Anne’s homesickness wore off, greatly helped in the wearing by her weekend visits home. As long as the open weather lasted the Avonlea students went out to Carmody on the new branch railway every Friday night. Diana and several other Avonlea young folks were generally on hand to meet them and they all walked over to Avonlea in a merry party. Anne thought those Friday evening gypsyings over the autumnal hills in the crisp golden air, with the homelights of Avonlea twinkling beyond, were the best and dearest hours in the whole week.
Gilbert Blythe nearly always walked with Ruby Gillis and carried her satchel for her. Ruby was a very handsome young lady, now thinking herself quite as grown up as she really was; she wore her skirts as long as her mother would let her and did her hair up in town, though she had to take it down when she went home. She had large, bright-blue eyes, a brilliant complexion, and a plump showy figure. She laughed a great deal, was cheerful and good-tempered, and enjoyed the pleasant things of life frankly.
“But I shouldn’t think she was the sort of girl Gilbert would like,” whispered Jane to Anne. Anne did not think so either, but she would not have said so for the Avery scholarship. She could not help thinking, too, that it would be very pleasant to have such a friend as Gilbert to jest and chatter with and exchange ideas about books and studies and ambitions. Gilbert had ambitions, she knew, and Ruby Gillis did not seem the sort of person with whom such could be profitably discussed.
There was no silly sentiment in Anne’s ideas concerning Gilbert. Boys were to her, when she thought about them at all, merely possible good comrades. If she and Gilbert had been friends she would not have cared how many other friends he had nor with whom he walked. She had a genius for friendship; girl friends she had in plenty; but she had a vague consciousness that masculine friendship might also be a good thing to round out one’s conceptions of companionship and furnish broader standpoints of judgment and comparison. Not that Anne could have put her feelings on the matter into just such clear definition. But she thought that if Gilbert had ever walked home with her from the train, over the crisp fields and along the ferny byways, they might have had many and merry and interesting conversations about the new world that was opening around them and their hopes and ambitions therein. Gilbert was a clever young fellow, with his own thoughts about things and a determination to get the best out of life and put the best into it. Ruby Gillis told Jane Andrews that she didn’t understand half the things Gilbert Blythe said; he talked just like Anne Shirley did when she had a thoughtful fit on and for her part she didn’t think it any fun to be bothering about books and that sort of thing when you didn’t have to. Frank Stockley had lots more dash and go, but then he wasn’t half as good-looking as Gilbert and she really couldn’t decide which she liked best!
In the Academy Anne gradually drew a little circle of friends about her, thoughtful, imaginative, ambitious students like herself. With the “rose-red” girl, Stella Maynard, and the “dream girl,” Priscilla Grant, she soon became intimate, finding the latter pale spiritual-looking maiden to be full to the brim of mischief and pranks and fun, while the vivid, black-eyed Stella had a heartful of wistful dreams and fancies, as aerial and rainbow-like as Anne’s own.
After the Christmas holidays the Avonlea students gave up going home on Fridays and settled down to hard work. By this time all the Queen’s scholars had gravitated into their own places in the ranks and the various classes had assumed distinct and settled shadings of individuality. Certain facts had become generally accepted. It was admitted that the medal contestants had practically narrowed down to three—Gilbert Blythe, Anne Shirley, and Lewis Wilson; the Avery scholarship was more doubtful, any one of a certain six being a possible winner. The bronze medal for mathematics was considered as good as won by a fat, funny little up-country boy with a bumpy forehead and a patched coat.
Ruby Gillis was the handsomest girl of the year at the Academy; in the Second Year classes Stella Maynard carried off the palm for beauty, with small but critical minority in favor of Anne Shirley. Ethel Marr was admitted by all competent judges to have the most stylish modes of hair-dressing, and Jane Andrews—plain, plodding, conscientious Jane—carried off the honors in the domestic science course. Even Josie Pye attained a certain preeminence as the sharpest-tongued young lady in attendance at Queen’s. So it may be fairly stated that Miss Stacy’s old pupil’s held their own in the wider arena of the academical course.
Anne worked hard and steadily. Her rivalry with Gilbert was as intense as it had ever been in Avonlea school, although it was not known in the class at large, but somehow the bitterness had gone out of it. Anne no longer wished to win for the sake of defeating Gilbert; rather, for the proud consciousness of a well-won victory over a worthy foeman. It would be worth while to win, but she no longer thought life would be insupportable if she did not.
In spite of lessons the students found opportunities for pleasant times. Anne spent many of her spare hours at Beechwood and generally ate her Sunday dinners there and went to church with Miss Barry. The latter was, as she admitted, growing old, but her black eyes were not dim nor the vigor of her tongue in the least abated. But she never sharpened the latter on Anne, who continued to be a prime favorite with the critical old lady.
