Social Historian and Maternal Feminist ?

L. M. Montgomery A Product of Her Time,
Social Historian and Maternal Feminist
By Wilhelm (Bill) Arends

Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables, is the defining novel of Prince Edward Island. The novel may produce a somewhat sugar-coated version of the truth but none-the-less produces an accurate image of life in turn of the century rural Prince Edward Island, with its good points and bad. Montgomery did not attempt to make the Island a total paradise, but does not dwell on the negative, because after all this is a novel for primarily aimed at young women of the time. Montgomery though was a very good observer of human behavior. The characters she created were a product of their times, with all the aspects of that societies’ social behavior, both good and bad. Even though most of the issues that predominated history at the time are only superficially dealt within the novel the connection to the culture of the time is clear. While Montgomery would go on to write a whole series of interesting and influential works, this novel is the one that best describes turn of the century Prince Edward Island. The novel while often described as a “simple but delightful book” has great insights into Island culture if examined carefully. Montgomery a product of turn of the century Prince Edward Island, in the novel Anne of Green Gables has not only produced a work of literature but, an interesting social history of rural Prince Edward Island.
Montgomery was definitely a product of Prince Edward Island she was born to Hugh John Montgomery and Clara Woolner MacNeill on November 30th 1874 in the rural town of Clifton Corner. In Montgomery’s day the academic careers of women were limited and Montgomery who loved writing chose a profession that would allow her to develop this academic nature and in June of 1894 she obtained her teachers’ license. Anne of Green Gables was written in 1908 as Prince Edward Island was on the verge of great changes. The legislature was obviously worried that the age of machines would negatively effect the island. As They passed laws to prohibit the use of machines in the countryside, Montgomery was capturing this delightful rural nature of Cavendish county Prince Edward Island that the province was attempting to preserve. Forbes and Muise point out in their text The Atlantic Provinces in Confederation, Montgomery’s Novel “depicts the traditionalism of the church and family in rural Prince Edward Island.” Montgomery though was not totally approving of all the aspects of Rural Prince Edward Island.
She was concerned with depicting reality within her novel while not offending anyone, as she says in her diary “” I cast ‘moral’ and ‘Sunday school’ ideals to the winds and made my ‘Anne’ a real human girl.” In Montgomery’s world asylums were still used to house orphans, women were restricted to the home, temperance was seen as the way to improve society and Maternal feminism was becoming a force to be reckoned with. All these aspects of life were included in Anne’s story. To say that Montgomery was free of social ills though would be naive and even some aspects of her own social failings can be seen in the novel.
Montgomery in her diary defines herself as having the “misfortune to be a born conservative, hater of change and to live my life in a period when everything has been, or is being turned topsy turvey” Like all conservatives Montgomery was susceptible to prejudices of her day. In the beginning of the novel Marilla Cuthbert is discussing with Mrs. Lynde the choice that Matthew and her have made to foster an orphan that is a “born Canadian” This section of the novel not only shows the racist tendency of her class but also connects the novel concretely to the period. When choosing a boy Matthew and Marilla have an in-depth discussion which Marilla relates to Mrs. Lynde, she says:
There’s never anybody to be had but those stupid, half grown little French boys; and as soon as you get one broke into your ways and taught something he’s up and off to the lobster canneries in the States. At first Matthew suggested getting a Bernado [sic] boy. But I said ‘no’ flat to that. ‘They may be all right - I’m not saying they’re not - but no London street Arabs for me, ‘Give me a native born at least. There’ll be a risk, no matter who we get. But I’ll feel easier in my mind and sleep sounder at nights if we get a born Canadian.

