Pollyanna

Nancy gets to work preparing the room Miss Polly has assigned to Pollyanna. Nancy thinks that Miss Polly is cruel for assigning Pollyanna a shabby, uncomfortable little attic room when she has such a big house.

Later, in the garden, Nancy bumps into the gardener, Old Tom. She shares the astonishing news that Jennie’s daughter Pollyanna will be coming to live with them. Old Tom is excited and Nancy gossips about Miss Polly giving Pollyanna the attic room. Recognizing that Nancy is not fond of Miss Polly, Old Tom shares the secret that she once had a “love affair” with a man who he will leave anonymous (11). Ever since this ended badly, Miss Polly has been ill-humored and lost her beauty. Nancy hears her mistress calling her to the house.

Nancy is horrified that Miss Polly sends her to the station to pick up Pollyanna instead of going there herself. She goes there in an open buggy with Old Tom’s son, Timothy. Pollyanna appears according to her description, a “slender little girl in […] red-checked gingham with two fat braids of flaxen hair” (15). She instantly mistakes Nancy for Miss Polly and begins a garrulous stream of chatter, telling her how “glad, glad, glad” she is to see her (16). She only recently learned of Aunt Polly’s existence and Aunt Polly is her only living relative. Pollyanna relates how heartbroken she was to lose her father and how following her orphanhood, she was at the mercy of the Ladies’ Aid who clothed her and equipped her for the journey.

When Pollyanna finds out that Nancy is not Aunt Polly, she is shocked for a moment, but then puts an optimistic spin on the situation, saying that she still has something to look forward to. As they approach Miss Polly’s house, Pollyanna is impressed that her aunt is rich, as her branch of the family has lacked riches. Nancy worries about Pollyanna’s hope being defeated as soon as she meets Aunt Polly and vows to be a point of stability for her.

Pollyanna greets Aunt Polly enthusiastically but is met with a cold reception. Aunt Polly makes it clear that she does not care to hear about Pollyanna’s father. Pollyanna assumes that this is because Aunt Polly does not want Pollyanna to fixate on her loss. She marvels at the house as she follows Aunt Polly up to her room and exclaims how “awfully glad you must be you’re so rich” (23). Aunt Polly is horrified, professing that it would be a sin to be proud of being rich. Refusing to be chastised, Pollyanna follows Aunt Polly eagerly, wondering which room will be hers.

The discovery of her small hot attic room is a crushing disappointment. Nancy finds her in tears and Pollyanna confesses guiltily that “I can’t make myself understand that God and the angels needed by father more than I did” (25). As Nancy helps her unpack, Pollyanna regains her optimism. She finds a window with a nice view and declares it better than any of the pictures in the house. When Nancy is gone, Pollyanna opens the windows and climbs down the tree into the garden. She has her sights set on a rock when the bell for supper is rang. Miss Polly wants to punish Pollyanna for being late. Nancy goes in search of her; however, she is not in the attic. Nancy fears the worst, but Old Tom points to Pollyanna’s figure on the top of a rock.

Nancy tells Pollyanna that she has given her a scare and Pollyanna is grateful that Nancy is there to walk her home in the dark. When Nancy announces that supper will be bread and milk because she missed the dinner bell, Pollyanna is optimistic because she likes that. Nancy observes that “you don’t seem ter see any trouble bein’ glad about everythin” (31). Pollyanna explains how her father introduced her to the “just being glad” game, when she received crutches as a gift instead of the doll she wanted and was taught to be grateful that she did not need the crutches (31).

After eating her bread and milk, Pollyanna goes to see Aunt Polly and tells her not to feel bad about the simple supper because she enjoyed eating with Nancy. When she hugs Aunt Polly, Aunt Polly sends her to bed. Still, although she puts on a brave face before Aunt Polly, Pollyanna lets the game slip as she talks to her father and says that even he would struggle to feel positive if he were banished to an attic bedroom.

In the morning, Pollyanna spots Aunt Polly from her window and rushing into her arms, tells her how glad she is to be alive. She meets Old Tom who tells her how he used to remember her mother. At breakfast, Aunt Polly is annoyed by the appearance of a fly. Pollyanna confesses that it came in because she left the window open. Aunt Polly sends Pollyanna to her room with a pamphlet about the danger of flies. Pollyanna finds it fascinating.

Aunt Polly asks to inspect Pollyanna’s clothes. Pollyanna is ashamed and explains to her aunt that it is difficult to find suitable clothes in a missionary barrel.

Aunt Polly says that in the fall Pollyanna will start at the local school and that in the meantime, she will have to embark on some sort of schedule of activities. This will include reading aloud to Aunt Polly, taking piano lessons every day and learning to sew and cook. Pollyanna complains that Aunt Polly has not left her any time “to live” (43). When Aunt Polly goes on about the duty she has to properly educate Pollyanna, Pollyanna wonders that duty should be so joyless. Aunt Polly announces that none of Pollyanna’s garments are suitable for her to “appear out” in and that Timothy will drive them to town to procure new ones (44).

Pollyanna is ecstatic to have new clothes that fit her, while Miss Polly is relieved and the sales executives are armed with amusing stories about the little girl. Afterwards, she is happy to talk with Old Tom about her mother and to have Nancy tell her about her family at “The Corners” farm.

That night, however, Pollyanna is too hot to sleep as Miss Polly has ordered her to keep the windows closed and the screens have not arrived. So, she decides to take some of Miss Polly’s clothes from the attic and create a makeshift bed on the roof.

