Can you rob someone of something that they don't actually possess? That is, as much as some young girls would like to read Anne specifically as a queer heroine I just don't believe that was the author's intention for all the reasons I enumerated and many more that other thoughtful commenters have expounded in this…

Oh the feels!!

My reading of Anne and Gilbert's relationship was that it was quiet, but very, very sincere, and passionate in it's own way. It was supposed to be the kind of relationship that was very steady, but no less "romantic" or what have you. They were in love, just in a way that's a little different from what we're used to…

Very well said, thank you.

Katherine Brooke was in the book that was written *to* Gilbert. He wasn't in the book because he was the receiver of the "collection of letters" that comprised 90% of the book.

YES. I couldn't think of a good way to say this without sounding prissy or angry about the theory. I'm just kind of annoyed that we have to put sex into everything today, even a friendship between 12-year-old girls who talk about, among other topics like freaky child ghosts, boys.

I'm not really dismayed to think of her as bi, but to claim she doesn't love Gil is blasphemy!

I.... always interpreted Anne's intense friendships as being connected to her being an orphan. She clung to people because she didn't always have them.

Gilbert is ideal, amazing. He lets Anne be Anne — loves her exactly as she is. He is not intimidated by her brains. He is a perfect gentleman. He literally and figuratively saves her life — and is the kind of man who helps out around the house, too. He's great.

You know what? I think a lot of people do NOT interpret Anne's language as some secret sign of queerness. Many people are disagreeing with this theory (and I am one of them). As I said, I have no problem with queer readings, but it does not fit here at all. So don't be dismayed — I think most people agree with…

I agree a million percent. The author of the original post does not seem to understand that Anne was a Victorian child, representative of her era. And she was a lonely kid. She had Tennyson — I had her. I don't know if I would have made it without her. It is ridiculous to see this as queer. It's not. And I…

I am dismayed that people interpret the overly-romantic language used by Anne (especially when she was younger) as some secret sign of queerness. This was a neglected and terribly lonely child obsessed with romantic poetry and writings. She's mimicking the language of the literature she loves. Hello, she re-enacts…

Anne of Windy Poplars was actually the seventh book written, so it's not so much the author trying to put off the wedding as it is the author being forced by her publishers to squeeze in another installment of her most popular series.

1. "western society" is not a thing. It's a concept, and a deeply racist and colonialist one. It's not a real life signifier of philosophies. (North!) America and Canada (which is North America!) exist on a globe, where West is East eventually. I hate this term. It's a dumb thing to say, especially provided the…

My only problem with this interpretation is that it reinforces the "normality" of heterosexual girls, the way that assigning homosexuality to male characters with feminine or stereotypically gay characteristics further isolates hetero men into their cavemen social patterns. As a hetero girl who lost a childhood friend…

As an almost-L.M. Montgomery scholar (I quit before my PhD to go into another field), I've never been convinced by queer readings of Anne Shirley. In my view, the heterosexual attraction in the novels is less-than-convincing for other reasons.

Issues, issues, issues. No one has read these books more often than I. You make too many errors for this Anne-fan. You write, "The two girls are practically inseparable until an accident has Diana drinking wine instead of one of Marilla's homemade juices. Anne, having never tasted either, did not know the…

So much of this argument rests on Anne not having passionate feelings for Gilbert, which is a meaningless observation in context of the work. The Anne books are written in a world without sex. None of the characters, even the flighty, flirty ones like college friend Phil, ever talk about sexual attraction. The babies…

I grew up reading "Anne of Green Gables" with my grandmother, and I have to say that I disagree with the notion that Anne is homoromantic or homosexual. I think you are minimizing the parts of Anne's story that do point to a genuine love and romantic attachment to Gilbert, as others have already eloquently pointed out…

you like grasping at straws, don't you?