Notes
[1] Quotations throughout are from Anne of Green Gables or Anne of the Island, published as Bantam reissues in 1992; originally published in 1908 and 1915 by Lucy Maud Montgomery. L. M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables (New York, NY: Bantam Books, 1992), 178.
[2] A reference to one of the classic scenes in The Princess Bride. After Vizzini once again cries, “Inconceivable!” Inigo tells him, “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.” Likewise, I think orphan is a word we often toss around without considering its deeper meanings.
[3] Bartlett’s Roget’s Thesaurus, s.v. 750.7 “remaining.”
[4] For more information on L. M. Montgomery, check out the L. M. Montgomery Institute online at www.lmmontgomery.ca.
[5] Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables, 176.
[6] Ibid., 26.
[7] Ibid., 37.
[8] Ibid., 12.
[9] Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables, 2.
[10] Ibid., 4.
[11] Ibid., 3.
[12] Ibid., 5.
[13] Ibid.
[14] Ibid., 7.
[15] Ibid.
[16] Ibid.
[17] Ibid.
[18] L. M. Montgomery, Anne of the Island (New York, NY: Bantam Books, 1992), 147.
[19] Ibid., 148.
[20] Ibid.
[21] Some scholars believe Bertha and Walter died of typhoid; though others think Anne’s reference to “fever” refers to scarlet fever.
[22] L. M. Montgomery, The Annotated Anne of Green Gables, ed. Wendy E. Barry, Margaret Anne Doody, and Mary E. Doody Jones (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997), 423.
[23] Ibid., 424–425.
[24] Carissa Woodwyk, “Listen,” accessed April 29, 2015, https://vimeo.com/73044194.
[25] “Brain Scan Shows Rejection Pain,” BBC News, October 10, 2003. Accessed April 8, 2015, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3178242.stm.
[26] Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables, 86.
[27] Ibid., 107.
[28] Oxford Dictionaries, accessed April 29, 2015, http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/ebullition.
[29] Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables, 110.
[30] Ibid., 305.
[31] Ibid., 187.
[32] Ibid., 258.
[33] Ibid., 289.
[34] Ibid., 244.
[35] Ibid., 218.
[36] Ibid., 219.
[37] Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables, 87.
[38] Ibid., 87.
[39] Ibid., 88.
[40] Ibid., 109.
[41] Ibid., 114.
[42] Ibid., 119.
[43] Ibid., 153.
[44] Irene Gammel, Looking for Anne of Green Gables (New York: St. Martin’s, 2008), 118.
[45] Ibid., 150.
[46] Ibid., 176.
[47] In fact, The Alpine Path is the title of the book that L. M. Montgomery wrote about her own writing career.
[48] Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables, 210.
[49] Ibid., 210.
[50] See http://shopatsullivan.com/gilbert-throw-pillow.html, accessed March 13, 2015.
[51] See comments section in Lorilee Craker, “A Eulogy for Gilbert Blythe,” Peace, Love & Raspberry Cordial, April 18, 2015, http://lorileecraker.com/2015/04/a-eulogy-for-gilbert-blythe/.
[52] “Mr. Blythe,” Anne and Gilbert: The Musical, Water Street Records, 2006.
[53] Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables, 111.
[54] Ibid., 111.
[55] Ibid., 112.
[56] Ibid., 113.
[57] Ibid., 115.
[58] Ibid., 136.
[59] Ibid., 154.
[60] Anne refers to Gilbert this way in chapters 19 and 25.
[61] Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables, 225.
[62] Ibid., 307.
[63] Montgomery, Anne of the Island, 237.
[64] Ibid., 237.
[65] Perceval is the hero of a short story Anne wrote and discusses with Diana in chapter 12, “Averil’s Atonement,” in Anne of the Island.
[66] Montgomery, Anne of the Island, 236.
[67] Montgomery, Anne of the Island, 46.
[68] Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables, 12.
[69] Ibid., 156.
[70] Ibid., 273.
[71] L. M. Montgomery, The Selected Journals of L. M. Montgomery, Vol. 1: 1889–1910, ed. Mary Rubio and Elizabeth Waterston (Don Mills, Ontario: Oxford Press, 1985), 235.
