Characters # 11

Is each character full enough developed to justify his role in the story? Are the main characters round or flat?

Each character, in the book, is developed enough from the beginning to justify their role. Throughout the process of the book their personality gradually evolves, becoming more rounded. The book is divided into specific chapters, which are devoted to different incidences between Anne and members of Avonlea. Through their interactions with Anne, their purpose in the book, in relation to Anne, is revealed.
In the beginning of the novel Marilla Cuthbert was described as a "tall thin woman, with angles and without curves; her dark hair showed some grey streaks and was always twisted up in a hard little knot behind with two wire hairpins stuck aggressively through it. She looked like a woman of narrow experience and rigid conscience which she was; but there was a saving something about her mouth which if it has been ever so slightly developed, might have been considered indicative of a sense of humor"(pg 13).
In this short excerpt, Montgomery has captured the character of Marilla. Once the Cuthberts decide to keep Anne, Marilla assumes the role as Anne’s up bringer. In the process of Marilla rasing Anne, it turned out that Anne was changing Marilla, "but crispness was no longer Marilla’s distinguishing characteristic. As Mrs Lyne told Thomas that night. ‘Marilla has gone mellow that’s what’" (pg 349).
It has to be taken into consideration that the story was based on L. M, Montgomery’s personal childhood experiences. So as she introduces the characters, they have a clear personality established.