How does anne of green gables shape/reflect canada?

My feeling, coming from both the big city, Toronto, and rural Newfoundland (also an island) is that Anne of Green Gables reflects that nostalgia many Canadians feel for the early days. The setting, both place and time represent a Canada that is harder to find, but not unusual in rural areas. There are a number of islands in Canada, and the island experience is sometimes a metaphor for the Canadian one. Also, it's set (at least some of the books in the Anne series are) during the time of WWI, which is when Canada as a young nation began to forge a respected national identity through successful battles (Ypres, Sommes, Vimy, Pchedaele) under its own commanders, and not just under British ones. I think that it was a time of endless possibilities, and endless land. Anne herself, has strong independent qualities, like those we'd like to think Canadians possess, or had to at that time.