Gerty and Anna

The contemporary little girl on the show shared many of the same unique qualities as Gerty. First of all, I found it very interesting that Anna struck the “lion” pose in yoga when something was troubling her. This image reminded me of Susanna Cummin’s depiction of Gerty when she is throwing a fit in the street after Nan Grant boils her kitten. Gerty is described as “uttering a succession of piercing shrieks, until she quite exhausted her strength” (p 91). Although the approaches the two children take in grieving are starkly different, the underlying image of a lion is quite similar.

I also thought Anna and Gerty were analogous in the technique of “blanking” their minds when things were difficult for them. Anna’s meditation and relaxation mirrored Gerty’s approach of retreating to the wood-yard in an effort to clear her mind. It was her “haven of rest, her sanctum” in which she could find peace and forget her woes for a short period of time when the world seemed too tough for her (p 84).

When asked to share advice about how girls should be themselves, Anna explains that girls need to be themselves and not change in an effort to win friends. I think that Gerty would have a similar outlook if asked that same question on the show; however, I think she would have more resentment and bitterness built up in her response. True recognized “that the fire of her little spirit was not quenched or its evil propensities extinguished” (p 127). Because Gerty experienced trauma with other children throughout the story, she might retort with a more forceful and tart answer than Anna. The children who taunted her and called True “Old Smutty” really affected Gerty to the point of her wanting to fight them (p 146). I think that Gerty would have brought up this incident on the show and would have told Amy Poehler that girls should stick up for the ones that they love and admire.