“That Anne-girl improves all the time,” she said. “I get tired of other girls—there is such a provoking and eternal sameness about them. Anne has as many shades as a rainbow and every shade is the prettiest while it lasts. I don’t know that she is as amusing as she was when she was a child, but she makes me love her and I like people who make me love them. It saves me so much trouble in making myself love them.”
Then, almost before anybody realized it, spring had come; out in Avonlea the Mayflowers were peeping pinkly out on the sere barrens where snow-wreaths lingered; and the “mist of green” was on the woods and in the valleys. But in Charlottetown harassed Queen’s students thought and talked only of examinations.
“It doesn’t seem possible that the term is nearly over,” said Anne. “Why, last fall it seemed so long to look forward to—a whole winter of studies and classes. And here we are, with the exams looming up next week. Girls, sometimes I feel as if those exams meant everything, but when I look at the big buds swelling on those chestnut trees and the misty blue air at the end of the streets they don’t seem half so important.”
Jane and Ruby and Josie, who had dropped in, did not take this view of it. To them the coming examinations were constantly very important indeed—far more important than chestnut buds or Maytime hazes. It was all very well for Anne, who was sure of passing at least, to have her moments of belittling them, but when your whole future depended on them—as the girls truly thought theirs did—you could not regard them philosophically.
“I’ve lost seven pounds in the last two weeks,” sighed Jane. “It’s no use to say don’t worry. I WILL worry. Worrying helps you some—it seems as if you were doing something when you’re worrying. It would be dreadful if I failed to get my license after going to Queen’s all winter and spending so much money.”
“I don’t care,” said Josie Pye. “If I don’t pass this year I’m coming back next. My father can afford to send me. Anne, Frank Stockley says that Professor Tremaine said Gilbert Blythe was sure to get the medal and that Emily Clay would likely win the Avery scholarship.”
“That may make me feel badly tomorrow, Josie,” laughed Anne, “but just now I honestly feel that as long as I know the violets are coming out all purple down in the hollow below Green Gables and that little ferns are poking their heads up in Lovers’ Lane, it’s not a great deal of difference whether I win the Avery or not. I’ve done my best and I begin to understand what is meant by the ‘joy of the strife.’ Next to trying and winning, the best thing is trying and failing. Girls, don’t talk about exams! Look at that arch of pale green sky over those houses and picture to yourself what it must look like over the purply-dark beech-woods back of Avonlea.”
“What are you going to wear for commencement, Jane?” asked Ruby practically.
Jane and Josie both answered at once and the chatter drifted into a side eddy of fashions. But Anne, with her elbows on the window sill, her soft cheek laid against her clasped hands, and her eyes filled with visions, looked out unheedingly across city roof and spire to that glorious dome of sunset sky and wove her dreams of a possible future from the golden tissue of youth’s own optimism. All the Beyond was hers with its possibilities lurking rosily in the oncoming years—each year a rose of promise to be woven into an immortal chaplet.
Hintergrund und Einführung der Autorin
Dieser Auszug stammt aus Anne auf Green Gables, einem beliebten klassischen Roman der kanadischen Autorin Lucy Maud Montgomery. Der Roman, der erstmals 1908 veröffentlicht wurde, erzählt die Geschichte von Anne Shirley, einem fantasievollen und temperamentvollen Waisenmädchen, das fälschlicherweise geschickt wird, um bei Marilla und Matthew Cuthbert zu leben, einem Bruder und einer Schwester, die beabsichtigt hatten, einen Jungen zu adoptieren, um ihnen auf ihrer Farm in Avonlea, Prince Edward Island, zu helfen. Der Roman spielt im frühen 20. Jahrhundert und fängt das ländliche kanadische Leben, die Schönheit der Natur und die Herausforderungen und Freuden des Erwachsenwerdens lebendig ein.
Lucy Maud Montgomery selbst wurde 1874 auf Prince Edward Island geboren, und ihre intimen Kenntnisse der Landschaften und der Kultur der Insel beeinflussten ihr Schreiben tiefgreifend. Ihr Werk hat Generationen von Lesern weltweit berührt und wird für seine Wärme, seinen Humor und seinen Einblick in die menschliche Natur gefeiert.
Detaillierte Interpretation und Bedeutung
Diese Passage hebt Annes Übergang von Heimweh zu einem ruhigeren Leben in der Schule hervor, wo sie Freundschaften schließt und sich akademischen Herausforderungen stellt. Die Erzählung erforscht Themen wie Freundschaft, Ehrgeiz, Rivalität und die bittersüße Natur des Erwachsenwerdens. Annes Reflexionen über Freundschaft, insbesondere ihre Gedanken über Gilbert Blythe, offenbaren ihren reifen und nachdenklichen Umgang mit Beziehungen – sie schätzt Kameradschaft, intellektuellen Austausch und gegenseitigen Respekt mehr als oberflächliche Anziehung oder Eifersucht.
