The “Glad Game” in the Twenty-First Century: Reclaiming Pollyanna’s Optimistic Legacy

Girls in the United States have long been pressured to be optimistic. “Smile more!” is the old refrain any girl can expect to hear if she dares to walk down the street with a frown on her face. The myth of the cheerful “American Girl” runs deep in our cultural imaginary. She appears in literature and film and has given her name to numerous songs. She’s even a doll and lifestyle brand. What’s often at stake in such girlish optimism is no less than the future of America itself: a good attitude has the power to renew the world for the better, while a bad attitude can send it down a path of destruction. The first bestselling novels published after the American Revolution, including Charlotte Temple (1791) by Susanna Rowson and The Coquette (1797) by Hannah Webster Foster, captured the American public with their cautionary tales of female optimism gone awry. These stories suggest that if female optimism fails, so does the society that runs on it.

Now, consider later characters such as Jo March, Nancy Drew, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Scout Finch, and Starr Carter. Their optimism likewise defines their lives and those of others who look to them as models of possibility and hope. Yet there is no one more associated with girlhood optimism, and what it can offer the world, than Eleanor H. Porter’s 1913 heroine, Pollyanna.

What I suggest is we have attributed intellectual deficiencies to Pollyanna as a character that she does not possess in Porter’s books because they align with our changing cultural paradigms about optimism. We have done so to the detriment of girl readers and girl culture. Unlike today, optimism was not considered to be naïve at the beginning of the twentieth century. When Porter published Pollyanna in 1913, progressive politics and positive psychology had gained prominence in the U.S. Progressivism espoused the idea that cultural progress could be achieved through social and political reforms, emphasizing that individuals could contribute to positive change via their attitudes and choices. Likewise, positive psychology centered on cultivating human strengths, resilience, and the pursuit of happiness—importantly highlighting the interconnectedness of optimism and intellectual well-being. In short, optimism at the start of the twentieth century was the intellectual vogue of the day.

By examining the historical context, we can see why Pollyanna gained cultural significance during that era. Her optimism aligned with the prevailing ethos, reflecting a broader shift toward embracing positivity as a force for personal and collective advancement. The original character of Pollyanna, far from embodying blind optimism, served as a beacon of hope and resilience in a time when optimism and intellectual engagement were seen as complementary elements driving social and political progress. It is noteworthy that in the novel, Pollyanna deals with numerous setbacks such as the death of both parents, which makes her reliant on the charity of others to survive each day. Moreover, at the end of the novel, Pollyanna is physically paralyzed. Throughout Porter’s book, we see Pollyanna react thoughtfully, and cogently, to her circumstances with an optimistic and intellectually respectable vision of the world.

One way she confronts challenges is through “The Glad Game.” The game, which she teaches to others like Jimmy as a means to effect cultural change, involves finding something to be glad about in every situation, no matter how dire. Pollyanna explains her philosophy for how to deal with suffering: “When you hunt for the good, you often find it. And when you don't—well, you've had the fun of looking.” The game is introduced to Pollyanna by her missionary father after the two are disappointed with the contents of a charity box they receive, since it contains nothing useful or enjoyable. Rather than focus on the negative, they shift their attitude and look for the positive side of the experience, expressing gratitude that they have no need for the crutches that came in the box. Pollyanna’s optimism is not a denial of life’s complexities; instead, it acknowledges the existence of hardship while actively pursuing a positive outlook thoughtfully grounded on life’s realities. Pollyanna is a philosophically minded child, to say the least, and there is a reason why the entire fictional of town Beldingsville she inhabits, and the nation reading her book on the brink of the First World War, became enamored with her story. 

Eleanor H. Porter (1800s)

Today, we are warned against “toxic positivity,” and I dare say you as a reader might inadvertently link this toxic positivity with women because of their long cultural and artistic association with cheerfulness. Indeed, many of us today might read Pollyanna’s actions and persuasions as toxically positive. A recent article from Psychology Today states, “Toxic positivity is the act of avoiding, suppressing, or rejecting negative emotions or experiences. This may take the form of denying your own emotions or someone else denying your emotions, insisting on positive thinking instead.” However, Pollyanna, as a character, never denies her past difficulties. She talks about her long-time reliance on the Ladies Aid, a charitable organization, as her primary source of support. The women within it are the only ones who provide her physical affection after her parents die—along with underwear and other basic necessities for that matter. She cries about her aunt’s refusal to accept her after adopting her. She finds it challenging to play the Glad Game once she loses feeling and control in her legs, needing those crutches she at one point did not. She doesn’t suppress her feelings or fail to acknowledge her problems. Instead, she strives in every circumstance to find the good, to keep going amidst the pain, and to share her ideas about coping thoughtfully with others.  

The twenty-first century has denigrated optimism as an intellectually weak position. In doing so, it has reduced this influential figure of girl culture and girl history who gave hope to many, not because she was blind to real life but because she was both glad and perceptive, cheerful and thoughtful—a combination we would recognize is not uncommon for girls or girl heroines of the past and present if we give them the credit they deserve. To underscore Pollyanna’s lasting influence, it bears mentioning that following Porter’s first two novels about her, 14 more “Glad Books” were published by five different writers. You might be aware of the 1960 Disney film adaptation of the book starring Haley Mills, too. Those of my generation might also remember the 2003 remake of the novel, which I watched in school. More contemporary Pollyanna adaptations have included the Brazilian telenovelas, As Aventuras de Poliana (2018–2020) and Poliana Moça (2022–2023). Thus, Pollyanna’s cultural legacy deserves revisiting, as does her power over the American imagination now and beyond.

In our age of fashionable cynicism, Pollyanna reminds us that when coupled with resilience and thoughtfulness, optimism can be a powerful force for personal and collective empowerment. It can be reclaimed as such today if we take into account its historical roots and consider them seriously. If you want a second opinion, ask Katiniss Everdeen of Hunger Games fame. I suspect she’ll volunteer to give you one—with some optimism to boot even after all she’s gone through in that dystopian land of Panem.

LuElla D'Amico is an Associate Professor of English and Coordinator of Women's and Gender Studies at the University of the Incarnate Word.