Anne's Arrival at Green Gables
Anne Shirley's arrival at Green Gables on a June evening is the catalytic event that launches the entire narrative of L. M. Montgomery's novel. A simple error in communication—a message passed by word of mouth through several intermediaries—results in the Cuthberts receiving a talkative, freckled, red-haired girl of eleven instead of the sturdy boy they had requested to help Matthew Cuthbert with the farm work. This mistake, which initially seems a disaster to the practical Marilla Cuthbert, becomes the foundation of Anne's new life and the beginning of a profound transformation for everyone at Green Gables.
The Mistake and Its Origins
The misunderstanding originates in a chain of oral messages. Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert had asked Mrs. Alexander Spencer to bring them a boy of about ten or eleven from the orphan asylum in Nova Scotia. They sent word through Richard Spencer's folks at Carmody, but the message was relayed by Nancy, a flighty daughter, who told Mrs. Spencer that the Cuthberts wanted a girl. When Matthew Cuthbert, dressed in his best suit and driving the sorrel mare, arrives at Bright River station to meet the five-thirty train, the stationmaster informs him that the train has come and gone, and the only passenger left for him is a little girl sitting on a pile of shingles. Matthew, the shyest man alive, is utterly bewildered. He had never expected a girl and is at a loss how to proceed. The stationmaster, with casual indifference, suggests that perhaps the asylum was out of the desired brand of boy, leaving the unfortunate Matthew to confront the strange child.
The First Encounter
Anne Shirley, waiting at the station, is a study in tense expectation. She is garbed in a very short, tight, ugly dress of yellowish-gray wincey, a faded brown sailor hat, and beneath it, two braids of very thick, decidedly red hair. Her face is small, white, and thin, much freckled, with large eyes that look green in some lights and gray in others. An extraordinary observer might see that the chin is pointed and pronounced, the eyes full of spirit and vivacity, the mouth sweet-lipped and expressive, and the forehead broad and full. Anne, however, spares Matthew the ordeal of speaking first. She stands up, grasps her shabby carpet-bag, and holds out her hand, introducing herself with a peculiarly clear, sweet voice. She immediately begins to talk, revealing her imaginative nature by confessing she had planned to sleep in a wild cherry tree if Matthew had not come. Matthew, despite his dread of little girls, finds himself enjoying her chatter. He decides he cannot tell her about the mistake at the station; he will take her home and let Marilla handle it.
The Journey to Green Gables
The drive from Bright River to Green Gables becomes a journey of discovery for Anne. She talks almost without pause, revealing her history of neglect and her powerful imagination. She explains that she has never belonged to anybody, that the asylum was the worst place she had ever been, with little scope for imagination. She describes her imaginary friends, Katie Maurice, a girl she pretended lived in a bookcase, and Violetta, an echo. She asks Matthew about the red roads of Prince Edward Island and confesses her lifelong sorrow over her red hair, which she cannot imagine away. The journey is punctuated by moments of profound beauty that strike Anne dumb with rapture. The Avenue, a stretch of road arched over with huge apple trees in snowy fragrant bloom, she renames the White Way of Delight. Barry's pond, shimmering with shifting hues of crocus, rose, and ethereal green, she christens the Lake of Shining Waters. When they finally crest a hill and Anne sees a distant house, dimly white with blossoming trees and a great crystal-white star shining over it, she guesses correctly that it is Green Gables. She tells Matthew she felt it was home the moment she saw it.
The Revelation and the First Night
The moment of truth comes when Marilla Cuthbert opens the kitchen door. She stops short in amazement at the sight of the odd little figure and demands, "Matthew Cuthbert, who's that? Where is the boy?" Matthew, wretched, can only say there was no boy, only her. Marilla is aghast, exclaiming, "Well, this is a pretty piece of business!" Anne, who has been silent, suddenly grasps the full meaning. She drops her carpet-bag, springs forward, and cries out, "You don't want me! You don't want me because I'm not a boy!" She bursts into a storm of tears, declaring it the most tragical thing that has ever happened to her. Marilla, moved despite herself, tells her not to cry, that they will not turn her out-of-doors that night. She learns Anne's name—Anne Shirley, spelled with an E—and sends her to the east gable room. That night, Anne cries herself to sleep, a lonely, heart-hungry, friendless child. Marilla and Matthew argue about what to do; Matthew, unusually persistent, suggests they might keep her, saying, "We might be some good to her." Marilla is determined to send her back, but the seed of a new possibility has been planted.
Consequences and Significance
Anne's arrival sets in motion a series of events that will reshape the lives of everyone at Green Gables. The mistake, which Marilla initially sees as a calamity, becomes the catalyst for Anne's integration into the community. Her first night of despair is followed by a morning of wonder as she discovers the beauty of Green Gables—the cherry tree outside her window, the orchard, the brook, the sea. She declares, "I love Green Gables already, and I never loved any place before." The event reveals Anne's traumatic past: her parents died of fever when she was three months old, she was taken in by a poor woman with a drunken husband, then by a woman with eight children, and finally sent to the asylum. It also exposes her deep need for love and belonging, a need that Marilla and Matthew, despite their initial reluctance, will eventually fulfill. The arrival is the first step in Anne's journey from a neglected orphan to a cherished daughter, and it marks the beginning of her profound influence on the Cuthberts and the entire Avonlea community.
