Anne of Green Gables Chapter 35 Summary

Summary

Anne's homesickness for Green Gables lessens as she begins to settle into life at Queen’s, helped by weekend visits home and Friday evening walks back to Avonlea with other students. She watches social pairings—Gilbert Blythe usually walking with Ruby Gillis—and muses on the nature of male friendship and companionship, imagining how a different intimacy with Gilbert might broaden both their perspectives. At school she forms a small circle of congenial, imaginative friends, notably Stella Maynard and Priscilla Grant, and notices the established reputations that develop among pupils: contenders for medals and scholarships, distinctions of beauty and accomplishments in domestic science and hair-dressing, and even reputations for sharp tongues.

As winter progresses the students stop their frequent trips home and devote themselves to studies. Rivalry between Anne and Gilbert continues privately but has lost its bitterness; Anne now values the contest as honorable and worth the effort whether or not it ends in victory. Outside the classroom she finds refreshment in visits to Beechwood and in Miss Barry’s fond approval. With spring approaching and exams looming, anxieties rise among many girls who feel their future hinges on results. Anne, although she acknowledges the exams, measures life against the budding chestnuts and returning spring and chooses an optimistic, larger view—valuing effort, the joy of striving, and the wider possibilities of the future more than a single academic triumph.

Key events

1. Anne’s homesickness fades; weekend trips to Avonlea and Friday walks are a comfort.
2. Observation of social pairings—Gilbert regularly walks with Ruby Gillis.
3. Anne forms an intimate circle of like-minded friends at Queen’s.
4. School reputations and likely medal/scholarship contenders become established.
5. Students give up weekend trips to focus on winter studies and exams.
6. Anne’s rivalry with Gilbert remains but becomes honorable rather than bitter.
7. Anne finds solace in Beechwood visits and looks ahead to spring with optimism.

Analysis

This chapter functions as a transitional and character-developing episode: it both normalizes Anne’s place at Queen’s and enlarges the social world of the novel beyond Avonlea. The domestic, picturesque images of Friday evening walks and spring buds juxtapose the academy’s competitive atmosphere, emphasizing Montgomery’s recurring contrast between pastoral belonging and institutional ambition. Anne’s interior reflections on friendship—especially her speculative, non-romantic imagining of a different relationship with Gilbert—reveal her evolving maturity; she values intellectual companionship and broader perspective more than conventional attachments. The softened rivalry with Gilbert shifts the novel’s conflict from personal bitterness to dignified competition, reframing success as personal improvement rather than defeat of another.

Symbolically, the arrival of spring and the chestnut buds function as counterpoints to the sterility of exam anxiety: nature’s renewal refocuses Anne toward long-term hopes rather than immediate results. Narrative technique mixes external social detail (school reputations, fashions, and character sketches) with free indirect discourse into Anne’s sensibility, allowing readers to see both communal life and private optimism. The chapter thus deepens thematic concerns—ambition, companionship, and the balance between duty and delight—while advancing plotlines about scholastic rivalry and Anne’s social integration without resolving them yet.

Important quotes

““That Anne-girl improves all the time,” she said.”

Miss BarryMiss Barry praises Anne’s development, signaling Anne’s acceptance and favor in her social circle.

““I’ve lost seven pounds in the last two weeks,” sighed Jane.”

Jane AndrewsJane’s anxiety about exams illustrates the high stakes the students attach to academic success and contrasts with Anne’s calmer view.

“Next to trying and winning, the best thing is trying and failing.”

Narrator / Anne's thoughtAnne articulates a mature perspective on effort and ambition, valuing the act of striving over the result.

Characters in Chapter 35

• Anne Shirley
• Gilbert Blythe
• Ruby Gillis
• Jane Andrews
• Josie Pye
• Stella Maynard
• Priscilla Grant
• Ethel Marr
• Frank Stockley
• Lewis Wilson
• Diana Barry
• Miss Stacy