Anne with an E: Season 2, Episode 2 (S2E2)
Why do we place our trust in the wrong places, sometimes? And how far has Anne made it up Maslow's Motivation Model? Dig in as I nerd out on psychology and Dorothy Gale.
“A house is made of bricks and beams. A home is made of hopes and dreams.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson
S2E2 is titled "Signs are Small Measurable Things, but Interpretations are Illimitable.” Like the prior episode, it borrows a line from George Eliot's novel “Middlemarch.” The phrase, seen below in its entirety, speaks to Anne’s ability to utilize her limitless imagination as a force of good (wonder, hope, belief, as vast as a sky). Still, it also warns or forebodes that sometimes, despite best intentions, we place our trust in the wrong places, as we see Anne do with Nate and Mr. Dunlop, the Green Gables boarders and swindlers attempting to rob the townspeople of their money. (Wrong reasoning sometimes lands poor mortals in right conclusions). The implication is that when taken to extremes or perhaps through growing pains, this misplaced trust can threaten our livelihood, home, and sense of safety. Still, it’s all a part of a journey, and one which to learn lessons, we must make mistakes to arrive “just where we ought to be.”
“Signs are small measurable things, but interpretations are illimitable, and in girls of sweet, ardent nature, every sign is apt to conjure up wonder, hope, belief, vast as a sky, and colored by a thimbleful of matter in the shape of knowledge...wrong reasoning sometimes lands poor mortals in right conclusions: starting a long way off the true point, and proceeding by loops and zigzags, we now and then arrive just where we ought to be.”
Psych 101 - Where We Talk Maslow
If the season premiere is about financial stability and Anne building confidence, this episode marks yet another shift. For Anne, it's not just about survival or relationships anymore. She's officially moved on from love and belonging and stepped into esteem. Big shift… This episode’s defining pivot is self-actualization, per Maslow’s “Hierarchy of Needs” framework (1954), which was expanded to include cognitive and aesthetic needs (Maslow, 1970a) and later transcendence needs (Maslow, 1970b). [Note: Maslow’s five-stage model is something I’ve referenced more than a few times in my work. Some folks fashion themselves armchair detectives. I consider myself an armchair psychologist.]
Still, it’s ambitious of me to assert that so early in Anne’s journey, she might be nearing the top of the pyramid of Maslow’s adjusted model. Allow me to explain. Starting in season 2, I would argue that Anne’s season 1 emotional development is predominantly bottom 1/3rd-based (physiological and safety bridging into love and belonging). In season 1, she needed a place where she could lay her head down (thanks, Paul Young and Marvin Gaye) without fear of being bullied, punished, and turned out, and from there, found love and belonging with Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert at Green Gables and became Anne Shirley Cuthbert.
Emerging from Season 1’s finale, Anne demonstrated independence in devising a plan to save Green Gables and then executing it. Throughout all of this, Marilla’s arc was learning to trust Anne. By permitting Anne to be a partner in saving the farm, she showed Anne she believed in her abilities, thereby empowering Anne to find confidence, which led to her eventual self-actualization.
The OG/Original Maslow Model (see below), created in the 1950s, peaked at self-actualization. In the 1970s, Maslow updated it to distinguish transcendence and account for the evolutionary needs (cognitive, aesthetic) past self-actualization, recognizing that self-fulfillment and realizing one’s potential is not the end goal. Still, that service to a greater purpose and ideals is higher up on the evolutionary needs chain. [Definition: A person is motivated by values that transcend beyond the personal self. Beyond self-actualization, they represent the human desire to connect with a higher reality, purpose, or the universe.]
Anne’s journey into transcendence, shaped by George Eliot’s eloquence and her sharp societal insights into the female experience, offers the perfect lens through which to explore Anne’s arc in the final two seasons.
“Your imagination is a gift Anne. It’s something that can’t be learned.” Diana to Anne
Read on for this episode’s SHOW-FILM-SONG connection (a creative twist on the usual “Show-Song” connection), why we misplace trust even in the face of great growth from a Beth & Maslow POV, other major subplots, and the people behind the show.
For all related “Anne with an E” episodes, bookmark [this link] 🔗
Where’s home?
The Short Answer: It’s wherever my family is.
The Long One: It’s a place that feels familiar and foreign all at once. It’s where I can smell the exotic, aromatic spices of my husband’s cooking or hear him on the treadmill. It’s where I can listen to my son singing, unbeknownst to him, or behind his door, enthusiastically shouting at a video game, while talking to a friend. It’s my daughter laughing on the phone with her friend, doing impressions, or reading a book on her bed. It’s me with my noise cancellation headphones, in front of a screen, trying to create something of substance and connection, desperately trying to know myself a little more in the space of 750 words or less.