As a child of imagination, Anne takes much joy in life and adapts quickly, thriving in the close-knit farming village. Her talkativeness initially drives the prim, duty-driven Marilla to distraction, although Matthew falls for her charm immediately. Anne says that they are 'kindred spirits'.
Anne hates her red hair because she’s constantly being teased about it.
Her story about a precocious orphan went on to spawn at least twelve books and eleven film and television adaptations, not to mention several generations of dreamy young girls who wanted nothing more than to have the same red hair Anne herself hated so vehemently. But for girls who came of age in the early 90s, their first and most enduring introduction to Anne came from the 1985 Kevin Sullivan mini-series Anne of Green Gables and its sequels.
My favorite of Anne’s qualities is her temper. She was never a wilting flower waiting for other people to fight her battles. Anne was stubborn and impulsive, once smashing her slate over Gilbert’s head when he dared to called her “Carrots.” As a child, it was liberating to see a female character who was allowed to be angry. She was also allowed to be melodramatic and to lose herself in her fantasy world. Anne was so much like a real young woman that it was easy to forget she was fictional sometimes. For many girls, Anne was as much of a bosom friend to them as Diana was to her.
The most important lesson I’ve taken away from Anne is this: you never outgrow your sense of wonder. Given her back story, Anne could have been morose and bitter and no one would have blamed her for it. But Anne chose to love life and poetry and getting lost in her imagination and accidentally letting a mouse perish in the pudding on a Sunday afternoon.
