Anne of Green Gables · Chapter
XI: Anne's Impressions of Sunday-School explained
Anne prepares for her first Sunday school, disappointed by the plain dresses Marilla made for her and longing for puffed sleeves.
What happens
Anne prepares for her first Sunday school, disappointed by the plain dresses Marilla made for her and longing for puffed sleeves. She adorns her hat with wildflowers and attends church alone after Mrs. Lynde is absent. In Sunday school, she feels out of place among the other girls, struggles with the rigid teaching style of Miss Rogerson, and finds solace in her imagination, gazing at the Lake of Shining Waters. She recites a paraphrase and reflects on the service, sharing her candid impressions with Marilla, who is both troubled and secretly sympathetic.
Themes in this chapter
Imagination and Creativity
Anne uses her imagination to transform her plain dress into a white muslin with puffed sleeves and to find beauty in the Lake of Shining Waters during the long prayer.
Belonging and Home
Anne feels alienated in Sunday school due to her lack of puffed sleeves and the other girls' stares, highlighting her struggle to fit in.
Identity and Self-Acceptance
Anne's candid reflections on the service and her preference for imagination over rigid doctrine reveal her developing sense of self.
Characters to notice
- Anne Shirley
Anne attends Sunday school for the first time, feeling out of place due to her plain dress and lack of puffed sleeves, but uses her imagination to cope with the experience.
- Marilla Cuthbert
Marilla prepares Anne's plain dresses and instructs her on Sunday school behavior, later listening to Anne's critical observations with a mix of reproval and secret agreement.
- Miss Rogerson
Miss Rogerson is Anne's Sunday school teacher, a middle-aged woman who uses a stern, question-based teaching method; Anne does not consider her a kindred spirit.
- Mr. Superintendent Bell
Mr. Bell leads the opening exercises with a long prayer that Anne finds unengaging, prompting her to pray silently instead.
- Mrs. Rachel Lynde
Mrs. Lynde is absent when Anne calls for her, so Anne proceeds to church alone.
Key passages
“I didn't like it a bit. It was horrid.”
Anne tells Marilla she thoroughly disliked Sunday school.
Anne's blunt honesty about her experience contrasts with Marilla's expectations of proper behavior.
“I tried to imagine mine were puffed, too, but I couldn't. Why couldn't I? It was as easy as could be to imagine they were puffed when I was alone in the east gable, but it was awfully hard there among the others who had really truly puffs.”
Anne struggles to use her imagination to pretend her sleeves are puffed when surrounded by girls with actual puffed sleeves.
Highlights the power of social pressure to undermine Anne's imaginative coping mechanism.
“I don't know what 'squadrons' means nor 'Midian,' either, but it sounds so tragical.”
Anne is captivated by the dramatic sound of the paraphrase words even though she doesn't understand their meaning.
Shows Anne's love for the aesthetic and emotional quality of language over literal comprehension.