Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery wrote in her 1926 novel, The Blue Castle, “Fear is the original sin. Almost all of the evil in the world has its origin in the fact that someone is afraid of something. It is a cold slimy serpent coiling about you. It is horrible to live with fear; and it is of all things degrading.” (36) It was in many ways, a manifesto, and serves as clear theme of the novel.

The Blue Castle is one of Montgomery’s few adult novels. As the author of the world-famous Anne of Green Gables, Montgomery was known for writing children’s literature. And today the vast majority of the public are unaware of her books written for older audiences. In The Blue Castle, our heroine, Valancy Stirling has to learn to overcome her fear. So, she can fight for the life that she desires. Throughout the novel, Montgomery demonstrates how living fearlessly can drastically alter one’s life for the better.

The word “fear” appears in the novel a total of thirty-two times and the word “afraid” appears sixty-eight times. Fear follows Valancy around like a pestering fly, and is the root cause of her insecurities. Valancy is well aware of this fatal flaw of hers and muses over her lack of courage: “But then, there were so many things Valancy never dared do. All her life she had been afraid of something, she thought bitterly.” (8)

In the beginning of the novel, Valancy is a depressed, timid, and faded women. Valancy hates her life, room, fashion, appearance, and is saddened by the reality that she has never been sought by a man. To make matters worse, she is dealing with an occasional sharp pain in her chest, but is too afraid to get it checked out. Throughout her 29 years of life, Valancy has lived in fear, “afraid of not keeping up appearances—afraid to say what she really thought of anything—afraid of poverty in her old age. Fear—fear—fear—she could never escape from it. It bound her and enmeshed her like a spider’s web of steel.” (18)

It is while reading Magic of Wings by John Foster, that she observes his words, “fear is the original sin” (36). Inspired, these words finally give Valancy the courage to go see a doctor. This is the first instance of Valancy overcoming her fear, but this simple action would lead to everything else her in life falling into place, sometimes it only takes one act of courage.

After her Doctor’s appointment, Valancy finds out that she only has a few months left to live. So, she decides to start living boldly. Valancy’s drastic change doesn’t happen overnight, rather it’s a slow process. Letting go of old habits and thought processes are hard but she manages to do it. A pivotal moment occurs when she ultimately makes the decision to truly be fearless. After becoming more outspoken around relatives; attending a Presbyterian church; and moving out of her of mother’s house to work as a housekeeper to care for Roaring Abel’s ailing daughter, Cissy Gay, Valancy has a tense conversation with her old pastor Dr. Stalling, who implores her to return home, “I command. As your pastor and spiritual guide, I command you to come home with me—this very day. Get your hat and coat and come now.” (142)

For a moment, Valancy considers returning to her old life until she remembers the words of John Foster. These words come to her, and she instantly snaps out of any thoughts of returning: “Valancy stood up. She was still in the clutches of fear, but her soul was her own again. She would not be false to that inner voice.” (142) In that moment, Valancy is able to overcome her fear and prove to herself that she is capable of following through on her decisions.

When Dr. Stalling warns her that Deerwood residents will gossip about her, she admits that “She was suddenly free of fear again.” (143) Valancy is willing to fight for the life that she wants instead of settling for the life other people think she should have. As a result, she becomes happier, lighter, and more hopeful. Initially, Valancy is afraid of offending her wealthy Uncle Benjamin, “Valancy had been brought up in the fear and admonition of his money. If she offended him he would cut her out of his will—supposing she were in it.” (9) But it is when she is finally able to let go of this fear, that Uncle Benjamin make her his sole heiress.

Later on, when Valancy starts to fall in love with Barney Snaith, she works up the courage to propose to him. She again overcomes fear, fear of what he’ll say and the fear of not following societal expectations for women. After they marry, it is with Barney that she is able to find her blue castle, and life truly starts taking a turn for the better, “Love had cast out her last fear.” (158)

The Blue Castle reminds us of the importance of fearlessly living life. Valancy had become accustomed to the dullness and hopelessness of her life. It took the realization that her life was near its end for her to finally get the courage to fight for the life she truly wanted. Ultimately, she is able to grasp her blue castle because she decides to stop worrying about fear and pleasing others.

The Blue Castle is a symbol for what happens we stop living our lives in fear. We only live one life; so we should fight to live it to the fullest. By focusing on what our future could look like instead of lamenting on how our lives currently are, we are able to find our blue castle.

The Blue Castle is in the public domain. For free, you can read or download it on Google Books, Project Gutenberg, or Standard Ebooks.

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