To what extent do you think that Silas Marner is a moral tale in which the good are rewarded and the bad punished.

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To what extent do you think that Silas Marner is a moral tale in which the good are rewarded and the bad punished

 Silas Marner, the protagonist of the book, was once a member of a tight-knit community but after being betrayed by his best friend, William Dane, he was excommunicated from his religious sect in Lantern Yard, and arrives at a small village called Raveloe where he lived in utter loneliness for fifteen years. He maintains minimal contact with other humans, spending day and night working on his loom because it is the only thing that keeps him occupied. Despite his antisocial behaviour he still was a kind, honest and caring person, we see this when he breaks his brown pot,” he had had a brown earthenware pot, which he held as his most precious utensil among the very few conveniences he had granted himself”, he glues it together and puts it back in it old place for a memorial. He showed his affection and love for such a petty thing because he was completely alone and all he had were the items in his house. Every night Silas took out his gold from its hiding place to count, he thought of his coins as friends and wouldn’t spend any of it. Even though he acts like a miser he wasn’t selfish, his love for his money was the cause of spiritual desolation.

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 The cataleptic fits Silas suffers from change his life twice in the book, firstly when he is kicked out of Lantern Yard, and then Eppie crawls through Silas,s door which he was having one of his fits.

 Silas’s money being stolen by Dunsey Cass opens his door to other members of his village. He allows social interaction to enter his life, being visited by many of his neighbours such as Dolly Winthrop with whom he begins to form a very close relationship. He is seen more as a neighbour than before but his meetings with other people soon die ...

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