[issybird]

Originally Posted by gmw

I think it's already been pointed out, but the main problem I have with this scene is that it's the last time we see Diana as bookish. So either the scene is wishful thinking on the part of Mrs Barry, or the author changed her mind about what Diana was going to be like - and I'm inclined to believe the latter.

Yes, me too. Diana was only a ever projection, not a realized character. She was whatever Anne needed in a bosom friend at the time.

Originally Posted by gmw

I agree that there is considerable ambiguity in the character, and so your interpretation is there to be read. There is also the middle ground in which Anne is mostly sincere and is only unconsciously manipulative. Argument might be made that she found a winning formula and that became her habit.

Originally Posted by Catlady

I'm sure we're supposed to see her as charming and lovable; I think only people who enjoy being contrary would argue she's not.

I think the quite explicit and moral overtones to the book (written by a minister’s wife, no less) make the bad seed interpretation unlikely. But is is fun! Who among us didn’t feel some sympathy for the New Brunswick orphan who put poison down the well?

Originally Posted by Victoria

Good heavens you folks are harsh! Anne was manipulative because she admitted her disappointment about the ugly dresses? She was eleven years old. I think you’ve completely lost touch with your inner children!

There was a meanness about Marilla in regard to the dresses that was quite unsetttling. They were unnecessarily cheap and ugly, only a scant step up from the wincey. No more than an orphan living on charity deserved, it seems.

For the rest of it, it’s easy to argue that Marilla’s sternness and down-to-earthiness was exactly what Anne needed, and Marilla was right that she was absurd. If the dresses had been pretty enough but plain, i.e., nice fabric with pretty prints and not cut just marginally more than skimpy, I’d have no problem with them. But it’s clear they were hideous.