Anne Shirley Wiki, Biography, Age, Spouse, Height, Net Worth, Fast Facts

Anne Shirley is a fictional character introduced in the 1908 novel Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery. Shirley is featured throughout the classic book series, which revolve around her life and family in 19th and 20th-century Prince Edward Island.

Conception

During the conception of Anne of Green Gables, Montgomery was inspired by notes she had made as a young girl about two siblings who were mistakenly sent an orphan girl instead of the boy they had requested, yet decided to keep her. She drew upon her own childhood experiences in rural Prince Edward Island, Canada. Montgomery used a photograph of Evelyn Nesbit, which she had clipped from New York’s Metropolitan Magazine and put on the wall of her bedroom, as the model for the face of Anne Shirley and a reminder of her “youthful idealism and spirituality.”^[1]

Fictional character biography

Anne’s early life

Anne Shirley was born in the fictional town of Bolingbroke, Nova Scotia to schoolteachers Walter and Bertha Shirley (née Willis). No specific birthdate is given, but references in later works suggest her date of birth is 5 March 1866.^[2] Anne was orphaned as an infant of three months, when her parents died of typhoid fever. Without any other relations, Anne was taken in by the Shirleys’ housekeeper, Mrs. Thomas. After the death of her husband, Mr. Thomas, Anne lived with the troubled Hammond family for some years and was treated as little more than a servant until Mr. Hammond died, whereupon Mrs. Hammond divided her children amongst relatives and Anne was sent to the orphanage at Hopetown. She considered herself as “cursed” by twins — Mrs. Hammond had three sets of twins whom Anne helped raise.

Arrival at Green Gables, Avonlea

At the age of eleven, Anne was taken from the Hopetown orphanage to the neighbouring province of Prince Edward Island, which she regarded as her true home ever after. Unfortunately, she arrived by mistake — her sponsors, the siblings Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert, wanted to adopt a boy to help them on their farm, but the neighbour with whom they had sent the message was certain they had requested a girl instead. Matthew quickly became fascinated by the girl’s good-hearted spirit, charming enthusiasm, and lively imagination, and wanted her to stay at Green Gables from the very first. Marilla’s reaction was to send her back to the orphanage, but she was eventually won over by Anne’s quirky joie de vivre — and by the fact that another woman, much harder than herself, was set to take Anne should Marilla decline to keep her. The American scholar Joseph Brennan noted that for Anne “all things are alive”, as she imagines trees by the roadside welcoming her to Green Gables while a leaning plum tree makes her think that it is offering a veil just for her.^[3] Anne at one point says “Maples are such social things” and likes Lover’s Lane because “… you can think out loud there without people calling you crazy.”^[4]

Anne has great powers of imagination, fed by books of poetry and romance, and a passion for “romantic” and beautiful names and places. When she sees a road lined with apple trees in bloom, she falls silent for a moment before naming the road the “White Way of Delight”; when spying a pond at the Barry homestead, she christens it the “Lake of Shining Waters.”^[3] Anne had been starved of love at the orphanages she has lived at, and for her, Green Gables is the only home she has ever known.^[3] Anne’s imaginative nature matches well with her passionate, warm side, full of bubbly optimism and enthusiasm.^[3] Anne has an impulsive nature which leads her into all sorts of “scrapes”, and she alternates between being carried away with enthusiasm or being in the “depths of despair”.^[5] One scholar Elizabeth Watson has observed a recurring theme, noting Anne’s observations of sunsets mirror her own development.^[4] Under the White Way of Delight, Anne watches the sun set which is to her a glory where “a painted sunset sky shone like a great rose window at the end of a cathedral aisle”.^[4] By the end of the novel, when Anne watches the sun set, it set across a backdrop of “flowers of quiet happiness”, as Anne is slowly falling in love with Gilbert.^[6]

Anne initially made a poor impression on the townsfolk of Avonlea with an outburst at the Cuthberts’ neighbour, the outspoken gossip Mrs. Rachel Lynde, but this was amended by an equally impassioned apology. Anne soon became ‘bosom friends’ with a girl from a neighbouring farm, Diana Barry. Together with Matthew, Diana is Anne’s “kindred spirit”.^[7] The friendship was disrupted by the temporary enmity of Diana’s mother, after Anne mistakenly made Diana drunk with Marilla’s homemade currant wine, mistaking it for raspberry cordial. Anne was soon restored to Mrs. Barry’s good graces by saving the life of Diana’s little sister, Minnie May. Minnie May had an attack of the croup, which Anne was able to cure with a bottle of ipecac and knowledge acquired while caring for the numerous Hammond twins. Throughout her childhood, Anne continued to find herself in similar “scrapes”, often through mistakes and misunderstandings, and no fault of her own. At one point Anne “admires to the point of nuttiness” an amethyst brooch, which she is falsely accused of stealing, a crime she has to confess to in order to attend a picnic.^[8] Anne tends to define herself in opposition to older people via humour, and forges a relationship with Marilla Cuthbert via humour.^[9] The dreamy and imaginative Anne asks that Marilla call her “Cordelia” and “Geraldine” as Anne likes to imagine herself as somebody that she is not.^[9]

Anne also formed a complex relationship with Gilbert Blythe, who was two years older than Anne but studying at her level, having had his schooling interrupted when his father became ill. On their first meeting as schoolmates, Gilbert teased Anne with the nickname “Carrots”. Anne, perceiving it as a personal insult due to sensitivity over her hair colour, became so angry that she broke her slate over his head.^[7] When her teacher punished her by making her stand in front of the class, and then later punishes her for tardiness by making her sit with “the boys”, specifically Gilbert Blythe, Anne forms a long-lasting hatred of Gilbert Blythe. Anne tells Diana that “Gilbert Blythe has hurt me excruciatingly“.^[10] Throughout Anne of Green Gables, Gilbert repeatedly displays admiration for Anne, but she coldly rebuffs him. Her grudge persisted even after he saved her from a near-disastrous reenactment of Tennyson’s “Lancelot and Elaine” when her leaky boat sank into the pond. After this almost fatal accident, Gilbert pleaded with Anne to become his friend but she hesitated and refused, although she soon came to regret it. For the rest of their school years in Avonlea, they competed as intellectual rivals for the top of the class, although the competition was entirely good-natured on Gilbert’s side. However, Anne forms the “Story Club” at the age of 13, which she tells the story of two girls named Cordelia and Geraldine (both of which were aliases she had adopted earlier) who both love Bertram – a variant of Gilbert.^[6] The story ends with Cordelia pushing Geraldine into a river to drown with Bertram, which suggests subconsciously Anne is attracted to Gilbert.^[6] Near the end, Anne and Gilbert walk together to Green Gables, where Gilbert only-jokingly says: “You’ve thwarted destiny long enough.”^[11] At the end of Anne of Green Gables, Anne looks out of her window admiring Avonlea as an “ideal world of dreams”, through she sees a “bend in the road” thanks to Gilbert.^[11] Mrs. Lynde at the beginning of the book was the self-important busybody of Avonlea who dominated the community; at the end, the book hints that Anne will play the same role, but only much better in the years to come.^[11]

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Net Worth

The Estimated Net worth is $80K – USD $85k.