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Emily of New Moon - Help me figure something out

34 replies

WTF2017 · 26/11/2017 12:06

I'm reading Emily of New Moon, the trilogy from L.M Montgomery of Anne of Green Gables fame, for the first time at the grand old age of 37.
I've just started Emily Climbs - so NO SPOILERS PLEASE!!! Smile and I'm really uncomfortable with this one thing: what is the deal with Dean Priest? Why is this man in his 30s interested in this girl child? Bearing in mind he has known her since she was, what, 9 years old and immediately latched onto her as a kindred spirit of sorts and is basically obsessing over her, making weird comments about her being his possession etc. Emily at 14 is clearly feeling uncomfortable at times and making a point os saying she is no one's possession but how is no-one worried about the adult man basically grooming her in front of everyone's eyes?

I am curious as to how this relationship looked to anyone who read the story as a child, I am hoping it gets addressed at a later time but argh, my toes are curling in horror every time he appears in the story. Am I supposed to think he is nice? I appreciate Emily having a mentor in Mr Carpenter, but Dean Priest is basically a paedophile. Or am I wrong? Thoughts please so I can stop going over it endlessly in my mind Confused

OP posts:
MortalEnemy · 26/11/2017 17:37

I loved that trilogy as a child, far more than the Anne of Green Gables books, but rereading it as an adult, Emily is a snobbish, vain, touchy pain in the ass, Teddy has weird Mother Issues and is way less nice than Gilbert Blythe, and yes, absolutely, Dean Priest is a total perv with an eye for very young flesh -- but the narrator and lots of other characters are also sexualising Emily from a freakishly young age. Even just after her father dies (I can't remember how old she is, but not more than 10 or 11?), her relatives keep banging on about her come hither eyes, her 'slow smile' and her ankles.Hmm And Great-Aunt Nancy when she goes to visit Priest Pond. And yes, there's some hideous scene when Emily is about 14 and Dean Priest is walking in a garden with her and perving inwardly about her kissable lips and the pure virginal line of her cheek or something. Eeek.

Mind you, LMM has some pretty odd dynamics going on in lots of her novels. Jane of Lantern Hill has a twelve year old falling in love with a random journalist's photo in a newspaper, cutting it out and hiding it in her underwear drawer until her tyrannical grandmother burns it -- and then discovers that not only is her dead father not dead, but he turns out to be that journalist from the photo, and they set up house together with Jane bustling about doing all the cooking and cleaning and generally a mini-wife. Grin

HumphreyCobblers · 26/11/2017 17:33

yes the Dean thing is grim. But the author didn't see it like that at all, it was presented as a perfectly valid situation for Emily to participate in.

RosemaryHoight · 26/11/2017 17:31

I haven't read the Emily books for yonks.

Also love the user names on this thread.

Original poster
WTF2017 · 26/11/2017 17:28

Emily's a sharp one. I think I like her better than Anne because she's not all fluffy rainbows; Gilbert is the man though. I do like Teddy and Perry, but at this point Teddy's mother is freaking me out!

Glad it's not just me thinking 'what the heck Dean you perv'

OP posts:
Callmecordelia · 26/11/2017 17:13

Love the usernames on this thread.

AnneLovesGilbert · 26/11/2017 17:08

You’re right. And I never liked him. But partly because he wasn’t Teddy! God I love those books. Enjoy! And have faith in Emily’s judgement Wink

Callmecordelia · 26/11/2017 17:07

I didn't get it at all. I thought he was a bit weird, but I didn't look beyond the surface.

MaryLennoxsScowl · 26/11/2017 17:05

Oh, but I didn't notice as a younger reader at all.

MaryLennoxsScowl · 26/11/2017 17:05

You're not wrong, he's awful! However, don't think anyone at the time realised that, it's very clear to modern eyes though! I can't say too much until you read the rest but it gets worse. I actually can't read them now because of it.