While Laura M. Robinson in her book L. M. Montgomery and Canadian Culture argues that this is a means of creating “Canadian Identity” within the novel, it would be more likely that the Cuthbert’s reserve was more a product of prejudice on the part of Montgomery. If it were simply for reasons of Canadian identity then why would the Cuthbert’s not have wanted a French boy. It is important also to note that Matthew suggested a Bernardo Boy as an option. Bernardo Boys or, Home Boys were part of a scheme to find better lives for urban children from the crowded city streets of Europe, by bringing them to North America. The scheme though did little more than provide cheap labour for the rural areas of Canada. This can be seen even in this novel as the whole point of the Cuthbert’s getting a boy was to help the aging Matthew around the farm. Even this can be seen as a type of class oriented prejudice. As Owen Dudley Edwards and Jennifer H Litster state in their article “the End of Canadian Innocence: L.M. Montgomery and the first World War” the Cuthbert’s decision was not a preference to establish Canadian identity in the novel but a “prejudice against Bernardo boys.” If as Adreinne Clarkson has claimed “Avonlea . . . opens it arms to welcome the newcomer.” then the newcomer had better be a natural born Canadian like Montgomery’s Anne.
Also Anne’s world suffered from a degree of Misogyny that becomes evident in the novel.The reaction to this misogyny though was one that would have egalitarian problems of it’s own. According to Erika Rothwell in her article “L.M. Montgomery and Maternal Feminism” Montgomery through the character Anne“identifies herself with maternal feminism, a powerful branch of the women’s movement in turn-of-the-century Canada.” Maternal Feminism advocated the nurturing nature of women not an egalitarian feminism that promoted equality. They saw themselves as playing much more of a role in society than women were allowed, but not an equal role to men. As Historian Veronica Strong-Boag states “women themselves, like virtually everyone else in Canadian society, identified their sex with a maternal role.” This “natural occupation” could thus serve as a barrier to the “destabilizing elements in Canada,” whatever these may be.
One of these destabilizing elements that appears in the novel is the devil of alcohol. Alcohol by the standards of maternal feminists was one of the main causes of family strife. Maternal Feminists saw it as one of their responsibilities as the nurturing element of society to protest, and attempt to eradicate the evils of alcohol. While Marilla is, a brewer of Current wine, the dangers of this become apparent as Anne inadvertently intoxicates Diana. More importantly though in the novel, Montgomery shows the danger of alcohol through the character of Mr. Thomas. Montgomery does not recount the sordid details of family abuse, as that would not be appropriate for a child’s novel. Anne uses the hateful experience of the alcoholic Mr. Thomas as a yard stick of bad experiences. She claims that the insults of Mrs. Lynde hurt her more than “Mrs. Thomas’ intoxicated husband” ever did. The dangers of alcohol as maternal feminist see it is its resulting effect on the family, this is expressed in Mr. Thomas demise as he falls in front of a train thus depriving the family of a bread winner.
Maternal feminist stressed the importance of the nurturing nature of women. Women were responsible for the family unit and anything that fell within that realm was theirs to protect. The decisions that Anne makes seem to follow this pattern. While it may seem that Anne is independent in many ways, the constraints of being a woman in maternal feminists view limits her actions. Anne is therefore subject to the nurturing role of women. Carole Gerson points out in her article “Dragged at Anne’s Chariot Wheels:’ The Triangle of Author, Publisher, and Fictional Character” that Anne had to make the “mature choice to assume responsibility and conform to community norms with regard to both class and gender.” One of the most important figures in the Maternal feminist movement was Lady Aberdeen head of the National Council of Women of Canada (NCWC) who promoted the nurturing nature of women and spoke of mothering as the “Grand woman’s mission.” Therefore the natural role of women as mothers forced Anne to stay home and take care of Marilla rather than take a university scholarship. Gerson argues that Montgomery was not a totally dyed-in-the-wool maternal feminist as she does not totally follow what would have been the norm in women’s literature at the time and, “resisted the conventional closure of Marriage.” at the end of the novel. As Rothwell notes “Montgomery’s vision of maternal feminism is steeped in realism. Not all the mother figures in Green Gables are ideals.” and “undermines the political vision of maternal women as centers of . . . pure reformist motives [and]. . . traditional moral values.” This realism as Rothwell points out was what made Montgomery :
an astute Social Historian and Maternal feminist who kept her finger upon the pulse of Canadian women’s experiences. She powerfully knit into her fiction the events, circumstances, beliefs, experiences, and realizations that were of moment in the living history of Canadian women. [ thus creating] . . . The tapestry of maternal feminism in Canada.”

