For my next IRJE, I chose a quotation in the next book in the “Emily of New Moon” series, Emily Climbs, by L.M. Montgomery. In the story, the protagonist Emily is on a trip with her best friend Ilse canvassing for subscriptions (visiting neighborhoods asking people to subscribe) to a newspaper from their town in which they are boarding for school. However, while walking they get lost and will not be able to get to the house in which they are to stay in time before dark. Instead, they decide to stay the night on a haystack near the road, and Emily stays awake gazing at the stars and the beauty of the night.
“She was glad Ilse was asleep. Any human companionship, even the dearest and most perfect, would have been alien to her then. She was sufficient unto herself, needing not love nor comradeship nor any human emotion to round out her felicity. Such moments come rarely in life, but when they do come they are inexpressibly wonderful – as if the finite were for a second divinity – as if humanity were for a space uplifted into divinity – as if all ugliness had vanished, leaving only flawless beauty” (p. 177).
This quotation highlights one of my favorite parts of both this series in particular and L.M. Montgomery’s writing in general – her descriptions of the world, even the smaller things in life. She often describes nature in very fantastical and vivid descriptions and accentuate small things such as the wind rustling through the trees or a clump of flowers. Even a simple thing such as laying and gazing at the stars can have great meaning, and be what make life interesting.