Anne of Green Gables and LHOTP

Submitted by Bernie_katzroy t3_z5o7x5 in books

Hey there guys, I wanted to discuss if any of you grew up reading both anne of green gables and little house on the prairie, as well as ever thinking how both stories were almost mirrors of one another? You have both stories from the pov of young girls in a simpler time and in small hamlets growing up with big imaginations. I love both stories and sometimes I thought Anne and Laura were one in the same.

What are your thoughts and what else you like, hate, or wanted to add to either one?

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Susccmmp t1_ixx56d0 wrote

I never saw much in common between them other than following the main character throughout the series.

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Bernie_katzroy OP t1_ixx7gu8 wrote

The rural lifestyle and that they both became teachers

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Susccmmp t1_ixx7lz7 wrote

Idk Avonlea seemed like a pretty developed small town compared to starting out west as homesteaders. I think they’re similar heroines.

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Bernie_katzroy OP t1_ixx7rhe wrote

Theres just something so wonderful about the stories, and thats a lot coming from a dude like myself

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Susccmmp t1_ixxak59 wrote

I mean I think they hit similar milestones and have the same struggles girls have growing up

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unlovelyladybartleby t1_ixxfry3 wrote

I don't see many similarities. I mean, they were both female and both ended up being teachers but that was one of the only jobs available to women.

It's a novelized memoir on the wagon trail in the US with a birth family and sisters and crappy luck vs fiction about a settled life in Canada with an adoptive family and no sibs and higher education and incredibly good luck.

Even the racism is different. Ma hates the Indigenous and Marilla hates the French

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[deleted] t1_iy0lq3z wrote

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unlovelyladybartleby t1_iy0o63y wrote

Ma says dozens of times that "the only good Indian is a dead Indian". I'd say that counts as hate lol, especially when you're saying that illegally squatting on treaty land

Marilla was a product of her time. The only bit where it's really egregious is when she's trying to decide if ruined food is good enough for the French farm hand and the pigs

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Bernie_katzroy OP t1_iy0olik wrote

They weren't aware of illegally squatting until some US soldiers told em. Pa was more open minded. I need to go back and re-read it. Yeah I agree with that, Matthew was the keeps to himself friendly guy we all need in life.

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unlovelyladybartleby t1_iy0p3x1 wrote

Definitely do a reread, there's so much stuff that you notice as an adult. In Happy Golden Years Mr &Mrs Boast (the lovely young couple they spend the winter with in Shores of Crystal Lake) flat out tries to buy their baby

Someday I'm going to splurge on Pioneer Girl and get the full story

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Bernie_katzroy OP t1_iy0pbxo wrote

Definitely will. Also will probs go visit MN and WI sometime soon

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Pams-Pictorama t1_ixxcdvu wrote

I think the difference between Laura who had her parents and siblings and Anne being an orphan made them quite different. Anne was always afraid she wouldn’t be loved in her first years which was something Laura never faced. On the other hand Laura lived in much more primitive and often dangerous circumstances. I enjoyed both, but wouldn’t have thought of them together especially.

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Bernie_katzroy OP t1_ixxd39m wrote

Oh trust me, I'm from Kansas and especially during the pandemic took some time to drive out to some of the places the Ingalls homesteaded in. Some are still very rural and it builds the imagination.

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minimalist_coach t1_ixxdh4m wrote

I just read Prarie Fires, basically a biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder and it was very interesting. How the stories came to be written, how much was fictionalized, and how the story was shaped to apeal to the target audience.

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WhatzReddit13 t1_iy0o9zv wrote

I was just coming here to recommend Prarie Fires!

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minimalist_coach t1_iy0qqjt wrote

I just finished reading it last week and I have mixed feelings about recommending it. I feel it was well-researched but could tarnish the image many have of the author and her books.

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Dazzling-Ad4701 t1_ixxhnle wrote

i don't see them as mirrors, but i did read both series in roughly the same handful of years of my life.

one thing that really stands out to me now: even as kid who was thoroughly, 100% south african, i never conflated their settings with one another. i never got confused that 'oh, they're both basically the same country'. the american girls' fiction i read in the 70s was so veryveryvery american :D

actually, the american novel that i also read then which struck me as most similar to anne was probably daddy long legs by (?) jean webster. similar basic ingredients, orphan girl, writerly talents and temperament, goes to college. whereas laura is certainly interesting and appealing in her own way but purely as a personality she was nothing like anne. little house is full of interest but it is so much about practicalities. there's almost no introspection or imagination in it at all.

