Kindred spirits

Kindred spirits are people whose bond rests on a deep affinity rather than mere civility or shared circumstances. The idea is tested against both social change and the passage of years: a person may be estimable without feeling like a kindred spirit, while a genuine connection can endure as the people within it grow and change.

Affinity and Belonging

When Mrs. Allan returns to Avonlea for the first time since leaving, her old girl friends welcome her rapturously. The reigning minister’s wife is also described as estimable, but she is not a kindred spirit. The contrast separates kindness or social respectability from the more particular recognition implied by kinship of spirit. Mrs. Allan’s welcome among her old friends suggests that the sense of belonging comes from an established personal affinity, not simply from occupying a place in the community.

A Bond Across Changing Years

The relationship between Anne Shirley and Paul Irving gives the concept its clearest expression across time. Anne spends three happy weeks at Echo Lodge during the summer, where Paul is now sixteen. His chestnut curls have been replaced by close-cropped brown hair, and football has displaced fairies as his chief interest. Yet his bond with his former teacher remains. His changing appearance and enthusiasms mark the distance he has travelled from childhood, while the survival of their connection shows that kindred spirits need not remain unchanged in order to remain close.

Narrative Significance

These two instances give the phrase both a social and a temporal meaning. Mrs. Allan’s return distinguishes genuine affinity from polite esteem; Anne and Paul’s relationship shows that affinity can persist through maturation and altered interests. The concept does not require sameness: it names a connection that continues to be recognized even as the lives and identities around it change.