Episode 16 – Anne Shirley

Poor Gilbert Blythe. It’s been plain for quite some time now that he harbors warmer feelings for Anne Shirley than she cares to acknowledge – and this week, we get confirmation that she’s aware of them. When he attempts to make his move, carefully taking her hand in his as they stand on the bridge gazing out at the Lake of Shining Waters (or Barry’s Pond when it’s at home), she reacts quickly and decisively: she jerks her hand away and hurries home, wishing that Gilbert could just be content with friendship.

That’s a sentiment it’s worth discussing. With Anne’s advancing age, Diana’s engagement, and Anne’s upcoming higher education, she’s setting herself apart from many of her agemates by not thinking about marriage. It wouldn’t be at all odd for her to go to school already engaged, or in pursuit of an M.R.S. degree, as one of Davy’s classmates relates. But Anne’s not ready for that, as she’s already made clear to Diana; even if she has an unwilling crush on Gilbert, she’s certainly not going to act on it. It’s not that she has a dislike of marriage in general, either; it’s just that she’s not there yet. Her shock at new friend Philippa’s gregarious comments about all the boys back home pursuing her shows that it’s not something she’s given much thought to. That doesn’t mean that she’s comfortable hearing Prissy talk about Gilbert’s good looks or seeing him go off with other people (and especially Ruby), but Anne’s still working through things – she’s got some growing up to do. And she knows that she might be taking longer to do it than her friends.

It’s an uncomfortable place to be. Even if the old biddies (or, as Gilbert calls them in chapter two of Anne of the Island, “spiteful old cats”) of Avonlea hadn’t taken it upon themselves to try to dissuade her from going to college, she’d still be aware of her position. She remarked last week that she’s unsure that going around the bend in the road is the right thing to do, and now that she’s nearing it, that uncertainty is even more pronounced. She may have (finally) put up her hair and let down her skirts, but those are just the trappings of adulthood. Only Gilbert seems to fully understand that she’s struggling, but he’s also got his ulterior motive of trying to win her heart, which makes him an imperfect consolation at best. It may be Diana who remarks that she feels everything is irrevocably changing, but no one feels it more than Anne.

But the world moves forward. Anne’s heading to college shows that in myriad little ways, with one of the first being the flickering on of the electric street lights in Kingsbury; up to this point, it’s been candles and oil lamps exclusively, which makes sense for tiny, rural Avonlea. Ships under both steam and sail are shown in the harbor, where we’ve only seen rowboats and small sailing vessels. Anne’s view of the graveyard from her boardinghouse window makes her very aware of the past as she reads epitaphs from colonial days and feels sorrow for those who fought in wars. And Philippa herself is a symbol of changing times – not only is her outfit at least ten years ahead of where it should be (she’s dressed in the style of the First World War, not the late Victorian era), she’s also something of a New Woman.

The New Woman was the ideal of what we today call first-wave feminism, a woman who worked, attended college, and in charge of her own life while doing scandalous things like riding a bicycle. She wore makeup (see Phil’s red lips!). She postponed marriage. She’s what Anne is struggling towards without being fully aware of it, and Phil, with her casual talk of many suitors and her modern dress, is representative of. Anne may not fully embrace the ideal, but she’s symbolic of the world opening up to young women of her time, and attending Redmond is part of that…as is her deliberately closing her eyes to Gilbert’s overtures.

He won’t be put off so easily, of course. We’ll see how that works out for them.

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Anne Shirley is currently streaming on Crunchyroll on Saturdays.