LE3 .A278 2014

2014

Wyile, Andrea Schwenke

Acadia University

Bachelor of Arts

Honours

English

English & Theatre Studies

Lucy Maud Montgomery challenges institutional Christianity by demonstrating how the nature-focused characters, such as Anne in Anne of Green Gables, Captain Jim in Anne's House of Dreams, and Walter in Rilla of Ingleside, have a more intimate relationship with God than the characters who simply perform religion. Montgomery's characters' experiences in nature reflect her desire for a natural and genuine spirituality that she describes in the Alpine Path, and her views are supported by an examination of her own religious thought and literary background. Montgomery highlights the hypocrisy of the Church by juxtaposing these characters with the characters who just perform religion, such as Mrs. Rachel Lynde, Marilla, Miss Cornelia, and Susan, who either fear nature or try to control it. However, Anne, Captain Jim, and Walter, act as religious liberalists in accordance with Leigh Schmidt's criteria in The Aspiring Side of Religion, to subvert this paradigm and change the community. Thus, these quaint little books for girls challenge social and religious expectations by suggesting that true intimacy with God is an organic experience and not a performance.

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https://scholar.acadiau.ca/islandora/object/theses:1075