4:50pm August 4, 2014

“Say what you will about Mrs. Rachel Lynde (and Anne does, calling her a “rude, impolite, unfeeling woman” who was born without a spark of imagination), but please also admit that without her, Avonlea would have gone to the dogs a long time ago. She runs the goddamned Sewing Circle and the Sunday school too. She’s also driving force behind the Church Aid Society and Foreign Missions Auxiliary; she’s a powerhouse, a brick house to boot. She wants votes for women. She makes more quilted shit than Vera Bradley and, secretly, she has a heart the size of the Lake of Shining Waters. She’s kind to little Davy Keith, even when Davy’s a dick to her. She knows and isn’t afraid to say before anyone else that Anne and Gilbert are made for each other. She likes herself a little gore, taking strange pleasure in the Boston murder trials written up in the local newspaper. She talks to herself and ends most of her internal monologues with “That’s what.” She’s funny. She’s fat and she gets around. She’s my homegirl. My… cronegirl.”

—

In Praise of L.M. Montgomery’s Literary Crones via The Hairpin (via crackedslate)

And Marilla:

In terms of the crone throne, Marilla is the only one who can challenge Rachel Lynde. She’s certainly the most dynamic character in the series, not counting Rilla. (Interesting that two of the most dynamic characters in the whole series are named Marilla. Maybe the name is magic. Marilla for baby name of the year!) Marilla Cuthbert, at the beginning of the series, is all angles and sharp hairpins and even sharper words—a little advice; don’t even think about touching her amethyst brooch—but in just a few short years with Anne softens to the point of adopting twins from a distant cousin and offering half of her house to long-time frenemy Rachel Lynde after Rachel’s hen-pecked husband gives up the ghost. From the outside Marilla might look starched and ironed and joyless, but underneath her petticoats she’s a kindred spirit with a sense of humor and an enormous capacity for love.

Incidentally, Marilla got a serious shot in the arm when she was played by actress/goddess Colleen Dewhurst in Kevin Sullivan’s 1985 film adaptation of Anne of Green Gables. Colleen Dewhurst would never play anyone who wasn’t a bad-ass, and that is real truth.

Notes: