It should be noted that Pollyanna is one of the very few characters in all literature to have given a word to the language. Dictionary definitions of a "Pollyanna" range from "a blindly optimistic person" or "a foolishly optimistic person" to someone who is "fatuously or exasperatingly optimistic."

People often use the term to suggest a person who is insensitive to the suffering and evil in the world, someone who persists in being optimistic despite evidence to the contrary. This appears to be the meaning of the term "Pollyanna" as our culture has come to define it, but this is definitely not the meaning of "Pollyanna" as found in Eleanor Porter's novel. The real Pollyanna is anything but complacent, inane, and self deceiving.

The Pollyanna of Porter's book feels deeply the suffering of those around her; because she has had more than her share of random...