In Eleanor Porter’s 1913 novel Pollyanna, eleven-year-old orphan Pollyanna Whittier lives in the dark attic of her dour aunt’s home. Through the power of irrepressible good will Pollyanna melts the frozen heart of her bitter aunt, and lifts the spirits of all she meets. This novel and its many sequels were phenomenal bestsellers. In time “Pollyanna” or “Pollyannish” came to suggest sunny naiveté.
