When I was about 10, I read Anne of Green Gables for the first time. Anne was precocious and a little dramatic, but she essentially wanted all the things that I wanted at the time; to have a best friend, to be the best in school, but to be thought of as pretty too, not just smart. This book was always a story about growing up, and learning lessons from the things we have to go through in life. However, while doing research on this book, I found a syllabus from an English 180 class by Professor Paul Martin. This book was on the syllabus for a class about Women authors and their views on feminism. For the first time, I realized that this book could be much more than a coming of age story.
Anne of Green Gables was published in 1908, right in the heart of the Edwardian Era. This time period was known as the beginning of the women's suffrage movement. Suffragettes all over the world were trying to win equality for women, and were breaking norms in order to prove that they could be as influential as any man. With Anne of Green Gables placed into this point of view, it takes on a whole new meaning. Having been born in 1990, I have always taken equality for women for granted. Anne going to college and having a career, as well as being a wife and mother didn't seem too out of the norm. However, when taking into consideration that this was a time period where women didn't even have the right to vote, Anne's accomplishments in the book are actually quite a feat. When thinking about Anne's example as someone who could break free of the restrictions placed on her as a women, it makes me ponder about the ways we will break free of the norms we have now. Maybe we are in the process of cutting loose our own constraints that we have previously had in the literary world by expanding the way we think and learn with the help of the new digital culture.
I have been contemplating my favorite scenes from Anne of Green Gables. And as much as I love the book, whenever I picture the most epic moments, I always start humming the music from the movie. As a musician (I play harp and piano), music plays such an important role in my life. It can perfectly express whatever you are feeling. I have always kind of wished that my life could have a soundtrack. I was thinking about exploring the different themes from Anne of Green Gable's using music to reflect the most important moments in the book. I am not quite sure how to do this though. Maybe create a youtube video that shows a mix of art, text and music? Essentially, I want to show my perspective of the characters and themes using art and music.
In Anne of Green Gables, everything is centered around the aesthetically pleasing. The language is descriptive, Anne's character loves pretty things, and the surroundings are picturesque. Most importantly, this book is based on how souls can be just as beautiful as the world. Two people that connect can change each other's lives. I am amazed at how this book has inspired so many people. There is a lot of fan art and videos based on the love of the characters from Anne of Green Gables.
After reading Rainbows End, it made me question the technology in our own futures. 50 years from now, will our world be run by technology, or will we hit a period of rebellion, much like the period of Romanticism after the Industrial Revolution? Many of us have been asking questions about what technology does to society, and whether we agree with it or not. It seems like this is a question that has been asked many times before. Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote:
"The civilized man has built a coach, but has lost the use of his feet. He is supported on crutches, but loses so much support of muscle. He has got a fine Geneva Watch, but he has lost the skill to tell the hour by the sun. A Greenwich nautical almanac he has, and so being sure of the information when he wants it, the man in the street does not know a star in the sky. The solstice he does not observe; the equinox he knows as little; and the whole bright calendar of the year is without a dial in his mind. His notebooks impair his memory; his libraries overload his wit; the insurance office increases the number of accidents; and it may be a question whether machinery does not encumber; whether we have not lost by refinement some energy, by a Christianity entrenched in establishments and forms, some vigor of wild virtue."
I think that no matter what day and age we are living in, we are going to question the direction the world is going in. While reading Anne of Green Gables this week, I noticed that the main character, Anne, sees so much beauty and mystery in the world. Even though her surroundings and experiences are constantly changing, she has a firm foundation in the things she believes in. I think that if we apply our own principles to everything we learn, then we don't need to fear how things are changing around us. We will learn new skills, forget ones that are no longer applicable, but no matter what happens, we are adaptable. I think Anne's spirit of adventure is exactly the inspiration I need in order to conquer the new digital age.