Miss Polly, meanwhile, hears pattering on the roof and orders Tom and Timothy to come up and investigate. When they discover that it is Pollyanna, Miss Polly is bemused. Pollyanna explains that it was too hot for her to sleep and that she also did not want to let the flies in. Miss Polly tries to punish her by saying that she must sleep in her bed with her, but Pollyanna is delighted. Miss Polly feels “curiously helpless” because Pollyanna appears to be expressing gratitude for her punishment (50).

Pollyanna follows the schedule Aunt Polly has set for her but manages to keep the hours of two to six in the afternoon free for herself. She loves to run errands so that she has an excuse to go into the village and get to know the people. Although there are no children to play with, Pollyanna is glad that there are so many interesting adults. Pollyanna passes by a stern gentleman in a top hat that she calls “the Man” and tries to engage him in conversation (52). He rebuffs her.

Nancy sends Pollyanna to Mrs. Snow with a calf’s foot jelly. Mrs. Snow is poor and bedridden, and Miss Polly feels that it is her duty to send her food. Mrs. Snow, a serial complainer, is a challenging case for Pollyanna’s glad game. Pollyanna goes into the dark sickroom and while Mrs. Snow is complaining, Pollyanna startles her with a comment on how she hates to lose time sleeping. This piques Mrs. Snow’s curiosity, and she demands that the curtain be pulled up so she can see Pollyanna. Pollyanna praises Mrs. Snow’s dark curls and calling her pretty, asks to fix her hair. Mrs. Snow finds herself liking the attention, but she still challenges Pollyanna to come up with something that she should be glad about given her bedridden state. Pollyanna says she must go and that she will think about the answer. Meanwhile, Mrs. Snow is genuinely affected by the visit and decides she finally wants to change her nightgown.

Pollyanna continues to greet the strange man and talk to him about the weather. He becomes so annoyed by this, that he tells her “I’ve got something besides the weather to think of. I don’t know whether the sun shines or not” (60). Pollyanna takes him literally and says that she had noticed him not noticing the weather and that is why she tells him about it. Still, she nearly manages to make the man laugh by comparing him to the Ladies’ Aid, her benefactors. After this, the man greets her each time.

Nancy is astounded that the man speaks to Pollyanna. Nancy announces that he is John Pendleton, a rich man who lives in a big house on Pendleton Hill. Despite his wealth, he is miserly. Nancy vouches that Pendleton has a secret, saying that he travels to non-Christian countries like Egypt and writes books about his discoveries there. Nancy resents him for not investing in the community. Pollyanna, however, is less judgmental, merely pronouncing Pendleton “different” (63). She is flattered that he talks to her, given that he ignores everyone else.

Pollyanna finds Mrs. Snow in a darkened room and a pessimistic mood. Pollyanna plays a trick on Mrs. Snow by asking her what she wanted her to bring rather than revealing what the offering is. This baffles Mrs. Snow, who is so used to “wanting what she did not have, that to state off-hand what she DID want seemed impossible—until she knew what she had” (65). Pollyanna has all three of the usual treats, which confuses Mrs. Snow further.

Pollyanna tries to help Mrs. Snow with finding something to be glad about, even though she must lie in bed all day. She tries to encourage her by saying the harder it is to be glad about something, the more fun the glad game becomes.

Pollyanna goes home to supper with Aunt Polly. Aunt Polly wearily explains that while she is glad that Pollyanna is happy, her time is not well spent unless she is engaged in “profitable” tasks as well (69). When Aunt Polly goes to the attic to search for something, she is apprehended by Pollyanna who thinks of her as a personal visitor. Pollyanna waxes lyrical about how she loves her room, even though it is without the curtains and carpets and nice pictures she hoped for. She says that she is grateful for a room of her own and not just the hired ones she had with her father. Aunt Polly is overwhelmed and leaves, but less than a day later, she instructs Nancy to take Pollyanna’s things to a proper bedroom on the floor below. Pollyanna is exuberantly grateful, and Aunt Polly gives her a stern lecture about looking after her things to curtail her own impulse to cry. When Aunt Polly criticizes Pollyanna for banging doors, Pollyanna tells Aunt Polly that she would not be able to help doing the same if she were glad. She worries that Aunt Polly was never glad. Aunt Polly in turn, sits around wondering what she was ever glad about.

Throughout August, Pollyanna surprises her aunt and Nancy. She brings home a stray kitten and dog, each time winning over Aunt Polly, who hates these creatures. However, after a visit to a Mrs. Snow who is eager to play the glad game with her, Pollyanna brings back Jimmy Bean, a ragged orphan boy who dearly wants a home and is willing to work for his keep. Pollyanna takes pity on him and vows that her aunt is kind enough to take him into her home.

Aunt Polly is shocked, not buying the argument that because she was kind enough to take in Pollyanna and the stray cat and dog she will take in Jimmy, whom she judges as a “ragged little beggar […] from the street” (81). Jimmy stirs with pride, fiercely denying that he is a beggar and insisting that he will work. Pollyanna remarks that she thought Aunt Polly would be glad to have him. Instead, Aunt Polly reproaches her frequent use of the word “glad”, because it is making her feel like she is going crazy.

Afterwards, Pollyanna apologizes to Jimmy, saying that she will present his case to the Ladies’ Aid committee and try to find him a home. For her part, Aunt Polly replays Jimmy’s report of her reputed kindness and finds that “in her heart was a curious sense of desolation—as of something lost” (84).