What happens in Chapter 6 of Anne of Green Gables?
Chapter 6 begins the morning after Anne arrives at Green Gables. Marilla wakes Anne and sets her to work before any decisions about her future are made. True to form, Anne can't help but pause to admire the cherry tree in full bloom outside her window, calling it the Snow Queen. Marilla, however, stays practical and focused, guiding Anne toward her chores. At breakfast, Matthew sits quietly as Marilla questions Anne about her past—the families who took her in, the hard work she did, and the loneliness she faced. Anne responds with surprising honesty, recounting her experiences at the asylum and in service without wallowing in self-pity. It's this straightforwardness, along with Anne's evident intelligence and her deep desire for a real home, that starts to affect Marilla. By the end of the chapter, Marilla hasn’t made an official decision, but her initial resistance has noticeably weakened. She confides in Matthew that they will keep Anne—at least for now—concluding that the child clearly needs someone and that sending her back would be unkind. The chapter wraps up with a sense of cautious, tentative hope rather than outright celebration.
Analysis
Montgomery skillfully leads Marilla to relent, maintaining a careful balance that avoids sentimentality. The chapter's key moment is the interrogation scene, which serves as an audition that Anne doesn’t realize she’s taking part in. Marilla's questions are short and to the point, while Anne's responses are unexpectedly genuine because they come from the heart. Montgomery relies on the contrast between Marilla's terse tone and Anne's warm one to convey emotions, allowing irony to express what a less skilled writer might have spelled out.
The Snow Queen motif introduced at the window serves two purposes: it highlights Anne's compulsive desire to beautify and rename her surroundings, while also subtly reflecting Marilla herself—appearing cold on the outside but possibly radiant beneath. Montgomery establishes this parallel without making it obvious, inviting readers to feel the connection rather than analyze it.
The chapter's tonal control is a quiet success. By keeping the narration focused on Marilla's perspective during her crucial conversation with Matthew, the emotional intensity remains low despite the high stakes. The word "trial" in Marilla's decision carries weight—it acknowledges Anne's vulnerability while suggesting that she is being evaluated, a theme that will shape their relationship in the upcoming chapters.
Montgomery also employs Anne's recounting of her past as an early example of the novel's ongoing theme of storytelling as a means of survival: Anne has learned to narrate her struggles in a way that distances her from them, turning pain into stories before it can consume her.
Key quotes from Chapter 6
“I'm not going to be in a hurry to make up my mind. We'll keep her here until after the picnic, and then decide.”
Marilla delivers this to Matthew at the chapter's close, framing her softening as mere practicality—a characteristic deflection that reveals more warmth than she intends.
“I never had a mother, not even a little while. I wouldn't mind so much if I had ever had a mother.”
Anne says this during Marilla's interrogation of her past, and it is the moment Montgomery identifies as the one that cracks Marilla's resolve.
“I'm going to call it the Snow Queen because it's so white. Do you think it minds being called that?”
Anne pauses at her bedroom window before breakfast, addressing the blooming cherry tree and establishing her habit of renaming the world around her.
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