#doesn't quite have the ring of gilbert blythe

[batrachised]

I love all of LM Montgomery’s work, but the Blue Castle is raw in a way unlike her others. There’s a sense of cynicism from the first page, one quite at odds with LM Montgomery’s classic Anne (at least, Anne at first – Rilla of Ingleside’s Anne is different, and understandably so). It’s notable how this cynicism is met with delightfully sappy conclusions and happily ever afters, but if I had to define the Blue Castle’s tone at first, it’s dreary. It examines how dreary life is, and although it rejects the idea that life has to be this way, it acknowledges the reality that it often is.

Of all of LM Montgomery's characters, Valancy Stirling is the most real to me. This is a woman I know in real life--I've seen her in friends, I've seen her in family, and to be blunt, I've seen her in myself. I think quite a lot of women can relate to Valancy Stirling in some way. Valancy Stirling is someone who is neither liked nor disliked; who has neither friend nor foe; who is neither pretty nor charming; who is simply, quite often, not registered at all. As Valancy herself thinks miserably, she doesn't even have an enemy.

Valancy Stirling is also stuck. She's deeply unhappy with her life, which isn't difficult, but is empty and lonely. In the first few chapters of the book, LM Montgomery paints such an effective picture of despair I can find it difficult to read. There's no romanticism here--instead, there's the brutal acknowledgement that not everyone gets their Gilbert Blythe, often due to no choice of their own. Valancy's problem isn't having her head in the clouds about romance like Anne, or wrangling a love triangle like Emily, or a dancing will-they won't they with the neighbor boy like Pat; Valancy's problem is that no one finds her desirable at all. As the book states:

"Ay, there lay the sting. Valancy did not mind so much being an old maid. After all, she thought, being an old maid couldn’t possibly be as dreadful as being married to an Uncle Wellington or an Uncle Benjamin, or even an Uncle Herbert. What hurt her was that she had never had a chance to be anything but an old maid. No man had ever desired her."

And then LM Montgomery takes this a step further--she doesn't stop at the pain of being overlooked but confronts the grim reality in stark terms:

"The moment when a woman realises that she has nothing to live for—neither love, duty, purpose nor hope—holds for her the bitterness of death.

“And I just have to go on living because I can’t stop. I may have to live eighty years,” thought Valancy, in a kind of panic."

Raw, cynical, and true. What makes Valancy's situation so painful is that she has nothing to look forward to or hope for. She isn't needed or wanted by anyone. This isn't melodramatic; this is reality. Valancy is an unmarried woman in a time period where her options were already limited. She has nothing left to do but exist in a life where existence is a chore.

Of course, being in an LM Montgomery novel, Valancy gets her happy ending (in fact, in one of the more fantastical LM Montgomery endings that I won't spoil). Seeing Valancy throw back her shoulders and reject the life handed to her--from telling off her family at the dinner table to merrily giving societal conventions the middle finger--is remarkably satisfying. Still, there's something about those first few chapters that stays with me. Rather than the (accused) saccharine nature of Anne, you have a blunt statement that yes, life can be terrible, unromantic, and lonely. And that can be it. It's a weary recognition of the lack of happily ever afters, even if it turns into a happily ever after itself.

#lm montgomery #the blue castle #if this seems familiar it's because i've written about it before #valancy stirling #and on another note barney snaith is incredible no i will not be taking questions #i genuinely believe that the reason he isn't as popular (beyond the blue castle in general being unknown) is bc his name is BARNEY SNAITH #doesn't quite have the ring of gilbert blythe