Anne of Green Gables - Chapter 17

Summary

Stories Podcast: Anne of Green Gables — Chapter 17

Host: Amanda Weldon (Stories Podcast for Starglow Media / Wondery)
Air Date: November 6, 2025

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Episode Overview

This episode of Stories Podcast features a dramatized reading of "Anne of Green Gables" Chapter 17: "A New Interest in Life," continuing the adventures of Anne Shirley. The chapter focuses on Anne's heartbreak over being forbidden to see her best friend, Diana Barry, the emotional farewell between them, Anne's return to school, and her growing academic rivalry with Gilbert Blythe. The tone is poignant yet hopeful, capturing the drama and imagination so characteristic of Anne.

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Key Discussion Points & Story Highlights

1. Anne and Diana’s Sorrowful Farewell

• The episode opens with Anne noticing Diana beckoning to her from outdoors. Hopeful, Anne rushes to her, only to find Diana looking sad.
• Diana reveals: “My mother says I’m never to play with you again. I’ve cried and cried…and she’s timing me by the clock.” (03:28)
• The friends have only 10 minutes to say goodbye, leading to a heightened, melodramatic exchange of promises and declarations.
  • “Will you promise never to forget me, the friend of your youth, no matter what dearer friends may caress thee?” — Anne (03:49)
  • “Indeed I will.” — Diana, sobbing (04:01)
  • Memorable quote: “It’s a ray of light which will forever shine on the darkness of a path severed from thee, Diana. Oh, just say it once again!” — Anne (04:37)
• In a touching gesture, Anne cuts a lock of Diana’s hair to keep forever:
  • “Wilt thou give me a lock of thy jet black tresses in parting to treasure forevermore?” — Anne (05:12)
• After Diana leaves, Anne is comforted by the romance of their farewell:
  • “Diana gave me a lock of her hair and I’m going to sew it up in a little bag and wear it around my neck all my life. Please see that it is buried with me…” — Anne to Marilla (06:37)

2. Anne’s Return to School

• Feeling the loss of her “bosom friend,” Anne decides to focus on school as a distraction:
  • “I’m going back to school. That is all there is left in life for me...” — Anne (07:09)
• Marilla encourages her: “If you’re going back to school, I hope we’ll hear no more of breaking slates over people’s heads.” (07:47)
• Anne promises to try to be a model pupil, though admits, “There won’t be much fun in it, I expect.” (07:54)
• Anne is welcomed back warmly by her classmates with small gifts and kind gestures:
  • “It’s so nice to be appreciated.” — Anne, rapturously (09:12)

3. School Life, Gifts, and Gilbert

• The girls offer Anne tokens of friendship, and Anne delights in being valued by her peers.
• A notable incident occurs when Anne refuses a strawberry apple, suspecting it came from Gilbert Blythe, as only his family’s orchard grew them:
  • Dramatic reaction: “Anne dropped the apple as if it were a red hot coal...” (12:19)
• Anne and Gilbert quickly become academic rivals:
  • “She flung herself into her studies heart and soul, determined not to be outdone in any class by Gilbert Blythe.” (15:35)
• Their competition is chronicled, with each occasionally besting the other in exams and classwork:
  • “Now Gilbert was head of the spelling class, now Anne…spelled him down.” (16:10)
  • When Anne wins, Gilbert congratulates her “heartily before the whole school,” much to Anne’s frustration. (16:50)

4. Secret Notes Between Friends

• Despite being forbidden to speak at school, Diana discreetly sends Anne a note and a handmade bookmark:
  • “Dear Anne, mother says I’m not to play with you or talk to you even in school. It isn’t my fault…and I don’t like Gertie Pye one bit.” — Diana's letter (13:58)
• Anne replies, promising eternal friendship and vowing:
  • “I shall keep your lovely present forever. Minnie Andrews is a very nice little girl, although she has no imagination. But after having been Diana’s bosom friend, I cannot be Minnie’s…” — Anne’s reply (14:28)

5. Academic Setbacks (Especially with Geometry!)

• Anne struggles with certain subjects, notably geometry:
  • “It’s perfectly awful stuff, Marilla…I’m sure I’ll never be able to make head or tail of it. There is no scope for imagination in it at all.” (17:19)
• Despite academic rivalries and social heartbreak, Anne’s spirits remain essentially hopeful:
  • “But really, Marilla, one can’t stay sad very long in such an interesting world, can one?” — Anne (17:55)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Anne’s Intensity in Friendship:
  • “I’ll never have another bosom friend…I couldn’t love anybody as I love you.” — Anne (04:01)
• On Farewells and Grief:
  • “Please see that it is buried with me, for I don’t believe I’ll live very long…” — Anne, melodramatically planning to wear Diana’s lock of hair forever (06:42)
  • “I don’t think there is much fear of your dying of grief as long as you can talk, Anne.” — Marilla, dryly (06:51)
• On School Rivalries:
  • “She would not stoop to admit that she meant to rival Gilbert in schoolwork, because that would have been to acknowledge his existence…” (15:53)
  • “But her triumph was marred by the fact that Gilbert congratulated her heartily before the whole school. It would have been ever so much sweeter…if he had felt the sting of his defeat.” (16:50)
• On Geometry:
  • “There is no scope for imagination in it at all.” — Anne (17:25)

