Within the last decade, it has come out that Lucy Maud Montgomery, the beloved writer of Anne of Green Gables had potentially committed suicide. This has pushed readers and critics alike to read deeper into her novels in order to discover precursor signs of a dark depression that she experienced for a substantial period of time. That being said, Lucy Maud Montgomery’s opinions and feelings are certainly reflected in her works, and more particularly in her biggest success Anne of Green Gables. The story, according to blank, acts as a vehicle to uncover Maud’s deepest emotions and also her, “social outlook” (1) To begin with, Montgomery makes a direct line of connection between the events of Anne’s life and her own, which only serves to point …show more content…
There are several facets of Montgomery that can be seen through two of her main characters. Depression is generally associated with drab colours, such as black, brown, and grey. The word itself has a dark sounding intonation. Anne’s eyes are constantly searching, constantly alive and constantly looking to understand the world around her by means of language. Blank claimed that Anne has, “starry-eyed sensibilities” (1). By stark contrast, Marilla is always pictured as a woman with “angles and without curves” (Montgomery, 1). Her hair is always twisted in a knot, and most important, her eyes are described as “gray”. Through Anne’s eyes, everything is bright and in her words, “tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it” (Montgomery, 1). In Anne’s world, everything is possible. Marilla, on the other hand, is limited. Her life seems to be held back and haunted by this grayness in her eyes. Montgomery, in this case (no matter how much she would like to be Anne), is similar to Marilla. Lucy’s days are full of melancholy because of her familial strife. On another note, perhaps the two characters show a transformative timeline of Montgomery’s life. While she was young, she would dream and imagine her worries away, but those things seem to catch up with one as one grows older (and becomes Marilla). Anne, who is full of imagination, asks Marilla “Do you never imagine things different from what they are?” (Montgomery, 1) and of course, Marilla answers confidently, “No” (Montgomery, 1). As Montgomery got older it became harder and harder for her to imagine away her problems. She became Marilla, who could not imagine away her problems or in Maud’s case, her depression. On a similar note, one widely recognized idea concerning mental illness is that one has trouble coming to terms with one’s life and surroundings and thus, has trouble identifying with oneself. Montgomery vocalizes this idea
The story of Anne's childhood must be appreciated in order to understand where her drive, inspiration, and motivation were born. As Anne watches her parents go through the tough times in the South, Anne doesn't understand the reasons as to why their life must this way. In the 1940's, at the time of her youth, Mississippi built on the foundations of segregation. Her mother and father would work out in the fields leaving Anne and her siblings home to raise themselves. Their home consisted of one room and was in no comparison to their white neighbors, bosses. At a very young age Anne began to notice the differences in the ways that they were treated versus ...
The contrast between how She sees herself and how the rest of the world sees Her can create extreme emotional strain; add on the fact that She hails from the early 1900s and it becomes evident that, though her mental construct is not necessarily prepared to understand the full breach against Her, She is still capable of some iota of realization. The discrimination encountered by a female during this time period is great and unceasing.
Anne’s diary began on her thirteenth birthday. She had a normal life for a girl of her age, and valued the same things as any girl; she loved being with her friends, enjoyed school and already had established a passion for writing which she expressed through her diary. She first wrote “I hope I will be able to confide everything to you, as I have never been able to confide in anyone, and I hope you will be a great source of comfort and support,” it is established that Anne, although a very social young girl, felt that she could not confide in her friends. The tone with which she wrote and the trivial matters that she wrote about exemplify her young age and lack of maturity. She wrote for the sake of writing, and wrote about the happenings in her life. When the first signs of anti-Semitism started to show, signs of worry showed through her writing, but she never wrote too deeply about it.
"Lorraine Hansberry: Personal Struggles." Literary Cavalcade 57.8 (2005): 22-23. Academic Search Complete. Web. 8 Apr. 2014.
After five years of being raised and living with their grandmother whom they truly loved, the girls had a rude awakening. Their grandmother, Sylvia had passed away. “When after almost five years, my grandmother one winter morning eschewed awakening, Lily and Nona were fetched from Spokane and took up housekeeping in Fingerbone, just as my grandmother had wished” (Robinson 29). This was the final attempt that their grandmother had made in order for the girls to have a normal and traditional life. This is a solid example of how the sister’s lives are shaped by their family and their surroundings. Lucille’s ultimate concern in life is to conform to society and live a traditional life. She wishes to have a normal family and is sorrowful for all of the losses that she has experienced such as her mother’s and grandmother’s deaths. On the other hand, Ruthie, after spending more time with her future guardian, Aunt Sylvie, becomes quite the transient like her.
