Silas Marner

The book combines Realism with fairy tales writing. The latter genre is present in such scenes as the drawing of lots to decide of a man's fate, or the sudden apparition of the child in the weaver's humble abode. The weaver himself strengthens this notion by means of his appearance and awe compelling life-style of isolation. He was even mistaken for a ghost when he made his appearance in the local inn of Raveloe on the night of his gold's disappearance. In his early youth, Marner had been wrongly cast away by his religious community. After that, he set towards Raveloe where he would live for fifteen years in a state of almost unbroken isolation highly symbolic of his still wounded self and dying faith in human nature; a faith which only revived with the arrival of Eppie who had managed to humanize him again.The aspects of Realism present in the book can be found in the details given to the trade of loom-weaving. Eliot had made of Adam Bede a carpenter and of Felix Holt a watch maker. In the same manner, she made of Silas' occupation a source to be drawn from in terms of realistic details in all that concerns the daily life of a loom weaver. The focus on trade with such a realistic depiction conveys the authoress' own views in regard to renunciation and self-indulgence. According to Victorian guidelines, a perfect gentleman was meant to lead an idle life and to depend on no occupation. Adam Bede's superiority over Arthur Donnithorne parallels Silas Marner's superiority over Godfrey Cass, and imparts Eliot's opinion on the matter. In the book, idleness is associated with vice and folly. Accordingly, the Cass brothers -Godfrey and Dunstan- are the only pair who fall in the trap of evil deeds, for they are the only characters who lack an occupation and a job. What is more, they are the only individuals who wrong their community. On the one hand, Dunstan breaks into the weaver's house and steals his money. On the other, Godfrey marries in secret while courting another young woman then forsakes his own child to shield himself from the consequences.

Silas Marner reminds me of scrooge. He is an old man obsessed with his money. Things change and for the better. His world becomes different and money is no longer at the centre of it all. I loved this classic. It has a lovely flow to it and George Eliot had my attention the whole time.