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Important Timestamps

• Meeting and Farewell with Diana: 02:47–05:48
• Anne’s Grief and Return to School: 06:03–08:06
• Anne’s Reception by Schoolmates: 08:06–09:12
• Gilbert Rivalry and Classroom Dynamics: 12:04–16:50
• Struggles with Geometry and Anne’s Hopefulness: 17:19–17:59

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Tone and Style

The episode skillfully blends Anne Shirley’s dramatic, imaginative voice with Amanda Weldon’s warm narration. It balances the heartbreak of parted friendship with the humor and energy of school life, filled with emotion, literary flourishes, and warmth that resonates with children and adults alike.

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This summary encapsulates the central events and emotional arc of Chapter 17, offering listeners—whether new or longtime fans—a rich, character-driven snapshot of Anne’s evolving world at Green Gables.

Transcript

[Anne Shirley]

Hello.

[Narrator]

Welcome to Stories Podcast.

[Amanda Weldon]

I'm your host, Amanda Weldon.

[Narrator]

Today's story is a chapter from the.

[Amanda Weldon]

Classic novel Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery.

[Narrator]

We have Stories podcast merch [e-mail] shop. We're also on Cameo for all of your personalized video message needs. And don't forget to follow us on Instagram oriespodcast. If you send us a drawing of your favorite scene or character, we'll share it on our feed. Now, here's a word from our sponsors Experience the beloved Harry Potter series like you've never heard them before on Audible Harry Potter the full cast audio editions present the iconic series as a truly spellbinding listening event for the whole family.

[Amanda Weldon]

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[Amanda Weldon]

Chapter 17 a new interest in Life. The next afternoon, Anne bending over her patchwork at the kitchen window happened to glance out and beheld Diana down by the dryads bubble, beckoning mysteriously in a trice. Anne was out of the house and flying down to the hollow astonishment and hope struggling in her expressive eyes. But the hope faded when she saw Diana's dejected countenance.

[Narrator]

Your mother hasn't relented?

[Amanda Weldon]

She gasped. Diana shook her head mournfully. No.

[Narrator]

And oh, Anne, she says I'm never.

[Amanda Weldon]

To play with you again. I've cried and cried, and I told her it wasn't your fault, but it.

[Narrator]

Wasn'T any use I had ever such.

[Amanda Weldon]

A time coaxing her to let me come down and say goodbye to you.

[Narrator]

She said I was only to stay.

[Amanda Weldon]

10 minutes, and she's timing me by the clock.

[Narrator]

10 minutes isn't very long to say.

[Amanda Weldon]

An eternal farewell in, said Anne tearfully.

[Narrator]

Oh, Diana, will you promise faithfully never to forget me, the friend of your.

[Amanda Weldon]

Youth, no matter what dearer friends may caress thee? Indeed I will, sobbed Diana.

[Anne Shirley]

And I'll never have another bosom friend I don't want to have. I couldn't love anybody as I love you.

[Amanda Weldon]

Oh, Diana. Cried Anne, clasping her hands.

[Narrator]

Do you love me?

[Anne Shirley]

Why, of course I do. Didn't you know that? No.

[Amanda Weldon]

Anne drew a long breath.

[Anne Shirley]

I thought you liked me, of course, but I never hoped you loved me. Why, Diana, I didn't think anybody could love me.

[Narrator]

Nobody ever has loved me since I can remember.

[Anne Shirley]

Oh, this is wonderful. It's a ray of light which will forever shine on the darkness of a path severed from thee, Diana. Oh, just say it once again.

[Amanda Weldon]

I love you devotedly, Anne, said Diana staunchly. And I always will, you may be sure of that.

[Anne Shirley]

And I will always love thee, Diana.

[Amanda Weldon]

Said Anne, solemnly extending her hand.

[Anne Shirley]

In the years to come, thy memory.

[Narrator]

Will shine like a star over my lovely life as that last story we read together, says Diana, wilt thou give.

[Amanda Weldon]

Me a lock of thy jet black tresses in parting to treasure forevermore?

[Narrator]

Have you got anything to cut it with?

[Amanda Weldon]

Queried Diana, wiping away the tears which Anne's affecting accents had caused to flow afresh. And returning to practicalities, yes.

[Narrator]

I've got my patchwork scissors in my apron pocket.

