KidLit Forum

Quote:
But- POLLYANNA!- what a ridiculous name!


Pollyanna is the story of an little orphan girl who goes to live with her wealthy aunt in 'the great house on the hill' after her parents die. The aunt is depicted a little judgmental, as a lonely bitter spinster with no friends or companions who must be very unhappy because she does not quite love children.
Pollyanna is a very cheerful and talkative little girl, she has a philosophy named 'the game', she finds something to be happy about in every situation. Pollyanna seems to be the good character from a classical soap-opera, orphan, poor, insecure (in a way that seems to ask for compliments: '...you see I'm not very much to look at, anyway, on account of the freckles.'; 'And I can be glad there isn't any looking-glass here, too, because where there isn't any glass I can't see my freckles.'; 'Oh dear! then you'll see my freckles, won't you? she sighed, as she went to the window') that sees only the good in people, and it's always available to help, even when she's not requested to do so. She often speaks about her condition in a pitiful way even though she is using a cheerful tone to not seem aware of the fact that she actually requires pity.

Pollyanna changed the whole community with her Glad Game, and even managed to change her aunt from a bitter spinster to a rosy-cheek housewife, but she struggled to apply her theory on herself when she suffered an accident and she was left paralyzed. Luckily she got well.
Pollyanna is an example of optimism, but she often made me believe that she was actually in denial, and it seems that her exaggerated optimism was her way of coping with her not-so-happy situation. I also believe that she favors a misogynistic view that the woman should be an entertainer in order to be liked, she gives me the impression that she's not authentic.

Anna, you’re right about the phoney sensation elicited by Pollyanna. There is actually a so-called "Polyanna Principle" which refers to her gung-ho optimism, but at the same time at the many things that this "philosophy" of avoidance just skims over so superficially.

I found your comments about the sexist construction of Polyanna’s character to be well-thought, as she seems indeed to be reduced to the role of a fee-good chirping female...

What did you think about the construction of the book, about the balance between its sections? When I first added this book to the list, it was in the idea that students should focus on her traumatic experience of disability. How did you find the treatment of disability in this book?

The book is almost 300 pages large, but the disability appears almost at the end of the book, and it's little described, so I totally forgot to mention ableism, and I think at that point I didn't know illness-disability is part of the difference theory, because I read the book in the summer before starting the courses. I found the illness (well hypochondria) more obvious in "The Secret Garden" where it's a theme, described throughout the book.
Disability is not something striking in the book, Pollyanna's condition is presented in brief, and it doesn't last for a long time, but we can see it's the critical point when the game doesn't work anymore, when Pollyanna was really down and also the part when the reader feels genuinely bad for her.