L. M. Montgomery even in her personal writings seems to be a complex character as Roberta Buchanan shows in her article “Reflection piece- ‘ I wrote Two Hours This Morning and Put Up Grape Juice in the Afternoon’: The conflict between Woman and Writer in L. M. Montgomery’s Journals.” She sees that Montgomery was torn by the “conflict between woman as writer and homemaker; and her desire to conform to social expectations of femininity.”
While Montgomery does attempt to be as accurate as possible her historian skills may have been a bit lacking. In the episode where Anne attempts to dye her hair she describes the man who sells the dye to her as a “German Jew ... Who was working hard to make enough money to bring his wife and children out from Germany.” The problem with this may be in a social misconception of identity , as many Lebanese peddlers were mistaken as Jews. David Weale in his book A Stream Out of Lebanon: An Introduction to the Coming of Syrian/Lebanese Emigrants to Prince Edward Island, recounts the tale of one who was tired of explaining the difference between jews and Assyrians to one customer that he would tell the children to “tell your mother the old Jew is here.”
This discrepancy only proves that Lucy Maud Montgomery was simply a product of turn of the century Prince Edward Island and even Weale admits that this misconception of Ethnic identity was common. Lucy Maud Montgomery through the novel Anne of Green Gables, has shown herself to be an accurate witness to the social condition of Islanders. She has portrayed the rural islanders with both their strengths and weaknesses as fairly as possible. The novel while being predominantly a work of fiction is an interesting and accurate social history of rural Prince Edward Island. The aspects of Maternal feminism, Racial misconceptions and even prejudices that find their way into the novel give us interesting insights into Montgomery’s world.

Bibliography

Buchanan, Roberta .“Reflection piece- ‘ I wrote Two Hours This Morning and Put Up
Grape Juice in the Afternoon’: The conflict between Woman and Writer in L. M.
Montgomery’s Journals.” L. M. Montgomery and Canadian Culture, ed. Irene Gammel
and Elizabeth Epperly Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1999

Callbeck,Lorne C. The Cradle of Confederation Unipress: Fredericton 1964.

Clarkson Adrienne. In Laura M. Robinson, “ ‘ A Born Canadian’: The Bonds of Communal
Identity in Anne of Green Gables and A Tangled Web,” L. M. Montgomery and Canadian
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Edwards, Owen Dudley. and Jennifer H. Litster, “The End of Canadian Innocence: L.M.
Montgomery and the First World War,” L. M. Montgomery and Canadian Culture, ed.
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Forbes E. R. and D. A. Muise, The Atlantic Provinces in Confederation Fredericton: Acadiensis
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Gerson, Carole. “Dragged at Anne’s Chariot Wheels:’ The Triangle of Author, Publisher,
and Fictional Character,” L. M. Montgomery and Canadian Culture, ed. Irene Gammel
and Elizabeth Epperly Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1999

Irene Gammel and Elizabeth Epperly, “L .M. Montgomery and the Shaping of Canadian
Culture,” L. M. Montgomery and Canadian Culture, ed. Irene Gammel and Elizabeth
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Montgomery, Lucy Maud. Anne of Green Gables, Toronto:McGraw-Hill Ryerson Limited, 1968

Robinson,Laura M. “ ‘ A Born Canadian’: The Bonds of Communal Identity in Anne of Green
Gables and A Tangled Web,” L. M. Montgomery and Canadian Culture, ed. Irene
Gammel and Elizabeth Epperly, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1999

Rothwell, Erika. “Knitting Up the World: L. M. Montgomery and Maternal Feminism in
Canada” L. M. Montgomery and Canadian Culture, ed. Irene Gammel and Elizabeth
Epperly Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1999

Weale,David. A Stream Out of Lebanon: An Introduction to the Coming of Syrian/Lebanese
Emigrants to Prince Edward Island, Charlottetown: Charlottetown Institute of Island
Studies, 1988