Anne Of Green Gables

The “big, rambling, orchard-embowered house” (3), set far back off the road away from society, offers Anne the first chance at the home of her dreams. Surrounded by beautiful trees and a whispering brook, Green Gables makes Anne feel “as if [she] must be in a dream” (25). In fact, a dream is exactly what it is. The perfect home doesn’t exist to her until she sees Green Gables. To her, the mere existence of it means she finally has a place to belong. Likewise, the threat of losing it in the very beginning destroys her.

The home also represents the unity of the Cuthbert siblings, their indomitable fortress that no one—not even romantic suitors—has broken through—not until Anne arrives. She is a real breath of fresh air that breathes life into two older people who thought life's staid and steady pattern was good enough for them. Anne’s transformation of the east gable room, from a boring and sensible space to one imbued with life and vigor, symbolizes Anne's effect on the home’s inhabitants. When she becomes “Anne of Green Gables,” as she calls herself, she becomes part and parcel of the home and all that it represents.