Anne Shirley vs. Harry Potter
Over at the Anne of Green Gables Message Boards, Marte suggested that there are notable similarities between Anne Shirley and Harry Potter. (This idea has also been broached at the L. M. Montgomery Institute.) J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter has joined a long lineage of literary orphans including Dickens’ David Copperfield, Hodgson Burnett’s Sara Crewe, Twain’s Tom Sawyer, and Montgomery’s Anne Shirley, who emerge from appalling drudgery to find friendship and belonging. Harry Potter enjoys the same phenomenal success as a debut novel that Anne received when it was first published.
Anne and Harry’s stories both begin at the quintessential age of eleven. But Anne and Harry are protagonists of vastly different personalities. Harry is a “common hero”, an archetype defined by Joseph Campbell in The Hero with a Thousand Faces which is found throughout the fantasy genre. Harry is a (seemingly) ordinary boy who one day receives a mission to save the world. He is not remarkably more talented, intelligent, or motivated than the average person, which makes it easy for readers to identify with him as we join him on his adventures.
Anne of Green Gables, on the other hand, is a bildungsroman: Anne grows up, matures, and finds her rightful place in society. Anne spearheads her own story, so she is more ambitious, assertive, and introspective than Harry. While Harry relies on his mentor Dumbledore to teach him many things (in accord with the conventions of the fantasy genre), Anne seems to be born with her own unique understanding of human nature and of the world. Anne has two female role models, Miss Stacy and Mrs. Allan, but their presence in the story is minimal, and we only hear of what Anne has learned from them through Anne’s own words. Anne is famous for her ability to see the silver lining in every situation. Although she was starved for affection as an orphan, she has a great determination to make everyone love her. Her prime battle is against a society who is reluctant to welcome and accept her, and individual characters who resist her profuse imagination. Harry longs for family ties, but he has no wish to befriend and understand everyone. If Anne were in Harry’s shoes, she may have tried to win over Snape instead of antagonizing him. Harry never changes the Dursleys’ minds about the power of the imagination. To many of her fans, Anne’s charisma is inspiring.[1]
In fact, Anne Shirley, who is redheaded and green-eyed, resembles the spunky Lily Evans far more than angry, hormonal Harry Potter. (Lily and James also share a romance like Anne and Gilbert’s, which begins with teasing, professed hatred, and boy-girl rivalry.) Incidentally, Harry and Anne both inherit their father’s looks and their mother’s eloquent green eyes.
“Laws, but your eyes is like your ma’s. She could just about talk with hers.” (Anne of the Island, ch.xxi)
Anne is not “magical”, but she experiences magic in her special affinity with nature and beauty. The only character sensitive to such things in the Harry Potter series is dreamy Luna Lovegood. Avonlea initially finds Anne odd for “talk[ing] all the time to herself or to the trees and flowers like a crazy girl. (Anne of Green Gables, ch.xi)”, but Montgomery - who worshipped nature herself - shows us with perfect sympathy both Anne’s rich imagination concerning dryads and fairies and pixies, and the spiritual strength she draws from the natural world. (In fact, Anne associates the woods with sacredness and prayer. [2]) Luna’s hypersensitivity to nature is treated with gentle mockery, and causes her to be ostracized and lonely.
Anne and Harry are clearly products of two entirely different genres, who serve different purposes in their lives, and who have different ways of coping with being an orphan. I don’t know how familiar J. K. Rowling is with Anne of Green Gables, but there are aspects of Harry Potter that could speak to Anne’s influence.
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone begins with nosy Aunt Petunia who likes to peak in her neighbours’ backyard, and Uncle Vernon’s reactions to extraordinary sightings in the area. Anne of Green Gables begins with the busybody Rachel Lynde’s reaction to the unusual sight of Matthew Cuthbert driving to Bright River. The title characters do not enter the scene until the second chapter.
Minerva McGonagall is a Scottish spinster who makes crisp and disapproving speeches, reminiscent of the austere Marilla. Both prove themselves to be formidable, kind-hearted women. Vernon Dursley is as determined to stamp out Harry’s magical abilities, as Marilla is to curb Anne’s imagination and to teach her common sense.
(That is my preliminary comparison, will update as I reread the series.)
‘Anne of Green Gables’ and Harry Potter | Wandlore.net wrote on January 18, 2010
[...] discussed the possible influence of Anne on the Hogwarts Saga before (see Anne Shirley vs. Harry Potter from the archives of the Anne Lexicon site and my response here whether you missed that). I want to [...]
Hogwarts Professor · ‘Anne of Green Gables’ and Harry Potter wrote on January 18, 2010
[...] discussed the possible influence of Anne on the Hogwarts Saga before (see Anne Shirley vs. Harry Potter from the archives of the Anne Lexicon site and my response here if you missed that). I want to [...]
mia wrote on May 28, 2009
very clever. i like harry but prefer anne who is softer
Taxonomy of Fantasy and Anne of Green Gables | Wandlore.net wrote on January 26, 2009
[...] are a lot of references to a “world beyond a curtain/veil.” More of my own theories here, whether anyone’s [...]
HogwartsProfessor.com · Taxonomy of Fantasy and Anne of Green Gables wrote on January 26, 2009
[...] are a lot of references to a “world beyond a curtain/veil.” More of my own theories here, if anyone’s [...]