[Amanda Weldon]

Fortunately, said Anne, she solemnly clipped one of Diana's curls.

[Narrator]

Fare thee well, my beloved friend.

[Amanda Weldon]

Henceforth we must be as strangers, though living side by side, but my heart.

[Narrator]

Will ever be faithful to thee.

[Amanda Weldon]

Anne stood and watched Diana out of sight, mournfully waving her hand to the ladder whenever she turned to look back. Then she returned to the house not a little consoled for the time being by this romantic parting.

[Narrator]

It is all over, she informed Marilla. I shall never have another friend.

[Amanda Weldon]

I'm really worse off than ever before, for I haven't Katie Morris and Violetta now, and even if I had, it wouldn't be the same. Somehow little dream girls are not satisfying after a real friend. Diana and I had such an affecting farewell down by the spring. It will be sacred in my memory forever. I used the most pathetic language I could think of and said, thou and thee. Thou and thee seem so much more romantic than you.

[Narrator]

Diana gave me a lock of her hair and I'm going to sew it up in a little bag and wear it around my neck all my life.

[Amanda Weldon]

Please see that it is buried with me, for I don't believe I'll live very long.

[Narrator]

Perhaps when she sees me lying cold.

[Amanda Weldon]

And dead before her, Mrs. Barry may feel remorse for what she has done and will let Diana come to my funeral. I don't think there is much fear of your dying of grief as long as you can talk, Anne, said Marilla unsympathetically. The following Monday, Anne surprised Marilla by coming down from her room with her basket of books on her arm and her lips primed up into a line of determination. I'm going back to school, she announced. That is all there is left in life for me. Now that my friend has been ruthlessly torn from me in school, I can look at her and muse over days departed. You'd better muse over your lessons and sums, said Marilla, concealing her delight at this development of the situation. If you're going back to school, I hope we'll hear no more of breaking slates over people's heads and such carryings on. Behave yourself and do just what your teacher tells you. I'll try to be a model pupil, agreed Anne dolefully. There won't be much fun in it, I expect. Mr. Phillips said Minnie Andrews was a model pupil and there isn't a spark of imagination or life in her. She is just dull and pokey and never seems to have a good time.

[Narrator]

But I feel so depressed that perhaps it will come easy to me now.

[Amanda Weldon]

I'm going round by the road. I couldn't bear to go by the birch path all alone. I should weep bitter tears if I did. Anne was welcomed back to school with open arms. Her imagination had been sorely missed in games, her voice in the singing and her dramatic ability in the perusal aloud of books at dinner hour. Ruby Gillis smuggled three blue plums over to her during Testament reading. Ella Mae McPherson gave her an enormous yellow pansy cut from the covers of a floral catalog, a species of desk decoration much prized in Avonlea School. Sophia Sloan offered to teach her a perfectly elegant new pattern of knit lace, so nice for trimming aprons. Katie Boelter gave her a perfume bottle to keep slate water in, and Julia Bell copied carefully on a piece of pale pink paper scalloped on the edges. The following effusion to Anne when Twilight drops her curtain down and pins it with a star, remember that you have a friend, though she may wander far.

[Narrator]

It's so nice to be appreciated, sighed.

[Amanda Weldon]

Ann rapturously to Marilla that night. Now for a quick ad break.

[Narrator]

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[Amanda Weldon]

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[Narrator]

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[Narrator]

The girls were.

[Amanda Weldon]

Not the only scholars who appreciated her. When Anne went to her seat after dinner hour, she had been told by Mr. Phillips to sit with the model Minnie Andrews.

[Narrator]

She found on her desk a big, luscious strawberry apple.

[Amanda Weldon]

Anne caught it up, all ready to take a bite when she remembered that the only place in Avonlea where strawberry apples grew was in the old Blythe Orchard on the other side of the Lake of Shining Waters. Anne dropped the apple as if it were a red hot coal and ostentatiously wiped her fingers on her handkerchief. The apple lay untouched on her desk until the next morning, when little Timothy Andrews, who swept the school and kindled the fire, annexed it as one of his perquisites. Charlie Sloane's slate pencil, gorgeously bedizened with striped red and yellow paper costing two cents, where ordinary pencils cost only one.

[Narrator]

Which she sent up to her after.

[Amanda Weldon]

Dinner hour, met with a more favorable reception. Anne was graciously pleased to accept it, and rewarded the donor with a smile which exalted that infatuated youth straight away into the seventh heaven of delight, and caused him to make such fearful errors in his dictation that Mr. Phillips kept him in after school to rewrite it, but as the Caesar's pageant shorn of Brutus bust did but of Rome's best son, remind her more so the marked absence of any tribute or recognition from Diana Barry, who was sitting with Gertie Pye, embittered Anne's little triumph. Diana might just have smiled at me once. I think she mourned to Marilla that night. But the next morning a note most fearfully and wonderfully twisted and folded, and a small parcel were passed across to Anne. Dear Anne, ran the former mother says I'm not to play with you or talk to you even in school.

