What does the novel Silas Marner have to say about the relationship between parents and their children?

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“A child more than all other gifts

That Earth can offer to a declining man

                     Brings hope with it and forward looking thoughts.” William Wordsworth

What does the novel Silas Marner have to say about the relationship between parents and their children?

        The novel Silas Marner was written by George Eliot in 1863. George Eliot’s real name was Mary Ann Evans and she was farced to change it because of the role of women at that time. If the book were published under a female name it would be ridiculed and would not sell.  This is perhaps one of the reasons she is so critical of society.

        

        George Eliot used William Wordsworth’s quote on the title page of her novel. Throughout the story of Silas Marner, she explores the nature of the relationship between parents and children through many of the characters, for example Silas and Eppie, or Godfrey and his father, the Squire.

        When Silas is banished from Lantern Yard for a deed committed by his closest friend, he keeps himself at a distance from the villagers of Raveloe, where he now lives almost like a hermit. He saves every penny from his weaving and builds up a fine stack of coins, which he admires and loves more than anything else. One day, he finds it gone, having been stolen by Godfrey Cass’s villainous brother, Dunstan. Meanwhile, in the Red House, the house of the Squire of the village, Godfrey and his brother have an argument about money. Dunstan Cass knows of Godfrey’s secret wife and child, and is blackmailing him. Godfrey has been secretly married to Molly Farran, who has had his child but has gone downhill as she becomes increasingly addicted to opium. Molly decides to take the child to Godfrey and demand shelter and money but dies on the way to let the tiny child wander into the warmth of Silas Marner’s cottage. Silas takes the child and looks after it, nursing it and returning to his old self, before he was banned from Lantern Yard. Godfrey marries Nancy Lammeter but fails to have children with her. He goes to claim Eppie but Eppie decides to stay with Silas, so concluding the fairytale with happiness for the “goodies” and death and misery for the “baddies” when Dunstan Cass is found at the bottom of a lake with Silas’ money.

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        Some of the Victorian values that would have influenced George Eliot are the traditional family values and the role of women in families and society. Women were expected to stay at home and look after the family. They were not expected to work or do anything to displease their husbands. At the time, George Eliot was writing her book, the industrial revolution was also taking place and economic and class values were changing. England was going through a series of tumultuous cultural, social and economic transformations.

        This could be reflected in the seemingly robotic work Silas does. He ...

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