History Characters / AnneOfGreenGables

* DarkAndTroubledPast: Leslie has had a ''very'' difficult life. When she was young, she witnessed her little brother getting crushed to death under a wagon wheel, and a few years later she discovered her father's body hanging from the chandelier after he committed suicide. She was eventually forced to marry Dick Moore when she was only sixteen so her mother wouldn't be evicted from their family home, and Dick was abusive towards her. Finally, Dick came home from a sea voyage after suffering brain damage; while he's no longer abusive to her, he requires constant care and this prevents Leslie from having much of a social life.

* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: She's called more often by the nickname "Rilla" (taken from her middle name, Marilla) than her real first name, Bertha. She dislikes this since she considers her middle name old-fashioned and her first name more "beautiful and dignified".

* BrainyBrunette

* ParentalFavoritism: Susan isn't his mother, but loves him the most out of all the kids.

* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: She's called by the nickname "Rilla" (taken from her middle name, Marilla) than her real first name, Bertha. She dislikes this since she considers her middle name old-fashioned and her first name more "beautiful and dignified".

%%* AffectionateNickname

* SpeechImpediment: Had a noticeable lisp when she was younger. She outgrew it mostly, but lapses into it when she's nervous

* SpiritedYoungLady: Imagines new names, is impulsive, dreamy, and bold. She fits the trope aside from not being an explicit {{Tomboy}}.

** Also involved in one of the funniest scenes involving Anne, almost eating a plum-pudding sauce Anne made after a mouse drowned in it.

* OverlyLongName: Her full name is "Mary Martha Lucilla Moore Ball Vance".

* MsImagination: A defining trait of hers, since she has a big imagination and loves to talk about the things she imagines. She renames an ugly lake "the Lake of Shining Waters" and fantasizes about having a different name and hair color.

* IntergenerationalFriendship: Anne becomes friends with her best friend Diana's Great-Aunt Josephine, Mrs. Allan (the minister's wife), and her teacher Miss Stacy. In Anne of Avonlea, as a teacher she befriends her pupil Paul Irving, and Miss Lavender, who becomes Paul's stepmother. In Anne of Windy Poplars, she becomes friends with a young girl named Elizabeth, and in Anne's House of Dreams, she becomes friends with Captain Jim (who is in his seventies) and Miss Cornelia, who is fifty.

* SchoolMarm: She works for two years as the sole teacher at the Avonlea schoolhouse in "Anne Of Avonlea" and takes a more demanding position in another town for three years in "Anne Of Windy Poplars". She works hard for the respect of her students and solves their problems.

* RedheadsAreUncool: Anne definitely believes this. Her relationships with Rachel Lynde and Gilbert Blythe are openly hostile at first because they teased her about her red hair, which she hopes will some day darken into a real handsome auburn (which it eventually does). Still, though at times she can get very careless and cause mishaps, Anne is popular with her peers and rarely considered "uncool" by other people.
* SchoolMarm: Became a teacher in "Anne Of Avonlea" and takes a more demanding position in another town for a year in "Anne Of Windy Poplars". She works hard for the respect of her students and solves their problems.

* GirlishPigtails: Frequently wore her hair in two braided pigtails.

* RedheadsAreUncool: Anne is a very cheerful person, but at times could get very careless and cause mishaps. Her relationships with the people of Avonlea began unusually friendly or openly hostile because they teased her about her red hair, which she hoped would some day darken into a real handsome auburn.

%%* HeartwarmingOrphan

* SheIsAllGrownUp: Several characters note that she's gotten prettier with age.

* [[SheIsAllGrownUp He Is All Grown Up]]: Puberty and maturity has only heightened his good looks.

* MixedAncestry: Possibly of Irish descent.

* CatchPhrase: "Isn't that just like a man?" and "believe me".

* CatchPhrase: "Isn't that just like a man?"

* YouthfulFreckles: She loses them as she gets older.

* CannotTalkToWomen: At first, Matthew tends to stay at home because any time he tries to interact with girls or women, he tends to stutter and act very shy. One attempt by him to do so, resulted in buying twenty pounds of brown sugar and a rake in the middle of winter. He does find it easier to talk to Anne, probably due to the combination of being around her a lot and the fact that Anne [[MotorMouth has no difficulty filling in conversational gaps]].

%%* GrayEyes

* UnrequitedLove: She was in love with Walter Blythe, but he went to war and died before she could admit it to him. Walter did not seem to return her feelings.

*

* LazyButBrilliant: Due to being the youngest child, she has no grand ambitions for her life except to have fun. Then UsefulNotes/WorldWarI happens, and she proves herself more capable than she thought.

* TheCobblersChildrenHaveNoShoes: He is a saintly minister, and and a parent of four well-meaning but mischievous children

* HairOfGoldHEartOfGold: A bit headstrong, but a nice girl

* SickEpisode: Due to his punishment being made to stay out in the manse's graveyard until midnight, even while it rained, he became sick with pneumonia

* BrilliantButLazy: Due to being the youngest child, she has no grand ambitions for her life except to have fun. Then UsefulNotes/WorldWarI happens, and she proves herself more capable than she thought.