Pollyanna (1913), by Eleanor H. Porter



Hayley Mills is the ultimate
Pollyanna, although a bit too
aggressive for my image of
the character from the book



This edition of Pollyanna, which I bought from Barnes & Noble online, was completely devoid of copyright information--no ISBN number, cataloging information, year of publication. Is this book in the public domain? I usually read the copyright information with interest…it can place the book in context of publication, ownership, and so much more. In fact, this book does not even give a publisher, internally or externally. In the blurb on the back cover, the publication date 1913 is given. On the final page it says simply, “Made in the USA, Lexington, Kentucky, 18 December 2012.” Is it a bootleg? My best guess is that it may have been published as part of a series that was then split up or something. Odd. For the record, I bought this book in good faith with the full expectation that a portion of the cost would go to some authorial representative.

Now, to the book…

Orphan girl redeems cranky people by the force of her inner goodness. That about sums it up. Pollyanna follows in the great tradition of Anne of Green Gables, The Secret Garden, Heidi, and so many other girl-of-inner-goodness books. It’s a stale plot, completely predictable. Pollyanna, however, manages to rise a bit above the banal structural formula. It’s the writing.

Porter’s writing is fine--wry, funny, understated. She respected the reader enough to use hints and inference instead of excessive detail. The twist of a smile, an intake of breath. She strews the clues along like colored eggs at an egg hunt (or, as I first imagined it, as scattered Skittles) and as I collected them I increased in both hope and despair. This despite my awareness of the good orphan girl formula.

The story proceeded as much through vignettes as through narrative. Pollyanna, orphaned in “the west,” is sent back east to live with her Aunt Polly, a stern, love-lacking spinster lady. Pollyanna is Aunt Polly’s niece. Aunt Polly always blamed her sister’s husband for stealing her away to the west and estranging them. Pollyanna, of course, is cheerful and so damned glad all the time. Quite annoying.

The reader meets Aunt Polly, Nancy the cook-housekeeper and old Tom. On her errands through the small community, she makes the acquaintance of an old invalid, an orphan, a cranky old man, and many others. Gradually, Porter weaves these strands together into a net that starts to draw tighter and tighter around us and around the principle characters in the book. Porter has a light touch, but a masterful one.

Pollyanna is transformative. She symbolizes giving up gloom and criticism and allowing the gladness into your life--keeping on the sunny side of life. Her father taught her the gladness game, whereupon whatever happens to you, no matter how bad, you are challenged to find some gladness in it. I got a bit sick of it, but the case is made as the people Pollyanna’s life touches are changed and then the whole community changes. It’s quite preachy when I write it out, but Porter manages all this beautifully.

I recommend this book. It’s entertaining, fast-paced, emotionally rich, salubrious, and wholesome. Pollyanna is a great heroine, brave and true. You’ll laugh and cry and hope and urge the characters on. You’ll be engaged. That’s priceless.