amedia

Gilbert Blythe is slightly more present in Anne's House of Dreams compared to the Sir-Not-Appearing-In-This-Book in Anne of Windy Poplars but unfortunately, his presence only makes me dislike him more. He's supposed to be the perfect partner for Anne, and yet every conversation he has is so obnoxious and patronizing, I can't bring myself to believe it. Mostly we're told Gilbert is good, but not shown.

Since he and Anne have almost no conflict, the bulk of the book is following the travails of a new neighbor who is trapped in a loveless marriage with her disabled husband. This hits differently when you learn that LM Montgomery was caretaker for her husband and ditto for the stillbirth scene, which also happened to her, and the Methodist/Presbyterian feud, which is played for laughs, but Montgomery's husband was a Presbyterian minister . The neighbor refusing to leave her husband out of a sense of duty also reflects Montgomery's values and beliefs about marriage and morality.

Anyway, the major role Gilbert plays in the narrative is to advocate for a new treatment so the disabled man can be healed (trepanning) and feels it is "his duty" to do so, even though the man was abusive to his wife before his injury. Anne is upset, and correctly so, but is overruled and reluctantly gives in because she doesn't like being mad at Gilbert. The surgery happens and the guy gets his memories back and is completely cured, but in a surprise twist, it turns out that he's actually an identical cousin and the real guy died 13 years earlier, right before the accident, and it was all a case of mistaken identity. So Gilbert gets to be right AND doesn't ruin the neighbor's life, which is a very convenient twist!

But the mere fact that he was willing to potentially ruin a woman's life forever for the sake of his own sense of morality is pretty damning for me. Ultimately, he ends up freeing her, but it could have just as easily gone the other way!

(I thought Montgomery was going to resolve the problem with guy dying on the operating table; I did not expect anything so unlikely and melodramatic and upbeat.)

It's also very clear that Montgomery ran out of ideas somewhere along the line and is just riffing on things as she goes along because the first book was so successful. (Unfortunately, she got cheated by her publisher out of most of the money and had to sue.) Both Windy Poplars and House of Dreams were written significantly later than the first 3, which also influences her perspective.

I doubt this is the author's intended takeaway, but to me the moral of the series is that women need no-fault divorce and their own money and livelihood so they are not trapped with an unsuitable husband because of an impulsive decision made in their teens. And also birth control and OB-GYNs. I think Montgomery's life could have been very different if those things were available to her, and it's tragic that she didn't have them (or feel like she could use them if she did). The Anne series reads to me like a semi-autobiographical blend of "working stuff out via writing" and wish fulfillment, granting happy endings to the characters that she didn't get for herself; it's supposed to be inspirational, but it just makes me sad for her.

Anne of Green Gables has a "timeless" feel to it, despite being set in a very specific time and place, but the other books feel extremely of their era, and I think it's because the roles and rules for adult women are stricter and inflexible compared to those for children; as soon as Anne starts to "grow up" (which starts as early as the "Lily Maid of Astolat" chapter in the first book where she has to be rescued by Gilbert, but which grows increasingly less subtle as time goes by), the options/choices/possibilities available to her start narrowing. In the "Lily Maid" incident, her choices are clinging to a pole or being rescued by Gilbert; she chooses Gilbert because she has no other options; it's supposed to be sweet and romantic and foreshadow that they're destined for each other, but it comes off as a bad omen.

It's supposed to work because Gilbert is theoretically her equal (she just doesn't realize it) but as I've said before, Montgomery doesn't do the work to convince me because I'm not sure that she's convinced (even if she would never admit to it). Gilbert is a fantasy partner; aside from the slate incident (where he does have character, even it's being a jerk), there's no solidity to him aside from the patronizing comments (which feel all too real).

The other thing about House of Dreams is how isolated Anne is compared to previous books - aside from three female neighbors, she really doesn't have much in the way of female companionship and while her relationships with them are strong, it's not the same. Anne gets her "house of dreams" but in certain respects, it seems like a prison - Gilbert is the one who picked out the house because his job is there. Domestic bliss comes at a cost and I do not care for it.

I don't expect this to improve in the sequels, but I'll probably read them anyway because what the hell.