No matter how many times I watch this, and no matter how many times I read it, this part of the series always has me CRYING from start to finish. Dang it, im all sniffly now. [Grabs tissues]
Death is that thing that often happens so suddenly that there’s really no way to mentally prepare for it. For Anne and Marilla, this was just another cheery morning. Anne was proud of the meal she had cooked for breakfast, Matthew got a taste of it, and no less than a minute after he sits down at the table and reads the paper— and the next minute, he’s gone. Just like that.
The cause was heart-failure, triggered from the shock of Abbey’s Bank’s collapse– but Matthew’s death was so overwhelming that loss of their life savings was more of an afterthought. And as if that wasn’t bad enough, less than a day after having his burial, Marilla’s warned due to eye-strain if she doesn’t change her habits and start wearing glasses, she will go blind within six months.
Like gosh dang it! First Marilla loses her brother and their life savings on the same day, and then she’s learns not a day later that she could lose her eyesight entirely? Overwhelming isn’t suffice to describe such a gut wrenching combination of despair. Even more so when she grappling with the reality that she’d be alone once Anne begins her study at Redmond. Marilla had no intentions of holding Anne back, she doesn’t want her to make any sacrifices on her behalf– after-all, she loves her dearly, she considers Anne as her own, flesh and blood. She only wishes the best of her.
And this also holds true for Anne. We all know how much she loves Marilla and Green Gables, so it should come at no surprise that as soon as Marilla broke the news of her condition, Anne already had made up her mind. There’s no way she could possibly leave Marilla alone in such circumstances, and she’ll do whatever it takes to protect their home of Green Gables! They are the home and family she never had growing up so she’d be damned if they were to lose it all! That’s why family comes first, so as much as Marilla didn’t want her to, Anne didn’t think twice about giving up her scholarship. Instead, she sought to be as close to home as possible, and teach like the rest of her friends. This way she could help provide and care for Marilla, and make sure she’s not alone. Anne had also already taken the initiative to looks for other ways to financially support them, by speaking with Mr. Barry of renting their farm for use.
There’s no stopping Anne once she made up her mind and Marilla knows that. It’s undeniably a bittersweet situation since Anne is choosing to give up her scholarship, but at the same time, it’s also an incredibly powerful commitment. Marilla understands and respects how much Anne cares for her, and is eternally grateful for that. That’s why instead of saying sorry and pitying her, she says thank you, because receiving unconditional love is the greatest gift of all. Furthermore Marilla will do her best to stick it out and do her part to ensure that Anne can eventually get the chance to continue her studies at college– because she loves Anne too much to let her give up on that entirely.
When Anne readily gives up her scholarship for love and her family, she received an incredibly selfless gift in return. In order to help Anne stay close to home, Gilbert quietly gave up his teaching position in Avonlea, and had suggested to give the position to Anne instead. This is a huge deal because she was originally set to teach at Carmody, where she’d only be able to come home during the weekends because it’s far away. So Gilbert has effectively taken on that burden on her behalf (where he’ll teach at White Sands and pay for boarding), all so that Anne could still work and stay home with Marilla. Gibert’s the best boy! [SOBS]
Gilbert’s a humble guy, so of course he had no intentions of telling Anne, even more so since he did it because he felt it was the right thing to do. The only reason Anne learned about it was thanks to the island’s gossip-queen Rachel who didn’t waste any time to tell her about it. Anne understood the weight of Gilbert’s decision, so she made sure she was able to express her thanks and how much she really appreciated it.
Perhaps the best part about Gilbert’s selflessly of giving Anne the greatest gift of all, the ability to stay close to home… was that it finally presented the opportunity where they were able to finally become true friends. It was very poetic for them to meet on top of the bridge where Gilbert had previously helped Anne out of a perilous situation. Back then, the moment he rescued her with his boat, Anne had forgiven him for his teasing– but she was too prideful to admit it. But now, she has matured and admitted how foolishness she had been. Thanks to that, she has finally accepted his hand to become true friends. It was a long time coming, especially since she regretted being so stubborn about it. Unfortunately she just didn’t know how to go about retracting what she had said, so she had just kept her mouth shut and accepted the consequences of her own actions.
Gilbert on the other-hand, contrary to having agreed at the time to give up on ever being friends with her, actually had been patiently waiting for an opportunity. He genuinely likes Anne, and he really believes they can be good friends if given the chance to. It’s actually so cute how he went on to say he really believes they’ll be the ‘best of best friends’, and ‘born to be good friends’, (keke~ watch out Diana!), so when Anne finally accepted he was absolutely elated. And sure enough, these two are were already making up for lost time with how long they were chatting together. Even Marilla was tickled at the sight, especially since Anne’s all blushy about it, haha.
Suffice to say this week started on such a tragic note, but managed to end on a lighter note. This certainly rings true to as one door closes, another one opens. Matthew is no longer in their lives, but Anne and Marilla still have each other, and Anne was finally able to move forward with Gilbert by finally being able to put the past behind her.
And with that, we’ll be starting Vol 2 “Anne of Avonlea” next week~ Can’t wait!