In her autobiography, “The Life of an Ordinary Woman, Anne Ellis describes just that; the life of an ordinary woman. Ellis reveals much about her early—ordinary if you will—life during the nineteenth-century. She describes what daily life was like, living a pioneer-like lifestyle. Her memoir is ‘Ordinary’ as it is full of many occurrences that the average woman experiences. Such as taking care of her children, cleaning, cooking the—world’s greatest—meals. It also contains many themes such as dysfunctional families, insensitive men, and negligent parents that are seen in modern life. The life of Anne Ellis is relatable. Her life is relatable to modern day life, however, very different.
When Anne first began to realize how the white people really treated the blacks, she had a sense of hopelessness, and anger. But she came to understand that it's not hopeless, and no matter what challenges she was facing within herself, her mother or with the outside world that civil rights for all, was worth the fight. She overcame natural obstacles that all teenagers face as well as ones that were racial motivated. "That summer I could feel myself beginning to change. For the first time I began to think something would be done about whites killing, beating, and misusing Negroes. I knew I was going to be apart of whatever happened."4
The reader reads in order to feel sorrow for the protagonist in a manner the reader can assimilate. Yet, it seems that the nature of Margaret’s thoughts is inherently dialogic or, to work with Duke’s terms, empathic: neither Margaret nor the reader uses the text in order to solicit pity from the other. What function would a “pity party” serve a reader by herself? To the contra...
The third decade of the twentieth century brought on more explicit writers than ever before, but none were as expressive as Anne Sexton. Her style of writing, her works, the image that she created, and the crazy life that she led are all prime examples of this. Known as one of the most “confessional” poets of her time, Anne Sexton was also one of the most criticized. She was known to use images of incest, adultery, and madness to reveal the depths of her deeply troubled life, which often brought on much controversy. Despite this, Anne went on to win many awards and go down as one of the best poets of all time.
Douglas, Ann. “Louisa May Alcott.” American Writers. Ed. Leonard Unger. Sup. 1, Part 1. New York: Scribner’s, 1979. Print.
Orphans are often forced to mature faster than any other child. Often, they are exploited and used for their labor at a young age, ridding them of any potential childhood. Moreover, orphans lack a sense of belonging and have trouble relying on anybody other than themselves because the people they loved broke the only trust they knew, this leads to an isolation among them and a struggle with social development. Throughout the texts and films such as Anne of Green Gables, Orphan Train, Sidekicks, and The Outsiders we see specific examples of how orphans are expected to behave more maturely than children who grow up in a secure family setting.
Glaspell authored this feminist short story, now considered a classic and studied in many institutions of higher education, in 1917, a story that underwent reawakening in the 1970s (Hedges). As the investigation of Mr. Wright’s murder takes the sheriff of Dickson County, neighbor Mr. Hale, and their wives to the Wright farm, the story “confines itself to the narrow space of Minnie’s kitchen--- the limited and limiting space of her female sphere. Within that small space are revealed all of the dimensions of the loneliness that is her mute message” (Hedges). It is evident through Glaspell’s writing that Minnie Wright feels distress from being trapped in the confines of her kitchen with no telephone and no outreach to the world outside her husband’s farm. Mrs. Wright being quarantined to her own home every day--- a common occurrence in housewives of ...
Fisher, Jerilyn, and Ellen S. Silber. Women In Literature : Reading Through The Lens Of Gender..
The persuasive attempts in both literary works produce different results. The effectiveness of the mother’s guidance to her daughter is questioned since the girl cannot recognize the essence of her mother’s lesson. Despite that, the mother’s beneficial instruction serves as a standard for the daughter to reflect her future behaviors in order to live up to the community’s expectations. On the other hand, Anne’s value of candid expression and lasting relationship dissuades her from obliging to her family’s meaningless duty to place her love and interest above to experience fulfillment in life.
While other writers use their poetry to decipher the meaning of life, Anne Finch, Countess of Winchilsea was busy writing about how to live it. Five of her poems, “Jupiter and the Farmer,” “The Tree,” “The Shepherd Piping to the Fishes,” “Love, Death, and Reputation,” and “There’s No To-Morrow,” convey strong messages to the reader about how to live their lives. In her poetry, Anne Finch uses anecdotes to help illustrate the validity of her statements, thereby providing the reader with a strong, meaningful, and important message about how life should be lived.