[ SECRET POST #6653 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #6653 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.


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[Cinnamon Bun]



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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 34 secrets from Secret Submission Post #951.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

They're her most popular books for a reason, and I still love them, too.

As for feminist... yeah, I don't expect that. The first book was written in 1908, there's very little chance it's going to resemble anything like modern feminism. It's true, despite her higher education and aspirations for her writing, Anne ends up in a very traditional wife and mother role. I still love her character because of her imagination, and how it got her into trouble as a kid because that was pretty much me, too.

That said, I also love the Story Girl books and The Blue Castle, but Anne is a standout character in Montgomery's work.

[(Anonymous)]

I read the whole series several times as a kid, and I never saw Anne becoming a traditional mother as any sort of negation of or insult to her academic success. I just thought it was cool that she did all kinds of different things throughout her life. My friends who also read the books seemed to get the same idea. One time one of my teachers actually talked about how the later books were bad role modeling for girls and how Anne should have stayed single and become a lawyer or something instead and my only reaction was "But she and Gilbert love each other so much! And then we wouldn't have gotten any stories about her kids!" I know a lot of fans hate the kids, but I always loved them (except the twins, they were annoying).

Yes, that was Watsonian baby me against Doylist educated teacher, but still. In the end they are fun books for kids, and a modern woman probably isn't going to go "Welp better throw away my college degree and get married now" because she liked the series as a kid.

[(Anonymous)]

I didn't use the words "negation" or "insult". My aim in pointing out her earlier aspirations vs. the traditional wife and mother role was in the context of what modern readers might expect from a feminist heroine. And I also tried to make it clear that I personally didn't expect anything like a modern feminist approach by this series, due to the time period it was written in.

I don't think becoming a wife and mother was a bad role model, per se. It was certainly expected of women at the time, and it would've been unusual for Anne to have a career and no family of her own. I do understand some fans' disappointment, however, because the focus of the series changes as it progresses. Anne is less the main character and an individual, and more seen only in the context of a wife and mother - especially after she starts having kids. (I'm not a fan of the books that contain a great deal about her children and do not find them compelling as characters. The exception is that we see more of Rilla in the last book, instead of a superficial skimming of one of many semi-generic child characters.)

But they're still good books, IMO, and if I had kids, I would introduce them to Montgomery's writing along with many other childhood favorites.