Die Geschichte berührt auch den Druck, dem junge Schüler ausgesetzt sind, wie z. B. Prüfungen und soziale Erwartungen, aber Annes optimistische Einstellung und ihre Wertschätzung für die natürliche Welt erinnern die Leser an die Bedeutung von Ausgewogenheit und Perspektive. Ihre Fähigkeit, Freude im „Nebel des Grüns“ und dem kommenden Frühling zu finden, symbolisiert Hoffnung und Erneuerung und ermutigt die Leser, die Herausforderungen des Lebens mit Mut und Anmut anzunehmen.
Lektionen und Erkenntnisse für Schüler
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Der Wert der Freundschaft: Annes differenziertes Verständnis von Freundschaft lehrt die Schüler, vielfältige Beziehungen zu schätzen, einschließlich solcher, die den eigenen Horizont erweitern und das persönliche Wachstum fördern. Freundschaften, die auf gemeinsamen Interessen und gegenseitigem Respekt basieren, können das Leben und das Lernen bereichern.
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Gesunde Rivalität: Annes Rivalität mit Gilbert wird als motivierend und nicht als destruktiv dargestellt. Die Schüler können lernen, dass Wettbewerb, wenn er mit Fairness und Respekt angegangen wird, Exzellenz und Selbstverbesserung anregen kann, anstatt Bitterkeit.
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Ausgewogenheit von Ehrgeiz und Wohlbefinden: Die Passage zeigt den Stress, den Prüfungen verursachen können, aber Annes Perspektive erinnert die Schüler daran, Ambitionen mit der psychischen Gesundheit in Einklang zu bringen und Freude über akademische Leistungen hinaus zu finden.
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Optimismus und Belastbarkeit: Annes hoffnungsvolle Zukunftsvision und ihre Akzeptanz von Erfolg und Misserfolg fördern die Belastbarkeit. Die Schüler können lernen, Rückschläge als Teil des Wachstums zu sehen und eine positive Einstellung gegenüber Herausforderungen zu bewahren.
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Wertschätzung der Natur: Die lebendigen Beschreibungen der Landschaft von Avonlea laden die Schüler ein, sich mit der Natur zu verbinden, die eine Quelle des Trostes, der Inspiration und der Achtsamkeit sein kann.
Anwendung dieser Lektionen im täglichen Leben
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Im Lernen: Ahmen Sie Annes Engagement und stetige Anstrengung im Studium nach und betrachten Sie Herausforderungen als Gelegenheiten zum Wachsen und nicht als Hindernisse. Pflegen Sie Freundschaften, die Ihre akademischen und persönlichen Ambitionen unterstützen.
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In sozialen Interaktionen: Schätzen Sie Freundschaften, die einen offenen Dialog und gegenseitigen Respekt fördern. Vermeiden Sie Eifersucht oder Wettbewerb, die Beziehungen schaden; fördern Sie stattdessen Kameradschaft und Unterstützung.
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Im Umgang mit Stress: Wenn Sie vor Prüfungen oder anderen Belastungen stehen, erinnern Sie sich an Annes Beispiel, Arbeit mit Momenten der Reflexion und Wertschätzung für die Welt um Sie herum in Einklang zu bringen. Üben Sie Achtsamkeit und bewahren Sie die Perspektive.
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Im persönlichen Wachstum: Nehmen Sie Misserfolge als Lernerfahrungen an. Behalten Sie Ihre Ziele im Blick, bleiben Sie aber flexibel und optimistisch in Bezug auf die Zukunft.
Förderung positiver Eigenschaften aus der Geschichte
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Fantasie und Kreativität: Annes lebhafte Fantasie bereichert ihr Leben und ihre Beziehungen. Die Schüler sollten ihre Kreativität als Mittel zur Problemlösung und zum Selbstausdruck fördern.
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Empathie und Freundlichkeit: Annes Fähigkeit, andere zu lieben und zu akzeptieren, auch solche, die sich von ihr selbst unterscheiden, ist eine kraftvolle Lektion in Empathie.
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Mut und Entschlossenheit: Trotz Widrigkeiten stellt sich Anne dem Leben mit Mut und starkem Willen und inspiriert die Schüler, durchzuhalten.
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Freude an einfachen Dingen: Freude an der Natur, Freundschaften und kleinen Freuden zu finden, kann das Wohlbefinden erheblich steigern.
Indem sie über Annes Erfahrungen und Einstellungen nachdenken, können die Schüler einen ausgewogenen, hoffnungsvollen und belastbaren Ansatz für ihr eigenes Leben entwickeln und sowohl den akademischen Erfolg als auch die persönliche Erfüllung fördern.
