Anne of Green Gables fans - some queries

[neh]

Hiya! ;D
Okay, so if you be a fan of the Anne and have read the whole series, i have a few ponderings to pose to you:

- do you think Anne and Gil would have ever told the kids about Joy, the first baby who died? I've just always wondered, because she was never mentioned directly by any of them, although i know it's hardly something to bring up over dinner! But i always felt the kids deserved to know about their big sister

- i know that context-wise this would be totally a no-go, but does anyone else think Walter might have been gay? Now, i don't mean to impose this idea upon the boy for stereotypical reasons such as that he was into poetry and whatnot, but he just always seemed to me very indifferent towards girls as romantic possibilities. To be fair, so did Shirley i guess but he was younger. In just seemed that in contrast to Jem especially, and even to how the girls were with their crushes, Walter seemed removed from it all. His closest friendships had always been with girls, namely Nan, Rilla and Una (whose love he always seemed ignorant of) and unlike the other boys he never saw a need to prove his masculinity in any way, by fighting at school etc. It just didn't seem to matter to him. Now, of course none of this could mean anything... i just wonder, coz it's what i do!

[Katelyn]

I have always had that impression too, that Walter is, or at least, that he could be "gay." I think it’s important to remember that there were different societal norms then. Walter may have been “gay,” but he probably still would have married, had he lived; take Virginia Woolf for example, she was married but she still had a lesbian lover.

As for whether or not Anne and Gilbert would have told their children about their firstborn child, I definitely think they would have told their children about Joy, when the moment was appropriate. I can imagine Anne telling her daughters about her firstborn child when her daughters themselves are pregnant, in order to relieve their fears and sympathize with them. I always imagined her having a very open and honest relationship with her children.

[neh]

Hurrays! A reply at last! Thankyou Katelyn! And you're a fellow of Anne country - good on you!!! *glares at you with jealous eyes*
Yes, i feel that Anne would be that sort of mother aswell, especially towards the girls, and most likely towards Jem when he was young - i think she and Gil would have wanted him especially to have known about Joy, as he was the "first born" but in fact the second child. I just wondered because the kids never reference her, even when they're older. Granted there just may have been no need to include that, but it always left me curious.
And yes, i agree with you that gay or not, Walter would have probably married - ideally, i think he would have prefferred to be a bachelor, as i don't think he would have felt right in not giving himself wholly to a relationship with a woman, but then bachelor's generally 'played around' and that wouldn't have been in his taste.

[Katelyn]

I am, indeed, a fan. I'm so glad to find another fan of hers too! By the way, if you ever have an opportunity to visit P.E.I and LM. Montgomery's house, you definitely should, I'm sure you'll enjoy it immensely. Or, perhaps you've already visited her house? But if you haven't visited her house yet, then I hope you eventually do because visiting her house is like visiting Green Gables itself! There's also an Anne of Green Gables village nearby where there are people dressed-up as characters from the novels; it's really touristry, but it's definitely worth the trip. I still have a bottle of Cordial wine that I bought from the gift shop there. (I want to revisit P.E.I., her house and the village so badly now.)

Do you know if there's already a thread about literary locations and locations associated with various authors, whether they're locations mentioned in novels or visited by authors themselves? If not, I think it would make an interesting thread....


Are you a fan of L.M. Montgomery's other, lesser known works, such as Emily of New Moon, too? Oh, did you know that there's going to be a prequel to the Anne of Green Gables trilogy. I'm excited for it, but a little apprehensive too. To me, Meghan Follows was the epitome of Anne! I don't know when it will be released in Australia, hopefully it will be released there shortly after it's released here, which is supposed to be this summer, that way we can discuss both of our reactions to it. I could talk about Anne for hours without getting bored, she's like chocolate - there's no such thing as "too much."

[Dominique]

I read about a prequel coming out. Mainly because it was mentioned in an article about Margaret Atwood's take on Anne in light of the series' upcoming centenary.

"a "real-life Anne" in 19th-century Canada would have been more likely to end up as a diseased prostitute than the brilliant, charming young lady of enduring CanLit fame.

Atwood imagines a more "statistically accurate" orphan, one who - given the prevailing social conditions of her time - "would have continued to be poor and neglected," then gone on to an early grave after a life of "grinding child labour," sexual exploitation and "sufferings from the ravages of an incurable STD (sexually transmitted disease)."

The author writing the sequel was like... um... no...

www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/arts/story.html?id=8448dd90-ae66-4a1d-bef9-9803049f1594
www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=f880744a-d990-4822-b82c-fb99186fa158&k=91982

[annak]

Hahaha and this is exactly why I think Margaret Atwood is hysterical.

I've only read the first book (like a million times) and the next two after that, but now I want to know what you guys are talking about so I might buy/check out from the library the rest of them! When I was little I would listen religously to the Polish Audio book version of the first book that my mom had bought for me. I'm trying to figure out how to get them onto a CD now.

[Dominique]

I haven't read any of them, I've always wanted to but never gotten around to it. I love, love, love the Megan Follows movies though!

[neh]

The first three Annes are easily the best, although number 5 is also lovely. I've lways had issues with 7 and 8 because essentially they are spinoffs, where Anne is really just a background figure. Humph!
And Katelyn, it had been my ULTIMATE DREAM for a good 10 years now to go to PEI; my mum, nan and good friend Nikki, who introudced me to Anne, all want to go too. I'd give anything to get there this year, as it's the 100th anniversary of the first Anne publication and i believe there's going to be a ton of celebrations taking place during the latter half of the year. I know that there's always the musical performed every spring, and the tourist attractions are always popular - i would love to go on "Matthew's Horse and Buggy Ride" which takes you along paddocks by the coast or visit the "Lake of Shining Waters Tea House" where raspberry cordial is always on special - so cute! Oooooh, i'm so tempted but of course i have no money fo it, so my friend and i are planning to go for the 150th anniversary, by which time we will be in our 70's, hehe! I actually have an Anne scrapbook filled with thoughts and quotes and a billion pictures, many from the films of course but there's several maps of PEI, with direct Anne references thrown in, and there's also a general film location guide for the films, although in fact that mainly took place on the mainland.
I adore the Megan Follows films, naturally, although like many fans i feel the third one was just... painful.... why Kevin Sullivan WHY?! And of course i'm asking the same question with this prequal nonsense.
Here's a bit of info
anneofgreengables.com/anne4/
And yes, i do enjoy the Emily books, aswell as the sort of spin-offs like Chronicles of Avonlea, or Akin to Anne.
Hehe, Dom those Atwood quotes may very well scar my Anne memories now!

[sagedautumn]

I read the first one a while back!(Remember Neh!) Anyway, is the second one as good as the first one? I am kind of afraid because she's all "grown-up" and I fell in love with the first one largely due to Anne's clumsy attitude and rashness...What do you think?

[neh]

Oh no trust me, Anne still gets up to many a mishap in the second novel. It's highly enjoyable - as is the third, although that's when things really start to move into 'adult Anne' but she's still very much her delightful self.