Pollyanna · Chapter
The Little Attic Room explained
Pollyanna meets her stern Aunt Polly, who immediately imposes strict rules and assigns her to a sparse attic room.
What happens
Pollyanna meets her stern Aunt Polly, who immediately imposes strict rules and assigns her to a sparse attic room. Despite the disappointment, Pollyanna finds joy in the view from the window and explores outside, climbing a tree and heading toward a nearby rock. She returns late for supper and is punished with bread and milk in the kitchen, causing Nancy to worry when she finds the room empty.
Themes in this chapter
The Glad Game
Pollyanna tries to find something to be glad about in her bare attic room, such as the view and the lack of a mirror to see her freckles.
Duty and Obligation
Aunt Polly's cold, duty-bound reception of Pollyanna and her insistence on punctuality and proper behavior.
Suffering and Resilience
Pollyanna's grief over her father's death and her struggle to accept her new, harsh environment, yet she perseveres with optimism.
Characters to notice
- Pollyanna Whittier
Arrives at Aunt Polly's house, enthusiastically embraces her aunt, and tries to find gladness in her new, sparse attic room.
- Aunt Polly Harrington
Coldly receives Pollyanna, forbids talk of her father, and assigns her to a plain attic room to teach humility.
- Nancy
Comforts Pollyanna after she is left alone in the attic, helps unpack, and later panics when Pollyanna disappears.
- Old Tom
Seen working in the garden as Pollyanna runs past him toward the hill.
Key passages
“Oh, Aunt Polly, Aunt Polly, I don't know how to be glad enough that you let me come to live with you.”
Pollyanna expresses overwhelming gratitude to her aunt for taking her in.
Shows Pollyanna's immediate, heartfelt appreciation despite her aunt's coldness.
“I just can't make myself understand that God and the angels needed my father more than I did.”
Pollyanna struggles to accept her father's death as part of a divine plan.
Reveals her deep grief and the challenge to her optimistic worldview.
“And I can be glad there isn't any looking-glass here, too, 'cause where there isn't any glass I can't see my freckles.”
Pollyanna finds a positive aspect in the lack of a mirror.
Illustrates her application of the Glad Game to her new circumstances.