Mr. Allan

Mr. Allan arrives in Avonlea as the new Presbyterian minister, succeeding the elderly, widowed Mr. Bentley who had served for eighteen years. He and his wife are a young, pleasant-faced couple still on their honeymoon, full of good and beautiful enthusiasms for their chosen lifework. The community opens its heart to them from the start; old and young alike like the frank, cheerful young man with his high ideals. Mrs. Lynde, after thoroughly questioning him on all points of doctrine, pronounces his theology sound, and she approves of his wife's respectable family and housekeeping abilities. Mr. Allan's salary is seven hundred and fifty dollars a year, a figure Mrs. Lynde considers when she concedes that a perfect minister cannot be expected for that amount.

Arrival and Early Impressions

Mr. Allan and his wife arrive in Avonlea in late June, boarding with Mrs. Lynde until the manse is ready. Anne, still tearful over the departure of the previous teacher Mr. Phillips, cannot help taking an interest in the new minister. She observes that Mrs. Allan is dressed in blue muslin with lovely puffed sleeves and a hat trimmed with roses, a detail that prompts Jane Andrews to remark that puffed sleeves seem too worldly for a minister's wife. Anne, however, makes no such uncharitable comment, knowing what it is to long for puffed sleeves herself. Anne later tells Matthew that she liked Mr. Allan because his sermon was interesting and he prayed as if he meant it, not just out of habit. She contrasts him favorably with Mr. Bentley, whom she found lacking in imagination, and with other candidates she had heard during the period of trial sermons.

Relationship with Anne Shirley

Mr. Allan quickly becomes a significant figure in Anne's moral and intellectual development. Anne attends his sermons with keen attention, noting that he preaches magnificent sermons and that Mrs. Lynde says he is improving every day. Anne reflects that if she were a man she would be a minister, because they can have such an influence for good if their theology is sound, and it must be thrilling to preach splendid sermons and stir hearers' hearts. Mr. Allan's preaching provides Anne with memorable phrases she carries into her daily life; she declares she is rejoicing as a strong man to run a race, quoting his Sunday sermon. When Anne is troubled by her tendency to feel wicked around Mrs. Lynde, she discusses the matter with Marilla, who admits that Mrs. Lynde often has the same effect on her, and Anne finds comfort in knowing that even a minister's wife like Mrs. Allan might understand such struggles.

Role in Community Events

Mr. Allan takes an active part in community life beyond the pulpit. At the Avonlea Debating Club concert, he gives an address, which Anne considers just about the same thing as a sermon. He also serves as a public chronicler of local achievements, promising to send an account of the concert to the Charlottetown papers, a prospect that thrills Anne with the thought of seeing her name in print. When Anne wins the Avery scholarship and delivers the best essay at commencement, Mr. Allan is present in the hall, and Matthew and Marilla attend specifically to see their girl honored. Mr. Allan's influence extends to the moral content of Anne's creative writing; Anne reads one of her stories to him and Mrs. Allan, and they both agree that the moral is excellent, though they laugh in the wrong places—Anne prefers it when people cry at her pathetic tales.

Significance in Anne's Moral Growth

Mr. Allan's teaching that everybody should have a purpose in life and pursue it faithfully, provided it is a worthy purpose, directly shapes Anne's decision to join the Queen's class and aim for a teaching career. Anne explicitly adopts his principle, calling it a worthy purpose to want to be a teacher like Miss Stacy. When Anne is in the depths of despair over her mistakes, she recalls Mr. Allan's sermon about the bitterness of death to describe the pain of seeing Diana go out alone from the Queen's class. His presence in the community provides a standard of sincerity in religious practice that Anne admires and tries to emulate, distinguishing him from Superintendent Bell, whom she finds lacking in genuine feeling during prayers. Through his warmth, his sound doctrine, and his willingness to engage with the young people of Avonlea, Mr. Allan becomes a steady moral anchor in Anne's expanding world.