Gilbert Blythe

Gilbert nicknames Anne "Carrots" on her first day at Avonlea school because he notices her red braids and leans across the aisle to tease her with the term. Montgomery frames this act as a clumsy bid for Anne's attention rather than an act of cruelty — he repeats it until she hears, indicating interest instead of malice. The insult wounds Anne's deepest insecurity about her appearance, prompting her to smash her slate over his head.

Yes — Gilbert tries to apologise to Anne on the road home from school shortly after the slate-smashing incident. Anne refuses to acknowledge him and walks past, maintaining her silence for years afterward. Montgomery uses this moment to shift reader sympathy toward Gilbert early on: his willingness to apologise immediately positions his teasing as thoughtless rather than vindictive, while Anne's refusal stems from wounded pride instead of justified anger.

Gilbert quietly arranges for Anne to receive the Avonlea school teaching post that he had already secured for himself. He does this after Matthew Cuthbert's death makes it impossible for Anne to leave Marilla, surrendering a concrete professional advantage for someone who has treated him coldly for years. This selfless act serves as the novel's emotional high point and demonstrates that the boy who once teased Anne carelessly has evolved into a young man of genuine principle.

They reconcile near the end of the novel in a quiet exchange on the lane near Green Gables, after Gilbert has already relinquished the teaching post on Anne's behalf. Anne extends her hand, Gilbert takes it, and years of manufactured coldness dissolve in that single gesture. Montgomery frames the moment as the resolution of a rivalry that began in chapter seven, with Anne finally recognising her long-held resentment as a product of misplaced pride rather than genuine grievance.

Ruby Gillis openly admires Gilbert's looks and charm, representing the typical Avonlea girl's reaction to him — every girl notices him. Anne's deliberate indifference sharply contrasts this, highlighting her exceptional nature in Gilbert's eyes. By contrasting Ruby's infatuation with Anne's refusal to be impressed, Montgomery signals that Gilbert's persistent pursuit of Anne's good opinion is a meaningful, considered choice rather than casual flirtation.

Gilbert is Avonlea school's top student before Anne arrives, but the two prove evenly matched throughout the novel. They earn parallel honours at Queen's Academy — both achieving high marks and tying for first place — transforming their rivalry into a form of mutual recognition. Rather than one definitively outperforming the other, Montgomery uses their equal results to argue that Anne has found in Gilbert a worthy intellectual benchmark who continually motivates her to study harder and aim higher.

No — Montgomery draws a clear implicit contrast between the two. Charlie Sloane's attentions toward Anne are unwelcome and treated as somewhat comic, never taken seriously by Anne or the reader. Gilbert's regard, in contrast, is grounded in genuine recognition of Anne as an intellectual equal, earning real weight in the narrative. While Charlie represents an unsuitable and slightly absurd suitor, Gilbert is the standard by which admirable, respectful masculinity is measured in the novel.

No specific lines of dialogue attributed to Gilbert have been recorded in the source material for this novel. His characterisation relies almost entirely on actions — the initial taunt, the refused apology, the surrendered teaching post, the final handshake — rather than memorable speeches. Montgomery deliberately limits access to his interiority, constructing him through indirect means: other characters' reactions to him and the weight of what he does rather than what he says.