It never rains but it pours
Anne of Avonlea“It never rains but it pours” is a proverb about troubles arriving in succession. The narration applies it to Anne’s disastrous dinner, where the guests’ thanks mark not the end of the day’s difficulties but the threshold of another calamity.
Meaning and Narrative Use
The narrator introduces the saying just after a socially unsuccessful dinner. Anne and Diana, already subdued by their disappointment and the strain of the day, have little appetite or conversation. The proverb’s force comes from the contrast between the meal apparently reaching its close and the narration’s warning that the day’s “tribulations” are not yet over.
The Next Calamity
As Mr. Allan finishes returning thanks, a heavy object bounds down the stairs and crashes at the bottom. In the hall, a pink conch shell lies amid the broken pieces of Miss Barry’s willow-ware platter, while Davy kneels at the top of the stairs, terrified by the destruction. The proverb thus links Anne’s earlier disappointment to a fresh, concrete mishap, giving the scene its accumulating, comic sense of adversity.
