Orphan Trauma and the Narrative of Imagination. Autobiographical Memory, Trauma and Coping Mechanisms in The Alpine Path, Emily of New Moon and Anne of Green Gables

L. M. Montgomery’s novels Emily of New Moon and Anne of Green Gables showcase her insight into trauma, imagination and healing. Her engagement with autobiographical memories, both her own and those of Emily and Anne, is multi-faceted. Montgomery uses her autobiographical memories from The Alpine Path as building blocks for the girls’ social worlds, and she shares her love of words and narrative with the protagonists—a love that she amplifies in the narratives in order to fill the void left behind by the trauma of becoming and being an orphan. Through examining narrative as the way in which we learn how to make sense of the world, as the way we create, store and reconstruct memories, as the way we create fictions for ourselves, and as the way we combat and heal from trauma, it becomes clear that Emily and Anne make use of every one of these functions of narrative and imagination. For the girls, creative narrative, from memory to writing and storytelling, is a coping mechanism. It is through this coping mechanism, as well as their imaginary friends and natural environments, that Emily and Anne transform their orphan narratives, turning them into ones of healing. It is through these mechanisms that the power of narrative comes to light