The World behind the Characters

"They had driven over the crest of a hill. Below them was a pond, looking almost like a river so long and winding was it. A bridge spanned it midway and from there to its lower end, where an amber-hued belt of sand hills shut it in from the dark blue gulf beyond, the water was a glory of many shifting hues- the most spiritual shadings of crocus and rose and ethereal green, with other elusive tintings for which no name has ever been found."

In 1908, L.M Montgomery was looking to capture the feeling and inspiration of Prince Edward Island. The Island has pastoral landscapes, with rolling hills, shadowed forests and red sandy beaches. There has been a preservation act passed so the landscape looks much the same today, as it did then. This landscape also inspired, L.M Montgomery's main character, Anne. She would often be found outside, imagining the flowers to be souls, and trees to be dryads. In a way, this book perfectly matches the environment it was written in. Prince Edward Island is a real place and some of the cities in Anne of Green Gable are real, but the Town of Avonlea and its characters are fictional. This is the perfect connection to Anne's character, for she is such an interesting mixture of real and imagined things. Her imagination influenced who she was and what she believed in. 
The imagination of the town of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery has actually influenced the real Prince Edward Island. There is a thriving Anne of Green Gable community there. Along with the Anne of Green Gables House, there is a musical, museums devoted to L.M. Montgomery and her character Anne. 

The more you know about the beautiful place of Prince Edward Island and its background, the more you understand about the characters and their way of thinking.