What happens in Chapter 28 of Anne of Green Gables?
Chapter 28 opens with Anne, Diana, and Jane Andrews putting on a dramatic re-enactment of Tennyson's "Lancelot and Elaine," with Anne taking on the role of the Lily Maid of Astolat. The plan involves Anne lying still in a flat-bottomed boat and floating downstream to an audience waiting to watch. The scene starts off well—Anne positions herself with appropriate somberness—but the boat quickly springs a leak. As the water rises around her, Anne loses her poetic composure and grabs onto a bridge pile, left stranded and drenched while the boat floats away. She clings there, her arms tiring, until Gilbert Blythe rows underneath the bridge and comes to her rescue. The rescue is quick and practical, but the social fallout is complicated: Gilbert seizes the moment to revive his long-standing effort to befriend her, and Anne, still harboring her pride over the "carrots" remark from years ago, thanks him in a cool manner and walks off. Diana and Jane are left stunned. That evening, Anne confesses to Marilla that she almost wished she had been a bit kinder—a rare, honest admission that hints at a change brewing beneath her stubborn exterior.
Analysis
Montgomery crafts this chapter as a humorous twist on Romantic idealism: Anne's literary dreams clash with the practical realities of life, resulting in a farce that stops short of cruelty. The leaking boat is a clever narrative choice—it makes the divide between Anne's imagination and reality concrete, a theme that has run through the novel since Chapter 1. While earlier chapters leaned into this gap for pure laughs, here Montgomery adds a new layer: embarrassment that hints at genuine emotional cost.
The bridge-pile scene is both vivid and carefully balanced. Anne's situation is awkward, but Montgomery doesn’t ridicule her; instead, the narration stays rooted in Anne's perspective, allowing readers to feel the cold water and the strain in her arms without looking down on her. Gilbert's arrival reignites the novel's key unresolved tension. His dialogue is refreshingly straightforward—no teasing, no air of superiority—which makes Anne's refusal feel more impactful. She realizes she's being unreasonable, and the text acknowledges that she knows it too.
Marilla's brief appearance at the end of the chapter carries quiet weight. Anne's half-hearted admission—"I almost think I was a little sorry"—is the closest she comes to recognizing her stubbornness as a flaw rather than a strength. Montgomery weaves this in subtly, trusting readers to notice the change. The Tennyson reference also serves a dual purpose: it nods to Anne's romantic nature while gently poking fun at the Victorian ideal of the decorative, suffering heroine—a role Anne, true to form, struggles to maintain for even a moment.
Key quotes from Chapter 28
“It is ever so much more romantic to end a career like Elaine's than to be an old maid schoolteacher.”
Anne justifies her eagerness to play the Lily Maid, revealing how thoroughly she has absorbed literary romance as a framework for her own ambitions.
“Will you forgive me, Anne? Just say you'll forgive me.”
Gilbert speaks plainly at the bridge, stripping away any pretence of rivalry and asking for the reconciliation he has wanted since the schoolroom incident years before.
“I made a complete fool of myself, and I don't care who knows it.”
Anne recounts the afternoon to Marilla with a self-deprecating candour that marks her growing capacity to laugh at her own romantic excesses.
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Create an accountSign inVocabulary in Chapter 28
- lily maid
- A reference to Elaine, the 'lily maid of Astolat' from Tennyson's Arthurian poetry, who floated dead in a boat. Anne and her friends act out this romantic, tragic scene.