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Umm_is_this_thing_on t1_ixxtekj wrote

I grew up with both. Anne’s imagination was similar to mine, romanticized, full of details. I reread it under the weeping cherry tree which to me was a lady’s beautiful gown. Laura was naughtier than I was, though I longed to be more mischievous. I loved how detailed the descriptions were and Ma’s cooking. And I still want to drink the cordial. I loved Pa, as by then it was also part of my Sunday night tv. And Matthew. I also loved him, his quiet, shy ways.

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Bernie_katzroy OP t1_iy0m6an wrote

Absolutely agree, a simpler time with all its faults, one could enjoy the simplicity and struggle

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Lelabear t1_ixz3x7x wrote

I would be more inclined to compare Anne of Green Gables to Pollyanna, they both involved orphans who try to find the best in their new families.

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Bernie_katzroy OP t1_iy0macw wrote

Remind me, wasnt pollyanna set more modern times somewhat?

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Lelabear t1_iy0n96l wrote

Well, Pollyanna was turn of the century, just like Anne. In fact, Anne was written 5 years before Pollyanna.

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Bernie_katzroy OP t1_iy0ngo4 wrote

Ahhh. I really need to go visit the smaller provinces of Canada once I've visited all the midwest of the states

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Lelabear t1_iy0ocho wrote

Sweet. You know there are Anne of Green Gables tourist attractions?

https://www.tourismpei.com/what-to-do/anne-of-green-gables

FYI, Pollyanna was set in Vermont.

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Bernie_katzroy OP t1_iy0ozgb wrote

Lol. Im aware of PEI, I'd really like to hit up Nova Scotia, been to Ontario pre-pandemic specifically Toronto. Id like to visit green gables and the fields and beach of Cavendish, with a beatiful lady ofc.

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Lelabear t1_iy0pwt9 wrote

Most Excellent. I spent some quality time in Vermont, gave me a bond with the Pollyanna story.

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Bernie_katzroy OP t1_iy0qe7r wrote

Very nice. Sometimes a vacation or adventure doesnt have to be one thats extravagant or on the other side of the world.

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Lelabear t1_iy0skbw wrote

Certainly agree, wonders happen in unexpected places. Exotic locations do not guarantee grand adventures.

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ztreHdrahciR t1_ixx7cd7 wrote

Read Little House to my kids but not Anne.

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lyonaria t1_ixyb1af wrote

I read them as a child, my grandparents new I loved to read so I got gifted both sets of novels. Laura is from the Big Woods if MN, and I was from MN, which was cool. I also moved out West with my family. The Anne of Green Gables books lost me as soon as Anne grew up, I didn't feel anything in common once she graduated from school so never read the other books until I was older. I didn't read all of LM Montgomery's books as she changed lead characters throughout the series.

Basically, they were very different. Anne was Canadian, she lived in a settled town within driving and short train rides to other towns/cities.

Laura was American and her family were settlers/homesteaders looking for a better life. I still don't get why they left their family and friends in the Big Woods... And Alonzo's story was fascinating! I loved his novel.

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Bernie_katzroy OP t1_iy0mpbk wrote

Well its always great to meet from fellow Midwesterners. As a Kansan, both stories I enjoyed. Especially growing up coming from just slightly above the poverty line you have a feel for everything that happens

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CrushedByTime t1_ixz2lm8 wrote

I mean, they’re both stories in the pastoral tradition featuring girls. It figures they’d share some common features.

If you want a story in this vein that’s distinctly different, read Cold comfort farm by Stella Gibbons. It’s a hoot.

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DaddyMatt69 t1_iy1ei4x wrote

Love Anne of Green Gables, my daughter's middle name is Anne solely because of those books and pbs series.

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Purple_Grapes_14 t1_iy1ex5h wrote

I read both. Loved them for different reasons. Little House is definitely for a younger audience and I was more intrigued by the details of how they lived and descriptions of cooking and furniture and dresses and stuff. Anne of green gables was more about the characters and beautiful writing for me. Anne and Laura are totally both the spunky girl who always gets in trouble. Not like other girls before it was cool.

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