『빨강머리 앤』의 신화

The Myth of Anne of Green Gables

Anne of Green Gables has been placed as a Canadian national icon along with the moose, the beaver, and the Habs. Anne, its main female figure, fully demonstrates Canadian spirit which is characterized by a wild interaction with her surrounding landscapes through Celtic imagination. Her mythic traits are fully realized in the ideal space, Prince Edward Island. Her imagination and empathy are the cardinal factors which challenge the strictness and rigidness of the Canadian-born Avonlea residents. Anne’s imagination, in this context, cannot be understood apart from its historical circumstances. L.M. Montgomery fully endorses Anne’s linguistic and visionary qualities by allowing her imaginative power. Her imagination is different from unrealistic vacant fantasy in that hers are based upon Montgomery’s own experience. Her imagination, additionally, goes beyond the boundary of the self and glorifies the value of soul making. Anne embraces imaginativeness, sympathetic identification, and acceptance of the Other, which can be contrasted with the vision of sublime egotism. Anne is Montgomery“s fantastic literary agency who realizes her wild dreams and restores mythic vision in the modern age. Anne is a Canadian empathic metaphor we live by in the age of isolation and segregation.