Silas moved to Raveloe from a place called Lantern Yard. In Lantern Yard religion was of high importance, no one dared to go against the word of God. However the preconception fails Silas and he moves away. In Lantern Yard Silas is accused of have stealing church money, "The money was taken in the night last past and no man was with our departed brother but you," he is then found guilty, "the lots declared that Silas Marner was guilty." This made him an outsider in Lantern Yard. He was also made an outsider due to his cataleptic fits; "a peculiar interest had been centred in him ever since he had fallen…into a mysterious rigidity and suspension of consciousness, which…had been mistaken for death." It was not heard of in Lantern Yard or anywhere else and this caused more speculation about Silas and also made him more of an outsider.
Both novels are separated into two parts. In 'To Kill a Mockingbird', the first part of the book focuses on the children and the adventures that they encounter concerning Boo Radley. The court case is focused on in the second part of the book. In 'Silas Marner' the first part is focused on Silas and lets the reader get to know him. It starts in Raveloe and then flashes back to Lantern Yard and then back to Raveloe so the reader can compare the two. In the second part there is a sixteen-year gap, and it joins Silas and Eppie sixteen years later.
'To Kill a Mockingbird' is written in retrospect because the narrator of the story is Scout as an adult, she is telling the story of her childhood. This helps the outsiders be more noticed because she is writing from a child's point of view, she is less prejudice because she doesn’t understand as much as an adult. However at times due to the lack of understanding she can be prejudice, as she was to Walter Cunningham, "He ain't company, Cal, he's just a Cunningham-" she doesn’t understand why he is poor. Lee uses naive narration, which also makes Boo Radley more of an outsider because as a child Scout finds him more fascinating and unusual than an adult would. This speculation accentuates Boo's character being an outsider.
The leap of sixteen years in 'Silas Marner' shows that nothing out of the ordinary happened during the sixteen years. It also shows that Silas is no longer an outsider. The omniscient narrator in 'Silas Marner' also picks out the details that make Silas an outsider. It is also less biased and gives the reader an overview on the events that occur.
Jem and Scout are outsiders when they go to Calpurnia's church and Lula says, "you ain't got no business bringin' white chillun here," Scout and Jem are outsiders because they are white and not black. They are also facing prejudice.
Calpurnia is also an outsider because she can read; "Can't about four folks in first purchase read…I'm one of 'em." Not a lot of black people can but she is educated which is rare.
Boo and Silas are both portrayed as outsiders. Boo is an outsider because he never comes outside which is ironic. Silas is an outsider because he is new and is a linen weaver, the sound of his loom was very different from anything the villagers were used to, and this gave them something to be suspicious about. He also suffered from cataleptic fits, which at the time was rare and no one understood them. They are seen to be inhuman, and Silas is said to look like a ghost when he appears at the door of the rainbow,
" The pale thin figure of Silas Marner was suddenly seen standing in the warm light, uttering no word, but looking round at the company with his strange unearthly eyes."
A similar metaphor is used for Boo Radley in 'To Kill a Mockingbird',
"There lived a malevolent phantom. People said he existed…When peoples azaleas froze in a cold snap, it was because he had breathed on them,"
This also suggests that Boo is a paranormal creature. Even Atticus makes references to Boo and his ghost like nature," Atticus said no, it wasn't that sort of thing, that there were other ways of making people into ghosts." By this he meant that because of the closed life that Boo lead he was no longer human, that by not being yourself, you become something else. The comparison of both these characters to ghosts show that they were hardly ever seen. Boo was also seen to be violent and malicious,
"As Mr Radley Passed by, Boo drive the scissors into his parents leg, pulled them out, wiped them on his pants, and resumed his activities, "
This is a perfect example of how gossip spreads, it could be a rumour but to children they believe everything they hear, and this is what makes them so frightened of Boo.
Both characters have unfortunate incidents which result into them being outsiders. For Silas Marner it was betrayal by his friend William Dane,
"Self-complacent suppression of inward triumph that lurked in the narrow slanting eyes and compressed lips of William Dane."
Everyone else thinks that William has a manipulative nature but Silas is credulous. William also steals Silas's fiancé,
"In little more than a month from that time, Sarah was married to William Dane; and not long afterwards it was known to the brethren in Lantern Yard that Silas Marner had departed from the town."
The unfortunate series of events leaves Silas faithless; to add to the loss of friends and family, he lost his faith in God. He hoped to be found innocent by the power of God, "they resolved on praying and drawing lots…The lots declared that Silas Marner was guilty." Silas believed in God so much, that he is so taken back that he got the short straw. Eliot also used italic font to write, "The lots declared that Silas Marner was guilty," because it adds emphasis on something that in a right world should not have happened, but because nothing is perfect, it unfortunately for Silas did happen.
Boo becomes an outsider after he gets involved with a wrong crowd; " Nobody in Maycomb had nerve enough to tell Mr Radley that his boy was in with the wrong crowd." Due to this Boo gets arrested,
"The judge decided to send the boys to industrial school…it was no prison and no disgrace. Mr Radley though it was…Mr Radley would see to it that Arthur gave no further trouble…Mr Radley's boy was not seen again for fifteen years."
Mr Radley kept him locked up inside their house, he was never allowed out and due to this and the speculations surrounding his unusual punishment Boo became an outsider. He was forced to be an outsider, where as Silas chose to be an outsider.