[Narrator]

It isn't my fault, and don't be.

[Amanda Weldon]

Cross at me, because I love you as much as ever. I miss you awfully to tell all my secrets to, and I don't Like Gertie Pie one bit.

[Narrator]

I made you one of the new.

[Amanda Weldon]

Bookmarkers out of red tissue paper. They are awfully fashionable now and only three girls in school know how to make them. When you look at it, remember your true friend, Diana Barry. Anne read the note, kissed the bookmark and dispatched a prompt reply back to the other side of the school.

[Narrator]

My own darling Diana, of course I am not cross at you.

[Amanda Weldon]

Because you have to obey your mother, our spirits can commune. I shall keep your lovely present forever. Minnie Andrews is a very nice little girl, although she has no imagination. But after having been Diana's bosom friend, I cannot be Minnie's. Please excuse mistakes because my spelling isn't very good yet, although much improved yours.

[Narrator]

Until death us do part.

[Amanda Weldon]

Anne or Cordelia Shirley. P.S. i shall sleep with your letter under my pillow tonight.

[Narrator]

A or C?

[Amanda Weldon]

S. Marilla pessimistically expected more trouble since Anne had again begun to go to school, but none developed. Perhaps Anne caught something of the model spirit from Minnie Andrews. At least she got on very well with Mr. Phillips. Thenceforth she flung herself into her studies heart and soul, determined not to be outdone in any class by Gilbert Blythe. The rivalry between them was soon apparent. It was entirely good natured on Gilbert's side, but it is much to be feared that the same thing cannot be said of Anne, who had certainly an unpraiseworthy tenacity for holding grudges. She was as intense in her hatreds as in her loves. She would not stoop to admit that she meant to rival Gilbert in schoolwork, because that would have been to acknowledge his existence, which Anne persistently ignored. But the rivalry was there and honors fluctuated between them. Now Gilbert was head of the spelling class. Now Anne, with a toss of her long red braids, spelled him down. One morning Gilbert had all of his sums done correctly and had his name written on the blackboard. On the roll of honor the next morning, Anne, having wrestled wildly with decimals the entire evening before, would be first one awful day. They were ties and their names were written up together.

[Narrator]

It was almost as bad as a take notice.

[Amanda Weldon]

And Anne's mortification was as evident as Gilbert's satisfaction. When the written exams at the end of each month were held, the suspense was terrible. The first month Gilbert came out three marks ahead. The second, Anne beat him by five. But her triumph was marred by the fact that Gilbert congratulated her heartily before the whole school. It would have been ever so much sweeter to her if he had felt the sting of his defeat. Mr. Phillips might not be a very good teacher, but a pupil so inflexibly determined on learning as Anne was could hardly escape making progress under any kind of a teacher. By the end of the term, Anne and Gilbert were both promoted into the fifth class and allowed to begin studying the elements of the branches by which Latin, geometry, French, and algebra were meant to in geometry, Anne met her Waterloo.

[Narrator]

It's perfectly awful stuff, Marilla, she groaned. I'm sure I'll never be able to.

[Amanda Weldon]

Make head or tail of it. There is no scope for imagination in it at all.

[Narrator]

Mr. Phillips says I'm the worst dunce he ever saw at it. And Gil, I mean some of the.

[Amanda Weldon]

Others are so smart at it. It's extremely mortifying. Marilla. Even Diana gets along better than I do. But I don't mind being beaten by Diana. Even although we meet as strangers now, I still love her with an inextinguishable love. It makes me very sad at times to think of her. But really, Marilla, one can't stay sad very long in such an interesting world, can one?

[Narrator]

Today's story was a chapter of Anne of Green Gables, written for your by.

[Amanda Weldon]

Lucy Maud Montgomery, edited and produced for.

[Narrator]

You by Andrew Martin, and performed for.

[Amanda Weldon]

You by me, Amanda Weldon.

[Narrator]

If you would like to support Stories Podcast, you can leave us a five star review on iTunes. Check out all of our merch [e-mail] Shop Commission a special video on cameo. Follow us on Instagram oriespodcast or simply tell your friends about us. Thanks for listening. Hey parents. We make Stories Podcast for your child and you. And that means we'd like to know more about what your child listener thinks about our podcast. And we'd like to know a little.

[Amanda Weldon]

Bit more about you, the parent.

[Narrator]

So we're asking you to fill out a short survey with your child. As a thank you, we'll send you a chance to win one of three $100Amazon gift cards.

[Amanda Weldon]

Fair deal.

[Narrator]

Check out the survey at starglowsurvey.

[Amanda Weldon]

Com.

[Narrator]

That's StarglowSurvey.

[Amanda Weldon]

Com.