Silas Marner (Silas Marner) and Jolil (Salt On a Snake’S Tail In Come To Mecca) Could Both Be Described As “Outsiders” In Society. Explore the ways in which they and their respective societies are presented and how, if they are, they are in

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Silas Marner (Silas Marner) and Jolil (Salt on a Snake's Tail in Come to Mecca) could both be described as "outsiders" in society. Explore the ways in which they and their respective societies are presented and how, if they are, they are integrated into society.

The characters of Silas Marner and Jolil Miah are quite different in their background. They are different ages, different races and religions, and the places they are brought up in are also quite different. Silas grew up in the rural countryside, while the changes of the industrial revolution were going on (in the early nineteenth century), whereas Jolil lived in Brixton, in a rough council estate in urbanised London, in the nineteen sixties. Yet although they lived in a different day and time, their situations were somewhat similar. Their communities contrast in a number of ways, but both Silas and Jolil do not fit into these categorised societies. Silas, by the end of his lifetime, has at last been integrated into the community of Raveloe, and is accepted by the neighbours and other people in the village. But what happens to Jolil only makes him feel more of a misfit in his society than ever.

Jolil, a young Muslim boy growing up in London, is torn apart between his different cultures and societies. His father, who has emigrated from Bangladesh and doesn't really know as much about the people and society in England, wants Jolil to practise his own religion and culture. However Jolil is more into Kung Fu, and hangs around with a black friend who his father doesn't approve of. He is not very well integrated with the children at school, except for maybe some of the other Asian kids. Right at the beginning of the story, it says,

"He usually left school gate with five or six of the other Asian boys. It wasn't planned, but it was necessary. If they walked home together, they could pass the gangs of older white boys who gathered outside the school gates without fear. They'd take the short route home, and if they passed the cluster of hostile faces outside the white estate at the end of their street, they could quicken their steps and feel the safe warmth of being part of a crowd."

Jolil was not the only one who hated having to watch your back all the time, feeling under threat. There was a group of them, who felt safer and confident together. It was the one thing they had in common, and walking home together was the one thing they could do to keep safe. Because it is set in the sixties, a time when many people were emigrating over from many other Asian countries, the people already in Britain at the time, had quite a negative and racist attitude towards them and the story reflects this attitude. He couldn't really practise his culture in the society, for fear and embarrassment.

However, at the beginning of the book, Silas Marner, the main character, Silas, seems to get on with everybody has plenty of friends to turn to, he even has a fiancé, which he his hoping to marry once he has enough money, which he his slowly saving up. Everybody has trust in him, but when the deacon of the parish falls ill, it is Silas' turn to look after him and this is the turning point in Silas' life. While he having one of his cataleptic fits, which were not very common or heard of then, somebody creeps in to the deacons room and steals a bag of money from the bureau, the same night the deacon dies. Somebody has framed him by putting his knife near the scene, and the stolen bag of money has been planted in his cottage. All of the evidence points the crime to him, however Silas claims that he wouldn't do anything of the sort, and protests that he has never been known to tell a lie. Since it's all the evidence against Silas' word, it is decided to "call the lots", a process which relies purely on chance. Silas realises what he could lose, his friends and family, Sarah and his dignity, but places his trust in God, who he relies on to clear his name. Only Silas and God know that he is innocent, however "the lots declared that Silas was guilty". This is a great shock to Silas, especially as he had put all his faith in God to prove that he was not guilty of the crime. Suddenly after the trial, Silas recalls that he lent his knife to his best friend, William Dane. After this, Silas not only loses his trust in God, but William, who he has grown up with all his life. They have all betrayed him, even Sarah who ends up marrying William about a month after the trial and after this, Silas is sentenced to exile and departs from Lantern Yard shortly after the wedding.

Silas moves into a stone cottage away from Lantern Yard, into another small community called Raveloe where he stays in isolation, without mixing, or fitting in the society. It is not only the fact that he is ashamed of the crime that he is supposedly meant to have committed, but that he has lost faith in god, and believes that if he makes more friends, or socializes, he may end up being hurt like he was in Raveloe. This is the deception that he has created for himself, and is not willing to ache the way he did at Lantern Yard again. If people don't know him, they cannot hurt him. It is also the village itself that affects Silas' attitude. Raveloe has a completely different atmosphere to Lantern Yard. "And what could be more unlike that Lantern Yard world than the world in Raveloe."
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The people are not as relaxed, although the farmers go to the local pub "The Rainbow" to socialize. The people were also much more religious, and they practised their religion in a different way that Silas knew. Mrs Winthrop is the one who finally encourages Silas to learn about the church. The other major factor contributing to Silas' loneliness in Raveloe, is his epileptic condition. When his fits occur, they provoke people into gossiping, as the men do in "The Rainbow". They discuss when and where he has had these "strange visitations" and try to give a possible ...

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