Anne's Decision to Stay at Green Gables

Anne Shirley's decision to stay at Green Gables rather than accept the Avery scholarship to Redmond College is the novel's culminating act of moral maturity, transforming her from a dream-haunted orphan into a self-sacrificing young woman who chooses love and duty over personal ambition. The choice is forced by a double catastrophe: Matthew Cuthbert's sudden death from heart failure, brought on by the news of the Abbey Bank's failure, which wiped out the Cuthberts' life savings, and the oculist's warning that Marilla Cuthbert will go blind within six months if she does not give up reading, sewing, and all eye-straining work. Anne, who has just won the Avery scholarship—two hundred and fifty dollars a year for four years—and a First Class teacher's license, realizes that she cannot leave Marilla alone in grief and approaching blindness. She decides on the night after Marilla returns from the oculist, sitting by her east gable window in the darkness, to refuse the scholarship and stay home to teach. The decision is not presented as a sacrifice but as a positive embrace of a new path: Anne tells Marilla, "There is no sacrifice. Nothing could be worse than giving up Green Gables—nothing could hurt me more." She has already planned to teach at the Carmody school, board at home, and drive herself back and forth, keeping a horse for the purpose. She also intends to continue her studies independently, taking an Arts course by herself at Green Gables during the long winter evenings. The Avonlea school trustees, having heard that Anne applied for the local school, offer it to her after Gilbert Blythe withdraws his own application and suggests they accept hers, knowing how much she wants to stay with Marilla. Gilbert signs papers to teach at White Sands instead, paying his own board, a sacrifice Anne initially feels she cannot accept but which is already settled. The decision transforms the meaning of home: Green Gables, which Marilla had planned to sell to Mr. Sadler of Carmody, is saved. Anne tells Marilla, "We must keep the dear old place." The novel ends with Anne walking home from the graveyard where she has planted a slip of Matthew's favorite white Scotch rosebush on his grave, meeting Gilbert on the hill, and finally reconciling with him, shaking hands and agreeing to be "the best of friends." She sits at her window that night, companioned by a glad content, and whispers, "`God's in his heaven, all's right with the world.'" The bend in the road, which Anne had earlier described as a metaphor for the unknown future, now holds the promise of quiet happiness, sincere work, worthy aspiration, and congenial friendship.

The Double Catastrophe: Matthew's Death and Marilla's Blindness

The decision is precipitated by two blows that strike within days of each other. Matthew Cuthbert, returning from the post office, collapses across the threshold of Green Gables with a folded paper in his hand—an account of the failure of the Abbey Bank, where the Cuthberts had every penny of their savings. The doctor pronounces death instantaneous and probably painless, caused by the shock. Anne, who had just come home from Queen's Academy with the Avery scholarship and a First Class teacher's license, is devastated. She cannot cry at first, only feeling a "horrible dull ache of misery" until she wakes in the night and weeps her heart out. Marilla, who had always been strict and undemonstrative, breaks down and tells Anne, "I love you as dear as if you were my own flesh and blood and you've been my joy and comfort ever since you came to Green Gables." Then, the day after the funeral, Marilla goes to town to see a distinguished oculist. He tells her that if she gives up all reading and sewing and any work that strains the eyes, and if she is careful not to cry, and wears the glasses he gives her, her eyes may not get worse and her headaches will be cured; but if she does not, she will be stone-blind in six months. Marilla returns home dejected and tells Anne, "What am I to live for if I can't read or sew or do anything like that? I might as well be blind—or dead." She has already been approached by Mr. Sadler of Carmody, who wants to buy Green Gables, and she feels she has no choice but to sell.

Anne's Resolution: Refusing the Scholarship

Anne makes her decision the night after Marilla returns from the oculist. She sits alone in her east gable room in the darkness, and before she goes to bed there is a smile on her lips and peace in her heart. She tells Marilla the next day, "I'm not going to take the scholarship. I decided so the night after you came home from town." She has already planned everything: Mr. Barry will rent the farm for the next year, so Marilla will have no bother over that; Anne will teach, having applied for the Avonlea school but expecting to take the Carmody school instead, since she understands the trustees have promised Avonlea to Gilbert Blythe. She will board home and drive herself to Carmody and back in warm weather, and even in winter she can come home on Fridays. She will keep a horse for that purpose. She will read to Marilla and keep her cheered up. "We'll be real cozy and happy here together, you and I," she says. Marilla protests that she cannot let Anne sacrifice herself, but Anne laughs and says, "There is no sacrifice. Nothing could be worse than giving up Green Gables—nothing could hurt me more." She adds that she is just as ambitious as ever, only she has changed the object of her ambitions: "I'm going to be a good teacher—and I'm going to save your eyesight. Besides, I mean to study at home here and take a little college course all by myself." She tells Marilla that when she left Queen's, her future seemed to stretch out before her like a straight road, but now there is a bend in it, and she is going to believe that the best lies around the bend.

Gilbert's Sacrifice and the Avonlea School

The Avonlea school trustees, who had promised the school to Gilbert Blythe, hold a business meeting at the school. Gilbert, upon hearing that Anne has applied for the school, goes to the trustees and withdraws his application, suggesting they accept hers. He tells them he will teach at White Sands instead, knowing how much Anne wants to stay with Marilla. Mrs. Rachel Lynde brings the news to Green Gables, saying, "Real self-sacrificing, too, for he'll have his board to pay at White Sands, and everybody knows he's got to earn his own way through college." Anne initially feels she cannot let Gilbert make such a sacrifice for her, but Mrs. Lynde points out that he has already signed papers with the White Sands trustees, so it would do him no good if she were to refuse. The trustees decide to give Anne the school. That evening, Anne meets Gilbert on the hill and thanks him, holding out her hand. He takes it eagerly, and they reconcile, agreeing to be the best of friends. Gilbert says, "We were born to be good friends, Anne. You've thwarted destiny enough." They walk home together, and Anne tells Marilla they have five years of lost conversations to catch up on.

The Bend in the Road: A New Beginning

The novel closes with Anne sitting at her window, companioned by a glad content. The wind purrs softly in the cherry boughs, the mint breaths come up to her, the stars twinkle over the pointed firs in the hollow, and Diana's light gleams through the old gap. Anne reflects that her horizons have closed in since the night she sat there after coming home from Queen's, but if the path set before her feet is to be narrow, she knows that flowers of quiet happiness will bloom along it. The joy of sincere work and worthy aspiration and congenial friendship are to be hers; nothing can rob her of her birthright of fancy or her ideal world of dreams. And there is always the bend in the road. She whispers softly, "`God's in his heaven, all's right with the world.'" The decision to stay at Green Gables is not a renunciation but a redefinition of ambition, grounded in love for the place and the people who have given her a home.