Silas doesn't have many interactions with other people. He took pity on Sally Oates and made her some herbal medicine, however he wanted to keep it quiet and sadly it wasn't. "Silas now found himself and his cottage suddenly beset by mothers who wanted to charm away the whooping-cough," everyone wanted his help. He could not help them "he had never known an impulse towards falsity, and he drove one after the other away with growing irritation" because he wasn't a wise man and he didn’t want to earn money that way. The people who were seeking for his help found him contemptuous,
"Thus is came to pass that his movement of pity towards Sally Oates, which had given him a transient sense of brotherhood, heightened the repulsion between him and his neighbours, and made his isolation more complete."
Silas was already an outsider but due to the unwillingness to help the villagers he became more of an outsider. This lack of communication meant that he needed something to keep him stable. He has never had so much money, " He had been paid weekly and of his weekly earning a large proportion had gone to objects of piety and charity," because he has never experienced vast amounts of money before he becomes obsessed. It also shows that religion used to rule his life because money would go the church without any inquiries made. This is when he becomes fixated by money because he has a lot more of it that he gets to keep, " he would on no account have exchanged those coins which had become his familiars, for other coins with unknown faces," he uses the coins to compensate for his loneliness. Eliot has almost personified the coins to show that they are almost like people to him. People and maybe even children "thought fondly of the guineas…as if they had been unborn children," the coins are his family.
Eliot tries to show how much of a recluse Silas is by showing the interaction between Silas and his loom; "Marner's face and figure shrank and bent themselves into a constant mechanical relation to the objects of his life." The reference to mechanical objects also shows the reader that the industrial revolution is about to commence. He is no longer human, "He seemed to weave, like a spider, from pure impulse, without reflection." He has become so dehumanised that now the simile of a spider is used, which is a lower class species than humans. The spider also makes references to how natural weaving is to him and it also could reflect on how corrupt nature his nature has become. Spiders are also never seen in groups, which portrays Silas's isolation. Spiders weave webs and Silas is a weaver and people tend to find spiders frightening like they do with Silas.
On the other hand Boo likes to have interaction with Scout and Jem. The first of these is when Scout hears laughter coming from the Radley house, "someone inside the house was laughing." This shows that Boo is not as malicious as everyone thinks he is. He also fixes Jem's trousers, "they'd been sewed up. Not like a lady sewed 'em," and put presents in the tree, "we found a whole pack of chewing gum," he is trying to join in with the children's games, he hasn't had a chance to grow up himself. He puts a blanket on Scout, "I looked down and found myself clutching a brown woollen blanket I was wearing around my shoulders," He cares for the children. Boo tries to make contact with other people where as Silas doesn't.
Both Boo and Silas like children, Boo has Scout and Jem and Silas has Eppie. In these children they find their solitude. Scout takes Boo home, " I took him by the hand, a hand surprisingly warm for its whiteness," he gets to meet her and she discovers he is not what everyone thinks he is and he to her is no longer an outsider. As soon as Silas has Eppie, he believes she came to him because he lost his money. Everyone admires Silas for taking on such a big responsibility and he is no longer an outsider.
In 'Silas Marner' Molly is also an outsider because no one wants her,
"Molly knew that the cause of her dingy rags was not her husband's neglect, but the demon Opium to whom she was enslaved, body and soul."
She was an opium addict like " Mrs. Dubose was a morphine addict." in 'To Kill a Mockingbird'. Mrs. Dubose is an outsider because of this drug addiction, however she overcomes her addiction and is accepted by Atticus, " Mrs. Dubose won, all ninety-eight pounds of her…she died beholden to nothing and nobody. She was the bravest person I ever knew."
Godfrey Cass was on the brink of becoming an outsider, because if anyone found out about him having a child with a secret wife, he would not have been allowed to marry Nancy. He would also have been seen as a disgrace because he did not marry a lady from a high-class family.
Another outsider in 'To kill a Mockingbird' is Dolphus Raymond, because he married a black woman and had mixed race children, " Some folks don’t like the way I live." He has to pretend to drink alcohol to give people a reason, to help them accept that he has married a black woman. Racial prejudice was extreme. Scout does not understand him, "Mr. Dolphus Raymond was an evil man," but she later accepts him, " Glad to have metcha Mr. Raymond."
The Ewells were outsiders due to their savage behavior and lack of income, "Maycomb Ewells lived behind the town garbage dump, " they were white trash, and even though many people despised them they supported them in the trial against Tom Robinson. Mayella Ewell in particular is an outsider because she has no friends, " Mayella Ewell must have been the loneliest person in the world." She is an outsider within her own family, "Mayella looked as if she tried to keep clean," the rest of her family does not bother, "Mr. Ewell had a scalded look; as if an overnight soaking had deprived him of protective layers of dirt."
Tom Robinson was an outsider because he was black and he was the accused rapist. Even though his story had more possibility than Mayella's "His left arm was fully twelve inches shorter than his right, and hung dead at his side…I could see that it was no use to him," which meant he couldn’t have beaten her up. However people believed Mayella because Tom was black.
Atticus Finch becomes an outsider when he takes the case, "Atticus aims to defend him." He doesn’t follow the other people in the town and degrade himself to racial prejudices.
Eliot and Lee both have created Silas and Boo to be characters that pity is taken on, and not to be outsiders just because of the nature of their personality. Lee creates Boo to end with little life fulfillment, as all that happens is Scout walks him home and we do not know what happens to him. Whereas Silas gets a family and finds happiness in Eppie, which is much more fulfilling. I think that both outsiders are afraid at first of opening up to people which after what they have been through is understandable. However both characters overcame their fears and opened up to people. I also think that both these novels show the importance of children in our society, they're a lot easier to talk to than adults, because they are more unprejudiced. They don't have reason to judge people and don't know how to judge people so they take people for what they are and learn more about them before making opinions. I think that these two stories prove that.
