As far as I\u2019m concerned, Anne of Green Gables belongs in the spring.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m totally fine if you disagree with me on that one. It\u2019d be hard to find a fictional character who has a greater appreciation for ALL the seasons than Anne does. If Lucy Maud Montgomery\u2019s beloved heroine belongs on a warm summer morning with a glass of ice tea\u2014or on a crisp fall afternoon with brilliant leaves floating outside your window\u2014or on a cozy winter night, curled up in front of a glowing fire\u2014I\u2019m not going to quarrel with your taste in the slightest.<\/p>\n

But for me, Anne of Green Gables means springtime.<\/p>\n

It means misty green on a far-off treeline. It means windows standing open to let in sweet-smelling air. It means pretty, frilly, flower-trimmed ideas.<\/p>\n

It means something remarkably feminine.<\/p>\n

And Now We\u2019ve Hit the \u201cI\u2019m All Alone\u201d Moment<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Because I think I just called one of your favourite characters a remarkably feminine heroine.<\/p>\n

Which is an idea that\u2014oddly enough\u2014doesn\u2019t fit very well into our literary box.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve been well conditioned to the tomboy heroine. Not necessarily just the running-wild, wearing-overalls-in-the-\u201840\u2019s, wants-to-make-her-brother\u2019s-sports-team kind of tomboy.<\/p>\n

(Please note, I\u2019m not necessarily trying to make a political statement about either 1940\u2019s overalls or girls\u2019 sports teams here. But sometimes stereotypes let you condense a 300-page-novel into a couple of sentences for the convenience of analysis.)<\/p>\n

What remains true is that we have come to accept the standard heroine as a girl who is less than secure with the idea of being a girl in the first place.<\/p>\n

\u201cI Can Do It Myself!\u201d<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Admittedly, it makes a good setup.<\/p>\n

Weirdly enough, makes just as good a setup for the heroine who\u2019s going to end up falling in love with an entirely masculine man and living happily-ever-after like a genuine fairytale princess, as it does for an author who is consciously attempting to overthrow a prototype with her writing.<\/p>\n

Simply because \u201cI can do this myself!\u201d makes a good story.<\/p>\n

It gives us some instant conflict.<\/p>\n

It raises immediate and future questions in our minds.<\/p>\n

And as our heroine fights to be her genuine self\u2014in the midst of a world that expects her to either surrender to social pressures and lose her individuality, or else disregard social expectations and end up more or less of an outcast\u2014our human sympathies for the underdog are securely engaged, and we all breath a sigh of relief when we get to the end of the story, and discover that after all, our tomboy heroine was able to find her true identity and still find love, acceptance, and value along the way.<\/p>\n

It works.<\/p>\n

It makes a compelling story.<\/p>\n

The internal and external conflict combined make a compelling heroine.<\/p>\n

But Does She Have to be the Only Heroine in Fiction?<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Because while I may<\/em> be alone in this totally un-trendy viewpoint\u2014I kind of suspect I may not be.<\/p>\n

I kind of suspect some of you may enjoy the all-out feminine heroine as well.<\/p>\n

And by feminine here I am not<\/em> talking about a personality trait.<\/p>\n

To return to our heroine from the beginning of this post\u2014it would be hard to imagine a character with a more overflowing extraverted personality than Anne of Green Gables. Anne loves to be talking, and laughing, and running outdoors, and defying social expectations, and doing everything which the stereotypical cardboard girl character isn\u2019t supposed to do.<\/p>\n

I think I\u2019d even go so far as to say that both Anne and her author have a touch of the feminist in their worldview.<\/p>\n

And yet, Anne is the heroine who can\u2019t live without puffed sleeves. The heroine who unashamedly declares \u201cI\u2019d rather be pretty than clever.\u201d The heroine whom Lucy Maud Montgomery describes as \u201cfeminine to the core.\u201d<\/p>\n

Feminine Heroines are Actually Okay!<\/strong><\/h5>\n

As a matter of fact, they\u2019re more than okay.<\/p>\n

They have something valuable and much-needed to contribute to our era of literature.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d love to dive deeper into some structural analysis of exactly what feminine heroines have to contribute to fiction. Because the tomboy heroine trope isn\u2019t the only one that brings uniquely valuable dynamics to the table in a story world.<\/p>\n

Maybe that will be another post for another day.<\/p>\n

But right now I want to remind you that there\u2019s nothing wrong with loving girls who love to be girls! There\u2019s nothing wrong with loving a feminine heroine.<\/p>\n

Anne of Green Gables and I are both here to tell you\u2014you\u2019re not alone!<\/p>\n

You might also enjoy:<\/p>\n

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