Anne Shirley—Dora Keith

Anne Shirley’s bond with Dora Keith is shown through practical attentiveness rather than grand declarations: Anne notices Dora’s character, responds gently to her fears, and treats her as one of the children whose everyday well-being matters. Their relationship also belongs to a wider household pattern of shared care, which becomes especially consequential when Anne considers leaving for college.

Dora in the Household

Dora is presented as industrious, neat, and observant. She is happiest when helping with small tasks suited to her hands: feeding chickens, picking up chips, wiping dishes, and running errands. She does not need to be told twice how to do something, and she remembers her duties. This portrait gives Anne’s care a particular shape: Dora is not simply a child to be protected, but a capable member of the household whose diligence is recognized.

The narrative sets Dora’s reliability against Davy Keith’s heedlessness and forgetfulness. Yet Anne and Marilla Cuthbert like Davy better all the same because he has an instinctive knack for winning affection. The contrast makes the household’s different attachments visible without diminishing Dora’s place in it. Anne’s attention to Dora’s needs appears within a family that welcomes both children as they are, rather than requiring them to earn care in the same way.

Comfort and Protection

When Dora cries because she is frightened to go upstairs alone in the dark, Anne does not dismiss the fear as childish. She picks Dora up, cuddles her sympathetically, and invites her to explain what is troubling her. Dora says a schoolmate, Mirabel Cotton, has described a dead uncle who was supposedly seen walking around a house after burial. The story has lodged in Dora’s mind, and the thought of that uncle frightens her more than the other death stories Mirabel has told.

Anne goes upstairs with Dora and stays beside her until she falls asleep. The comfort is quiet and concrete: she accompanies Dora into the dark and remains until the child is settled. The next day, Mirabel is kept in at recess and firmly but gently taught that it is not in good taste to tell a young deskmate such a frightening family ghost story. Anne’s response thus extends beyond soothing Dora in private; it also sets a boundary around what may be imposed on her at school. Mirabel resents the restriction, but the episode shows Anne taking Dora’s distress seriously enough to address its source.

Shared Care and Family Life

Anne’s affection also appears in ordinary plans for the twins. She promises to take Dora and Davy to the shore for a picnic, although the original agreement was that they must be good. Davy has tried, and Anne cannot bear to disappoint him. Marilla worries that Anne might drown herself or the twins while rowing on the pond in a flat-bottomed boat; Anne answers by inviting Marilla to come along. Dora is included in this outing as part of the family’s shared day, while Marilla’s concern underscores the practical responsibility involved in caring for the children.

These domestic scenes place Anne’s relationship with Dora among repeated acts of inclusion and responsiveness. Anne gives Dora comfort when fear overwhelms her, but she also makes room for her in the ordinary pleasures planned for the children. The bond is neither presented as a dramatic rescue nor reduced to household duty: its significance lies in the steady movement between attending to Dora’s particular feelings and including her in family life.

Education and the Limits of Anne’s Availability

The twins’ need for care becomes a central consideration when Anne thinks about continuing her education. Marilla tells her that she has saved enough to attend Redmond College for a year, and that money from the stock will cover another year; scholarships may help as well. Anne hesitates because she cannot leave Marilla alone with the twins, who need a great deal of looking after. Dora is not singled out as the cause of Anne’s decision, but she is one of the children whose care makes Anne’s departure seem difficult.

Marilla’s answer is to propose a change in the household rather than ask Anne to abandon her plans. She has spoken with Rachel Lynde, whose financial circumstances and attachment to Avonlea have left her facing a painful move. Marilla suggests inviting Rachel to live with her; with Rachel in the house, Anne could go to college. The arrangement would redistribute the work of caring for the twins and make Anne’s education possible without treating her affection for them as an obligation she must simply suppress.

Anne says she has never regretted staying home during the preceding two years, which have made her happy, but her eventual account of what she wants from college reaches beyond honors. She hopes to learn how best to live, how to do the most and best with life, and how to understand and help other people and herself. In the context of her relationship with Dora, that aspiration resonates with the care Anne has already practiced: attentive understanding is not separate from her ambitions, even as the family must find a way for her to pursue them beyond the household.