I am greatly enjoying this reread! One thing that is really standing out to me is Montgomery's skill at creating characters! For example (this is from last week's reading but I forgot to comment), how well Mrs Barry and Aunt Josephine are sketched as believable people. I am also particularly enjoying watching Marilla soften and seeing how she grows and changes from having Anne in her life. Marilla is good for Anne too--she grounds her and helps her mature.

I have always loved the puffed sleeves saga. When I was a girl, I never seemed to have trendy clothes like the other girls--my mother was a kindred spirit with Marilla! I remember vividly my older brother buying me a new dress for a dance and it is something I'll never forget. Matthew is of course so sweet. When I was little, I giggled a lot when he bought a rake and sugar, but now I just sniff a little at this scene. One thing that stood out in this reread is how he notices the other girls' dresses in red and pink and other bright colors, but Anne's dress still ends up being a "rich brown" (I envision sort of a gingerbread colour) and later, when Marilla makes her stylish dresses, they are still darker colors. I wondered about that.

Anne's fixations are of a piece with her impulsive, generous nature. They are also so normal for that age. Nowadays, girls might fixate on a star or influencer rather than a minister's wife, but it's essentially the same thing.

The hair dye was always so horrific to me when I read this as a little girl! Green hair! Now that might be a trend that I would try. Ah yes, the pedlar references made me cringe too. Certainly a sign of the times, but regrettable. Nowadays, of course, no one would think a German or Italian arrival to North America anything other than "one of us," but this shows us how long assimilation took. I work with refugees from Afghanistan and Iraq, so this is something I think about. Picture Marilla being suspicious of a Hispanic man selling flowers or a hijab-wearing woman, and we realize we haven't changed as much as we had hoped.

I will also say, it was in this group of chapters that I really stopped to think about the passage of time in the novel. I find that I don't really have a sense of how much time has passed until the season is mentioned in weather or the landscape, or someone remarks on the date. Given that so many of my favourite literary quotes about different times of the year are from Montgomery's books, I found it interesting that she takes this dual approach. This summer I will be re-reading all of the Anne books, and I will definitely be paying attention to this in the other novels!