My dear friend and I
February 1, 2004 | 12:00am
In the summer of 1999, I met an 11-year-old girl of Canadian descent, with red tresses braided in ponytails and freckles across her face. Her strong dislike for the color of her hair was only equaled by her pride in her upturned nose. She seemed like an ordinary girl, except that she had a vivacity I had never known in any person. She talked with passion, albeit a bit exaggeratedly, leaving her listeners either breathless or bewildered. Oh, she talked... a lot. Quite annoying, really. "Will you please call me Cordelia?" she asked. It wouldn’t really have mattered what she was called, but it wasn’t her name. She was Anne Shirley... Anne of Green Gables.
Anne of Green Gables was the first children’s book that I read after graduating from college. I saw an animated version on television, and although I was annoyed initially by Anne’s incessant talking, curiosity got a hold of me. Out I went to a local bookstore and purchased the first of what soon would be nine books. I absolutely loved her.
Anne is a remarkable child. She finds contentment, where others situated in similar circumstances may find discontent. She draws strength from her sunny disposition, which is greatly abetted by her vivid imagination. It didn’t matter that Marilla preferred a boy. Anne proved to her that she was quite as able as any male in doing household chores. Although she did not belong to high society, she believes she is rich because she is as "happy as a queen and has imagination."
Her alter ego, Lady Cordelia Fitzgerald, is totally unlike Anne. Lady Cordelia manifests her aspirations – tall and regal, with dark hair and clear ivory skin, and wearing a gown of trailing white lace, a pearl cross, and pearls in her hair. Nevertheless, Anne takes pride in who she is. "It’s a million times nicer to be Anne of Green Gables than Anne of nowhere in particular," she staunchly says.
Anne is a master storyteller, spinning tales that make one cry with laughter or with sadness. However, her flair for the dramatics nearly cost her the life of a "kindred spirit" Diana Barry, and her own.
She is also too human, succumbing to pride and vanity. Be warned! Never make any remark on her red hair. Gilbert Blythe found out how painful that could be. It took her years to forgive, but only after so much regret. In Anne’s earlier attempts to totally ignore Gilbert for his teasing, she discovers that being ignored in return was an awful experience. She realizes that there might not be another opportunity when the hand of friendship would be extended to her again. Indeed, revenge hurts the one who tries to inflict it more.
But out of this grew friendship that destiny had long foretold. "We were born to be good friends," Gilbert once said. That naughty boy upon whose head Anne cracked her slate in two in retaliation for him having called her "Carrots" in their younger years grew up into a fine young man, and showed her "romance did not come into one’s life with pomp and blate... it crept to one’s side like an old friend through quiet ways."
I have witnessed Anne grow from a rowdy girl to a loving mother. I was there when she worked painstakingly to get a scholarship; when she formed her Story Club; when she thought she found love in Roy Gardner; when she lost her firstborn, and eventually, another son in the First World War; when she raised six children into adulthood. I was part of her world, like one of her chums.
When I was younger, I had dreams not unlike Anne’s. However, as time passed, some of these dreams were simply outgrown and forgotten. "It wouldn’t do for us to have all our dreams fulfilled," she said. "We would be as good as dead if we had nothing left to dream about."
In a world that tests one’s capacity to dream and ultimately, to find true happiness, Anne is an inspiration. Despite the hard life she has led, her determination and ability to find treasures in simple things make her all the more endearing. She is Anne. And I am glad I have known her.
Anne of Green Gables was the first children’s book that I read after graduating from college. I saw an animated version on television, and although I was annoyed initially by Anne’s incessant talking, curiosity got a hold of me. Out I went to a local bookstore and purchased the first of what soon would be nine books. I absolutely loved her.
Anne is a remarkable child. She finds contentment, where others situated in similar circumstances may find discontent. She draws strength from her sunny disposition, which is greatly abetted by her vivid imagination. It didn’t matter that Marilla preferred a boy. Anne proved to her that she was quite as able as any male in doing household chores. Although she did not belong to high society, she believes she is rich because she is as "happy as a queen and has imagination."
Her alter ego, Lady Cordelia Fitzgerald, is totally unlike Anne. Lady Cordelia manifests her aspirations – tall and regal, with dark hair and clear ivory skin, and wearing a gown of trailing white lace, a pearl cross, and pearls in her hair. Nevertheless, Anne takes pride in who she is. "It’s a million times nicer to be Anne of Green Gables than Anne of nowhere in particular," she staunchly says.
Anne is a master storyteller, spinning tales that make one cry with laughter or with sadness. However, her flair for the dramatics nearly cost her the life of a "kindred spirit" Diana Barry, and her own.
She is also too human, succumbing to pride and vanity. Be warned! Never make any remark on her red hair. Gilbert Blythe found out how painful that could be. It took her years to forgive, but only after so much regret. In Anne’s earlier attempts to totally ignore Gilbert for his teasing, she discovers that being ignored in return was an awful experience. She realizes that there might not be another opportunity when the hand of friendship would be extended to her again. Indeed, revenge hurts the one who tries to inflict it more.
But out of this grew friendship that destiny had long foretold. "We were born to be good friends," Gilbert once said. That naughty boy upon whose head Anne cracked her slate in two in retaliation for him having called her "Carrots" in their younger years grew up into a fine young man, and showed her "romance did not come into one’s life with pomp and blate... it crept to one’s side like an old friend through quiet ways."
I have witnessed Anne grow from a rowdy girl to a loving mother. I was there when she worked painstakingly to get a scholarship; when she formed her Story Club; when she thought she found love in Roy Gardner; when she lost her firstborn, and eventually, another son in the First World War; when she raised six children into adulthood. I was part of her world, like one of her chums.
When I was younger, I had dreams not unlike Anne’s. However, as time passed, some of these dreams were simply outgrown and forgotten. "It wouldn’t do for us to have all our dreams fulfilled," she said. "We would be as good as dead if we had nothing left to dream about."
In a world that tests one’s capacity to dream and ultimately, to find true happiness, Anne is an inspiration. Despite the hard life she has led, her determination and ability to find treasures in simple things make her all the more endearing. She is Anne. And I am glad I have known her.
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