Anne Shirley—Diana Barry

Anne Shirley—Diana Barry is a friendship of shared confidence and dependable support. In these scenes, Diana accompanies Anne through both a public effort to resist advertising on a school fence and the private excitement and anxiety of preparing for a distinguished visitor.

Confidence and Companionship

Anne shares her worries with Diana rather than keeping them to herself. As they talk beneath the large willow in the hammock at Orchard Slope, Anne describes how carefully she has imagined Charlotte E. Morgan’s visit, from what the author might look like and say to how Anne herself should respond. She also confesses her concern about the seven freckles on her nose, which appeared after she went without a hat in the sun at the A.V.I.S. picnic. The imagined heroines in Charlotte E. Morgan’s books, Anne observes, have perfect complexions; the comparison makes her self-conscious even as she recognizes that the freckles are not as widespread as they once were. Diana is thus present for Anne’s unguarded mixture of literary idealism, anticipation, and insecurity.

Support in Public

Their companionship also becomes practical solidarity. When the A.V.I.S. decides to protest Judson Parker’s plan to put advertisements on the school fence, Anne agrees to speak but asks for others to accompany her for moral support. Diana and Jane are appointed to go with her. The visit does not persuade Judson to abandon the plan: he insists that business must come first, though he promises to tell the agent not to paint the advertisements blue. Diana’s role is not to take over Anne’s appeal but to stand with her while she makes it, turning private loyalty into visible support in a difficult public encounter.

Sharing the Work and the Occasion

When Anne learns that Charlotte E. Morgan is coming, she runs to Orchard Slope that evening to tell Diana, who is equally excited. Their conversation moves from anticipation to plans: Diana asks to help cook dinner and offers to make lettuce salad, while Anne welcomes her help with both the meal and the decorations. Anne intends to fill the parlor with flowers and adorn the dining table with wild roses, and Diana joins her in making the visit a shared undertaking.

The next morning, Diana arrives soon after breakfast carrying a basket of flowers and her muslin dress, which she has brought along to change into after the preparations are finished. Until then she wears a pink print dress and a ruffled lawn apron. Her arrival makes the friendship tangible in small, deliberate acts: she brings what is needed, postpones dressing for the occasion, and gives her time to help Anne prepare. Across the scenes, their closeness appears not as a single declaration but as a repeated pattern of confidence, accompaniment, and willing participation.