As they travel together to Mrs. Spencer’s, Anne continually cries out in joy at the wonders of the natural world, even though Marilla cannot understand her desire to “be a rose” (44). Likewise, Marilla refuses to call the simple lakes and roads by the names Anne has given them, preferring the practical, sensible terms instead. To make Anne’s non-stop talk meaningful, Marilla asks Anne to talk about her life until Green Gables. Even though Anne would prefer to tell Marilla “what [she] imagine[s] about [her]self” instead of the truth, which “isn’t really worth telling” (45), she acquiesces to Marilla’s demands.

In quaint storytelling fashion, Anne begins her history. Her parents, both teachers in Nova Scotia, died from fever when she was just an infant. Since “nobody wanted [her] even then” (47), Anne was passed around the town as a child, usually ending up at places where mothers with many children, namely Mrs. Thomas and Mrs. Hammond, would use her as a live-in nanny. Eventually, when Mrs. Hammond’s husband died, her numerous children went to live with relatives, and Anne was forced to go to the orphan asylum, even though they did not want her either. Anne struggles to tell Marilla these truths, as “she did not like talking about her experiences in a world that had not wanted her” (48).