Why Anne is a Kindred Spirit.

This is for those of the opposite gender who just don't get the Anne of Green Gables thing.  (Inspired by a recent spirited debate, which prompted me to write this).

Anne is an orphan.  Neglected and mistreated, Anne enters an imaginary world to escape.  Matthew and Murilla, the brother-sister pair to eventually adopt Anne, are surprised to discover Anne to be a girl (they had expected a boy).  Matthew, however, becomes smitten by Anne.  Anne bemoans her too red hair, gangly frame, and uncontrollable mouth; Matthew seems to overlook all this.  His soft-spokenness is overshadowed by the determined Murilla, but in the end she consents to having Anne stay and is herself won over.  Anne's countenance improves with Matthew and Murilla, as Anne experiences for the first time what it means to belong.

The human experience is itself a search for Significance.  This is particular for a girl.  Anne's desire to be loved is obvious as an orphan, and even after arriving in Avonlea she sets out to prove herself, excelling in her studies and winning over the community's heart with her unconventional ways.  Anne's initial rejection of Gil in part stems from her disbelief that someone could love her when still she finds herself with too much fault.  Anne eventually goes off to college, where obsessing over her studies, she meets continued success.  Anne continues to dream, though she gives up a chance to redeem her scholarship to go home to Murilla after Matthew dies.  A year later she accepts a teaching position outside of Avonlea where Anne is once again called upon to prove herself.  Anne eventually returns to Avonlea, not because she has failed but because she realizes she has looked outside of herself for her happiness when all this time, her happiness has always been in Avonlea with the people nearest to her heart.

Anne recalls my own search for belonging.  I'm sure for most girls it's the same.  Despite assurance that secures my worth, I'm often mistakingly unsatisfied.  I root for Anne, though I know she's flawed and her persuits too lofty.  (Indeed, a low image of self lurks under her outward stubbornness).  Anne is also overly ideal; reality is often too plain for her.  I've been known to wish away Providence. 

Though I haven't the eloquence or audacity of Anne, she is to me a kindred spirit.  By definition, a kindred spirit is someone who feels and thinks the same way you do.  Anne is one such person.