[72] In The Alpine Path, Maud explained that Rachel was based on the experiences of her father’s cousin, Eliza Montgomery.
[73] L. M. Montgomery, The Selected Journals of L. M. Montgomery, Vol II: 1910–1921., ed. Mary Rubio and Elizabeth Waterston (Don Mills, Ontario: Oxford University Press, 1987), 250.
[74] Out of respect for their privacy, the names of members of my birth family have been replaced with pseudonyms. Some identifying details have been changed as well.
[75] Frederick Buechner, Beyond Words: Daily Readings in the ABCs of Faith (New York: HarperOne, 2004), 383.
[76] Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables, 64.
[77] Mrs. Rachel’s precise critique was this: “She’s terrible skinny and homely, Marilla. Come here, child, and let me have a look at you. Lawful heart, did any one ever see such freckles? And hair as red as carrots!” Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables, 64.
[78] Ibid., 65.
[79] Ibid.
[80] Ibid., 16.
[81] Ibid., 60.
[82] Ibid., 267.
[83] Ibid., 65.
[84] Ibid., 66.
[85] Ibid., 68.
[86] Ibid., 146.
[87] Ibid., 73.
[88] See Galatians 5:22-23.
[89] Freiwilliges translates as “volunteer” in German, and at a wedding or funeral, you never know who might “volunteer” their poetry, songs, skits, and memories. Doyle calls them “Fried Villagers,” and I believe this free-for-all of talent (and lack of it) is singular to the Mennonites.
[90] L. M. Montgomery, Emily of New Moon, chapter 3, “A Hop Out of Kin.”
[91] Ibid.
[92] Ibid.
[93] Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables, 125.
[94] Ibid., 123.
[95] Ibid., 121.
[96] Ibid., 127.
[97] Ibid., 130.
[98] Ibid., 130.
[99] Ibid., 138.
[100] Ibid., 172.
[101] Ibid., 176.
[102] John Stonestreet, “A Stunning Pro-Life Documentary,” commentary, Breakpoint, February 27, 2015, http://www.breakpoint.org/bpcommentaries/entry/13/26942.
[103] Montgomery, Anne of the Island, 145.
[104] Ibid., 146.
[105] Ibid.
[106] Ibid., 147.
[107] Ibid.
[108] Ibid.
[109] Ibid.
[110] Ibid., 148.
[111] See Isaiah 49:16.
[112] Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables, 196.
[113] Ibid., 196.
[114] Ibid., 197.
[115] Ibid., 197.
[116] Ibid., 199.
[117] Ibid., 199.
[118] Ibid., 200.
[119] Ibid.
[120] Ibid., 203.
[121] Ibid., 292.
[122] Ibid., 292.
[123] Ibid., 274.
[124] See 1 Corinthians 13.
[125] This poetic-sounding phrase is not merely an accurate description of the island; historians believe it was the first name given to it by the native Mi’kmaq. They called their home Abegweit, or “land cradled by waves.” See http://www.virtualcountries.com/blog/book-a-holiday-on-prince-edward-island.
[126] This quotation comes from one of the display cases at the post office.
[127] These two quotes come from L. M. Montgomery, The Alpine Path.
[128] Marilla “looked like a woman of narrow experience and rigid conscience, which she was; but there was a saving something about her mouth which, if it had been ever so slightly developed, might have been considered indicative of a sense of humor.” Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables, 5.
[129] Ibid., 303.
[130] Mary Henley Rubio, Lucy Maud Montgomery: The Gift of Wings (Toronto: Doubleday Canada, 2010), 576.
[131] For more on the discussion of how L. M. Montgomery died, see Irene Gammel, “The Fatal Disappointments of Lucy Maud,” Globe and Mail, November 15, 2008. See also “L. M. Montgomery Suicide Revealed,” CBC News, September 22, 2008, http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/l-m-montgomery-suicide-revealed-1.723426.
[132] L. M. Montgomery, “Each in His Own Tongue,” in Chronicles of Avonlea (New York: Bantam, 1993), 57.
[133] Ibid., 63–64.
[134] Ibid., 64.
[135] Ibid., 65.
[136] Ibid., 67.
[137] Ibid., 68.
[138] Rubio, Lucy Maud Montgomery, 576.