had taken place (it was like tossing a coin, and the church believed God controlled the
coin, to prove whether the person prosecuted was guilty or not) Silas Marner was found guilty. It was then that he lost his faith in God.
“…there is no just God that governs the earth righteously, but a
God of lies, that bears witness against the innocent.”
Silas took refuge in his loom to escape his “benumbed unbelief”, he became a workaholic. Sarah had broken their engagement and he later found out she was married to William Dane. He then left Lantern Yard.
In Raveloe Silas was lonely because of the hours spent working; he had no time for friends and lived in solitude.
“…Marner drew less and less for his own wants, trying to solve the
problem of keeping himself strong enough to work sixteen hours a
day on as small an outlay as possible.”
Silas, now becoming a miser, only had guineas for his friends. He had lost all reason to work, because he had no friends or family to share the money with. The guineas were like his friends they became a reason to go on.
“He began to think it was conscious of him, as his loom was, and he
would on no account have exchanged those coins, which had become
his familiars, for other coins with unknown faces. He handled them, he
counted them, till their form and colour were like the satisfaction
of a thirst to him; but it was only in the night when his work was
done, that he drew them out to enjoy their companionship.”
Silas had sadly become dependent on the coins; they were now the most important things in his life. Silas’s features began to change. His eyes, which use to look “trusting and dreamy”, now became protuberant, his skin wrinkled and turned yellow. He started to look old, so the children called him “Old Master Marner”, though he was not yet forty. Even though Silas seemed hard, he showed he still had feelings in him when his brown pot broke. It was an earthenware pot, which had been with him for twelve years. The pot was one of his possessions he brought to Raveloe. When the pot broke, Silas grieved and kept it where it normally stood so he could remember it. Silas’s life became like a “brownish web”, everyday was a repeat of the last, like the way he weaved his loom; it was like he trapped himself.
“His eyes bent down on the slow growth of sameness in the
brownish web, his muscles moving with such even repetition.”
In that sentence it seems George Eliot is commenting about people being in the city and how they are turned into machines because of work
Silas suffered a great deal of trauma when his gold was stolen, as said before; they were his reason to live, to him it was like losing a family member. When his gold got
stolen Silas had to put a lot of trust in the people around him; he found it hard but had no choice if he wanted to see his gold again. Silas’s neighbours felt sorry for him and gave him company, though Silas still felt closed up with his “narrow grief”. It was like he needed to lose his gold in order to be able to accept Eppie.
Silas had been told it was New Year’s Eve, and that hearing the New Year rung in and out was good luck, and might bring back his money. He became excited and like a
child at Christmas, he couldn’t sit still. From time to time Silas would run to the
door, open it , only to shut it again when he saw nothing but snow falling in the windy blizzard. It was as if Silas was expecting his money to magically appear on his doorstep. The last time he opened it, the clouds were clearing, and the snow was still falling but steadily. At that time there was a figure coming towards him but Silas paid no attention, only thinking about his money and feeling disappointed. As Silas was about to close the door he was caught in one in one of his cataleptic fits, and froze at the door with his hands still holding it open. When Silas unfroze he continued the action, which he had started. Walking towards the fireplace, he saw something that looked like his gold, reaching out to touch it, he found out it was a sleeping child. Silas was shocked; he thought his eyes were playing tricks on him because the child looked like his sister who had died at a young age. In his state of shock Silas believed the child was his sister.
“Gold!-his own gold-brought back to him as mysteriously as it had
been taken away! …He leaned forward at last, and stretched forth
his hand; but instead of the hard coin with the familiar resisting
outline, his fingers encountered soft warm curls. In utter amazement,
Silas fell on his knees and bent his head low to examine the marvel:
it was a sleeping child-a round, fair thing, with soft yellow rings all
over its head. Could this be his little sister come back to him in a
dream-his little sister whom he had carried about in his arms for a
year before she died, when he was a small boy without shoes or
stockings?”
