Walter....

[[deleted user]]

Walter became one of the my fav characters in this book. He seemed so sweet and everything..... And then he had to die.

What do you think about Montgomery's decision to, supposedly, "kill him away", and what do you think about Walter in general?

[Meghan]

Even without the spoiler in Anne of Ingleside I saw it coming. I find it quite common that the peaceful ones who always look for beauty in the world are the ones who are killed. I liked Walter so I was not happy that he died but I knew it was just bound to happen.

[[deleted user]]

I loved and adored Walter. I think I didn't see his death coming because I just didn't want to. She killed him off in such a sad way I felt like a robot for not crying. Poor Una! I think that if Montgomery had written a book about him, maybe when he went to college or something, it would have been really good and I'm sad that she didn't

[Gehayi]

Actually, I didn't like Walter very much when he was a child (he sounded far too much like a clone of Anne--does EVERY imaginative person in this series have to wax poetic about fairies and dryads?). That, plus his unusually peaceful and aesthetic nature and the anvilicious hints (a cross-shaped shadow resembling a tombstone in France, Walter's visions of the Pied Piper) convinced me that Walter had been designated too good to live. By the time I got to Rilla of Ingleside, I'd been waiting for him to die for three books.

From a Doylist perspective, it's obvious that Montgomery had set Walter up for death well in advance. But I did wonder why--from a Watsonian perspective--he felt obligated to to become a soldier when he could have registered as a C.O. and become an ambulance driver or something. He'd still have been helping the war effort and he wouldn't have been killing anyone. (It wouldn't have been any less dangerous, if that was an issue.) And I did feel sorry for him and for young men like him in real life who got pressured--even shamed--into joining up.

[Himika]

I was expecting one of Anne's sons to die,because without that,the pathos of the book wouldn't have been developed.And I thought it would be Walter,because he always seemed to belong to another world.Jem's death was unlikely,Shirley wouldn't be killed because the reader doesn't see much of him to fel an emotional connection with him,but dreamy,poetic Walter,for whom war is repulsive,would be the one to sacrifice himself fighting for his country.There was that tombstone shaped shadow ,then his visions about the Piper,and then,he was the brother Rilla loved the most.Montgomery knew that Walter was the boy whose death could give an emotional blow to the reader.And his letter to Rilla was heartbreaking.

[Janna]

I read that L M Montgomery's teacher (on whom Miss Stacey was modeled) lost a brother in the War and that Walter's character was a memorial for him and all other young Canadian sons who were lost during this time. The article is found on The Shining Scroll, a newsletter for fans of her writing (the 2009 issue).