An Archetypal Approach To Anne Of Green Gables

As a famous Canadian writer, Lucy Maud Montgomery enjoys a world-wide reputation for her Anne series, especially for her first book Anne of Green Gables. Montgomery was a very prolific writer and she devoted herself to literary creation and published 20 novels, including the best known series which begins with Anne of Green Gables, over 500 short stories, an autobiography and a book of poetry. Her first novel, Anne of Green Gables was published in 1908. It was the first of the Avonlea books and it met with instantaneous success, which marked the beginning of her writing career. The public shows interest not only in Anne of Green Gables but also in the seven sequels, which include Anne of Avonlea (1909), Anne of the Island (1915), Anne's House of Dreams (1917), Rainbow Valley (1919), Rilla of Ingle side (1921), Anne of Windy Poplars (1936), and Anne of Ingleside (1939). Anne of Green Gables has been translated into more than thirty languages, and is loved by readers of different ages of different countries,During the past decades, a large number of scholars have analyzed this book from different perspectives such as feminism, education, religion, culture and so on, but according to my research, very few researchers have given analysis from the perspective of archetypal criticism. So this thesis attempts to focus on Montgomery's use of mythological and biblical allusions from the archetypal perspective so as to try to reinterpret and appreciate this classic work. In the argument, relevant archetypal critical theories are used to identify and evaluate the mythological archetypes and the biblical ones in the novel. It is hoped that, Montgomery's ideas of or attitudes towards the traditional values, such as love, responsibility, etc. are embodied. The emphasis on the "Love" among Anne and the persons around her can be found throughout the novel.This thesis consists of three parts:Introduction, Body, and Conclusion.The first part is Introduction which focuses on the author's life and work, the work Anne of Green Gables, literary review of Anne of Green Gables, and the plan of the thesis. The Body part consists of three chapters.Chapter One focuses on the theoretical foundation of the thesis—Archetypal theory. It first introduces briefly the history of archetypal criticism in general, and then Northrop Frye's theory in particular. Finally, it examines the employment of archetypal theory in literary criticism.Chapter Two tries to apply the mythological archetypes in the analysis of Anne of Green Gables. It first discusses the origin and the variations of Cinderella archetype, and then especially focuses on the Canadian version of Cinderella motif—Anne is interpreted as a Canadian Cinderella.Chapter Three is devoted to analysis of the biblical archetypes in Anne of Green Gables. It first analyzes the similarity of Christian "love" and "love" in Anne of Green Gables, especially focuses on "love" in biblical archetypal plot of Anne's initiation. And it compares Anne's world with the Garden of Eden, and finally it discusses Anne as a biblical archetype—as a savior in the community.The final part is Conclusion which sums up the significance and main content of the thesis, and the writer of the thesis hopes to help readers to reinterpret and appreciate this novel.