know why she was sleeping in the...
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...threatening to return to Charlottetown tomorrow and to revoke the gift of music lessons for Diana, since Diana’s proven to be a “tomboy.” Aunt Josephine is wealthy, and the Barrys have...
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...to think before she speaks or acts. Sadly, Anne walks to Orchard Slope and, to Diana’s horror, says that she’s going to speak to Aunt Josephine herself—last night was her fault,...
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Chapter 20: A Good Imagination Gone Wrong
...that she can’t walk through “the Haunted Wood”—the spruce wood along the brook. She and Diana imagined it because the idea of a haunted wood is so “romantic.” They’ve imagined that...
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Chapter 21: A New Departure in Flavorings
...the past year. Anne relishes the whirlwind of preparations for this important visit. She tells Diana of the various jellies, pies, preserves, cakes, and biscuits they’ve been making. She’s frightened that...
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Chapter 23: Anne Comes to Grief in an Affair of Honor
A week later, Diana gives a small party for the girls in her class. After tea, the girls wander...
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...moralize about Anne’s accident, unlike Mrs. Lynde. But Anne can’t wait to return to school. Diana reports that Miss Stacy has the biggest puffed sleeves in Avonlea and often holds classroom...
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Chapter 24: Miss Stacy and Her Pupils Get Up a Concert
In October, Anne returns to school and happily rejoins Diana at their shared desk. Miss Stacy is a young woman with a knack for connecting...
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Chapter 25: Matthew Insists on Puffed Sleeves
After breakfast, Diana runs down to Green Gables with a gift from Aunt Josephine. It contains a Christmas...
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Chapter 26: The Story Club Is Formed
...in Avonlea school soon returns to normal. Later that winter, Anne turns 13. She and Diana walk to school through the woods, wondering what it will be like to be “really...
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...Stacy. But Miss Stacy is also requiring them to write an original story soon, and Diana dreads this because she thinks she has no imagination. Anne, on the other hand, has...
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Diana is deeply impressed by Anne’s story and wishes she had such an imagination. Anne encourages...
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Chapter 28: An Unfortunate Lily Maid
Anne, Diana, Jane Andrews, and Ruby Gillis are planning to reenact a scene from Tennyson’s Idylls of...
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Down at the headland, Diana, Ruby, and Jane don’t know what’s happened. When they see the dory sinking in the...
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Chapter 29: An Epoch in Anne’s Life
...the path at Green Gables, reciting her favorite lines from a Walter Scott poem, when Diana runs toward her with news. Aunt Josephine has written with an invitation for the two...
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...can go to Charlottetown. It’s 30 miles from Avonlea, so Mr. Barry drives Anne and Diana there early in the morning. Around noon they reach Aunt Josephine’s shady, rambling old mansion....
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Anne and Diana enjoy reliving the whole trip during the drive home, but the Green Gables homecoming is...
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Chapter 30: The Queen’s Class Is Organized
...Anne is interested, but goes on a digression describing her wanderings in the woods with Diana that afternoon. She and Diana no longer talk about childish things, she says—they’re almost 14....
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Chapter 31: Where the Brook and River Meet
Anne savors a glorious, mostly outdoor summer with Diana. Marilla gladly indulges this—earlier, when Minnie May was sick, the doctor sent Marilla a note...
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Chapter 32: The Pass List Is Out
...Queens scholars don’t expect to come back next year. On the last day, Anne and Diana walk home in tears. Diana is confident that Anne will pass the Entrance exam in...
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In town, Anne stays at Aunt Josephine’s house. She writes to Diana to tell her all about it. She’s very lonely without Diana and struggling not to...
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However, Anne survives the exams and reunites jubilantly with Diana at the end of the week. She still doesn’t know if she passed geometry or...
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One evening, after more than three weeks have passed, Diana comes running down from Orchard Slope with a newspaper in her hand. Anne knows immediately...
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Chapter 33: The Hotel Concert
Diana is in Anne’s room, helping her get dressed up. The gable room has changed a...
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...says she’s not at all nervous to recite “The Maiden’s Vow” that night. She and Diana ride to White Sands in a wagon with some other girls; Billy Andrews, a reticent...
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...a triumph, and she and her friends happily relive the event during the ride home. Diana overheard someone in the audience say that Anne has “Titian hair.” Anne explains that it...
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Chapter 35: The Winter at Queen’s
...off, as she takes the train home most weekends along with the other Avonlea students. Diana and other friends meet them at the station, and they walk home as a merry...
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Chapter 36: The Glory and the Dream
...Anne happily breathes in the familiar sights, smells, and atmosphere of Green Gables. She and Diana get reacquainted, and Diana teases Anne about replacing her with her new Queen’s friends. Anne...
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Chapter 37: The Reaper Whose Name Is Death
...visit Green Gables. Anne tucks Matthew’s favorite flowers around his casket, feeling unable to cry. Diana offers to spend the night at Green Gables, but Anne feels she needs time alone...
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Chapter 38: The Bend in the Road
The next evening, Anne returns from a visit to Diana’s and finds Marilla sitting at the kitchen table looking depressed. Concerned, she asks what the...
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Just then Diana flashes her old candle signal from Orchard Slope, so Anne runs over to talk to...
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