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Tear Jerker / Anne of Green Gables

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  • Matthew's death. Though there's plenty of foreshadowing, it's still shocking.
  • Also, Gilbert almost dying of typhoid fever in Anne of the Island. Anne's anguish can be palpably felt.
  • The death of Joyce, Anne's first child who lived for less than a day.
    • To add insult to injury, a few days later Anne gets a telegram from Phillipa Gordon, congratulating her.
  • When they think they will never see each other again, Diana gives Anne a Platonic Declaration of Love. Anne is extremely touched by this and reciprocates, but openly expresses shock because she while she knew Diana was fond of her, she "could never dream" that Diana loved her. She even states that nobody had ever told her they loved her before since she can remember and by then she didn't believe anybody could love her. Someone give this girl a hug.
  • Walter's death in World War I.
    • Even more so, his last letter. And before that his anguish over how he was afraid to enlist and thought himself a coward for it. His and Rilla's final conversation before he goes overseas is at once beautiful and tragic.
  • Anne's childhood before she came to Marilla and Matthew.
  • In the 1979 Isao Takahata anime, episode 16, after the cherry cordial incident when Anne pleads her case to Mrs. Barry and is rebuffed. She stays stoic until she gets home, when she bursts into hysterical tears and runs into Marilla's arms while a sad song plays in the background. The song continues playing as Marilla tucks Anne into bed and gently wipes away the sleeping girl's tears. The voice acting, in both the Japanese and in the South African-made English dub, really brings home the emotional power.
  • In Anne's House of Dreams, the entire back-story of Leslie Moore, including seeing her brother crushed to death under a wagon, her father's suicide, marrying a horrible man so he wouldn't evict her mother, her mother's subsequent death, etc.
  • In Anne of the Island, in which Gilbert professes his love for Anne and asks her to marry him and she tells him she can never love him.
  • Anne's childhood friend Ruby Gillis admitting that she is aware of the fact that she is dying, followed by her death in Anne of the Island.
  • Little loveable Bruce Meredith drowning his own kitten in hopes it will bring the missing in action Jem back safely. A horrifying moment by anyone's standards, when one considers this is a young child willing to kill his very favourite pet and actually believing it will make Jem return.
  • The storyline of James Armstrong and his beloved son, Teddy the "Little Fellow". An adorable boy, and a gruff man, who later loses his son.

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