When the child had woken up Silas took off her boots because they seemed to be hurting her. Seeing the boots were wet Silas came to a conclusion that the child had come from outside, when he must have been having one of his fits. Silas went outside with the child, she began to call “mama”, Silas looked around until he found a figure half-covered by snow. He soon found out the woman was the child’s mother when the child called out even more urgently to her mother lying on the snow. The woman was dead. Silas then decided that he would look after the child. When Silas first saw the child, as said before he thought it was his sister brought back to him, he thought it was a miracle from God. That was the beginning when Silas’s faith in God started to change. Silas was told it was time to give the child a name, so he decided on his mother’s name, which was also given to his sister, Hephzibah.
“My mother’s name was Hephzibah,” said Silas, “and my little
sister was named after her.”… “It’s a Bible name,” said Silas, old
ideas recurring….“But it was awk’ard calling your little sister by
such a hard name, when you’d got nothing big to say, like-wasn’t
it, Master Marner?” “We called her Eppie,” said Silas.”
When he was told it was a hard name he shortened it to the name he called his sister, Eppie. The writer makes it clear that Eppie’s influence was worth more than gold by comparing them (Eppie and the gold) together.
“Unlike the gold that needed nothing, and must be worshipped
in close-locked solitude – which was hidden away from daylight,
was deaf to the song of birds, and started to no human tones – Eppie
was a creature of endless claims and ever-growing desires, seeking
and loving sunshine, and living sounds, and living movements;
making trial of everything, with trust in new joy…”
Before Eppie, his gold was the only thing that kept Silas going, now its Eppie. Eppie is teaching Silas how to love again and trust people.
“As the child’s mind was growing into memory; as her life unfolded,
his soul, long stupefied in a narrow prison, was unfolding too, and
trembling gradually into full consciousness.”
This paragraph shows everything Eppie is learning Silas is relearning or reliving, everything he has learned. The repetition of the words “unfolded” and
“growing” to describe Silas and Eppie, show how the changes in Silas occur at the
same time as the changes in Eppie’s life occur. They are described in this one paragraph to show how their lives are blended into one. People’s attitudes to Silas change, unlike the time he lost his money, when people were helpful but still kept their distance, the now have respect for him, because he took in Eppie. The women would sit and chat to him while the children would play with Eppie. Silas was no longer an outcast; even the children approached him with no fear.
“No child was afraid of approaching Silas when Eppie was near
him: there was on repulsion around him now, either for young or
old; for the little child had come to link him once more with the
whole world.”
In the last paragraph of chapter 14 the author steps into the text in order to tell the readers what to think. She used biblical imagery to voice her authority. The paragraph also refers to the motto, and compares Eppie to an angel like the motto. The author is giving us an image of Eppie holding Silas’ hand and leading him away from the past, helping him survive.
“In the old days there were angels who came and took men by
the hand and led them away from the city of destruction. We see
no white-winged angels now. But yet men are led away from
threatening destruction; a hand is put into theirs, which leads them
forth gently towards a calm and bright land, so that they look no
more backward; and the hand may be a little child’s.”
When Eppie grew older Silas takes her to Lantern Yard. He takes her there to try and let go of the past but when he gets there he sees there is no past just a future, and everything has changed. Eppie describes the city as a “dark and ugly place”. The author wants the reader to think it’s a dark and evil place, and to compare the countryside, which is peaceful and bright.
“Since the time the child was sent to me and I’ve come to love her
as myself, I’ve had light enough to trusten by; and now she says
she’ll never leave me, I think I shall trusten till I die.”
In this last paragraph Silas acknowledges he has regained the ability to trust others because of Eppie’s love. The author makes the lines memorable by using repetition “trusten” and rhyming the words “by” and “die”.
After Eppie and Aaron get married they return to the cottage with Silas. The ending of the book and the image of the garden represent a fairytale happy ending, with an image of love and the Garden of Eden. It shows Silas has achieved heaven on earth.
“The garden was fenced with stones on two sides, but in front there was
an open fence, through which the flowers shone with answering
gladness, as the four united people came within sight of them.”
At the start of the book the weavers (Silas) are described as “the remains of a disinherited race”; at the end of the book Silas has come into his inheritance, which is becoming a member of the Raveloe community, when Eppie marries Aaron.
The changes Eppie brings out in Silas’ life are life changing; it was like he was born again. She teaches him how to love, live, and trust by loving him. As said many times Eppie is like an angel in disguise sent to guide Silas when he needed her the most; when he had nothing else to live for. Eppie is Silas’ reason to live.