Silas Marner: Summary and Discussion: Part 1
Welcome to Victober everyone! We’re kicking off this month-long special of online bookclubs and 10% off certain books with a discussion of Silas Marner by George Eliot. I’m going to break this up into two parts, since the book is as well, so feel free to take your time with reading it!
I’m not gonna lie… George Eliot might just not be the author for me. While I loved this story, and there were some parts where I laughed out loud, or highlighted a line that was just absolutely beautiful, her writing slowed me down a bit. Which is a good thing, I think when reading as I tend to read quickly, but sometimes it just felt like walking through a bog with diving flippers on…
You can’t always get what you want/ But if you try sometimes/ You just might find/ You get what you need.
Words as true today as they were in 1861 when this short novel was published. Written by George Eliot (whose real name was Mary Ann Evans), it tells the story of the eponymous Silas, a weaver who lives on the outskirts of society after he is wrongly accused of theft and excommunicated from his community. He moves to another small town and cuts himself off from any human contact, choosing instead to obsess over his horde of gold he keeps in the floor boards of his home. Of course, God forbid he live in peace in quiet. Instead, his neighbours speculate as to his weird nature (as they are wont to do) and owe his oddities to his inherent “otherness”. This is quite a big theme throughout the entire story, as those considered “other” are targeted and ridiculed (as in the case of the probably Jewish/gypsy pedlar with his curly black hair and gold earrings.) Those on the outskirts are made into caricatures or stereotypes. Silas himself is a Calvinist and therefore the odd one out. He doesn’t step into a church in Raveloe until he is baptised, around half way through the novel.
Of course, because he is hoarding gold, we can only expect it to get stolen. Dunsey, an upper-middle class idiot, needs to pay off some debts, and rather than doing what he was supposed to do (sell his brother’s horse), he shoots it, leaves it for dead, and steals all of Silas’ treasure, causing him become a little bit.. well… not right in the head. Then one evening, while obsessing over his losses, Silas leaves his door open and a small child wanders into his home to escape the cold. Retracing the child’s footsteps, Silas finds the body of the mother, dead in the snow from an opium overdose and hypothermia. (I have to say, the scene where the mother drops the child as she dies is one of the most heartbreaking scenes I’ve read in a long time…) We learn that the mother is the secret wife of Godfrey, the brother of said upper-middle class idiot, and himself quite the upper-middle class idiot. I’m guessing he knocked her up, was too ashamed of it, but forced to marry her. He kept her far away from prying eyes, and she slowly succumbs to an opioid addiction…who’d a thought. Anyways, now Godfrey has to watch his daughter be raised by a weirdo weaver but thinks “Hey, she’s better off being poor than rich. They have it so much better.” (Although I think this is not entirely incorrect…and I think Eliot knew that as well…)
So Silas gets a second chance at life. He goes from being a miserly, downtrodden man with nothing to live for expect getting his gold back, to someone who, through the eyes of a child, sees the world in a new light. His attention is brought to nature and all the beauty it holds. There is a sense of rediscovering innocence and joy. It’s almost as if he, through his new daughter Eppie, is able to heal his own inner child. He hints at a childhood full of loss and grief, but now he has a chance to recolour that. Additionally, he is welcomed back to society, as people begin to see a more human side to him. There is a sensitive side to him that reader gets to know, as he loves this child as if she were his own.
Part 1 ends with Godfrey, once again, justifying his shitty, horrible behavior and Silas learning about all the fun ways that toddlers keep you on your toes. I’ve put together some discussion thoughts/ questions, for you to either answer here if you’d like, or to think about before reading (if you read this post before). Remember: This is supposed to be fun. This is a safe space, just meant for people who really want to talk about books. You can also post your own opinions or reading experiences.
So many characters, but mostly freakin’ Godfrey, used the most illogical, roundabout way of thinking in order to justify bad behavior. But then again… don’t we all sometimes do that to make ourselves feel better?
Why do you think we love to see this trope of a single man or multiple single men raising a child by themselves? It persists even to this day in movies and sitcoms….
When Silas reports his gold stolen, the community immediately breaks off into two opposing camps, insulting each other and having long debates in the local pub. I couldn’t help but think of how prevalent this is in current politics, or scandals we read about online. Makes me wonder what would happen to Silas on social media…
I keep asking myself who the narrator is? Because they refer to themselves as “I” and even include us in “we”. Are they a local? They are omnipotent, but also not very partial. They are very judgy of the Cass family (as they should be. My god that family needs counselling…) but they also have strong opinions about other characters as well (Nancy and her sister supposedly hideous sister Priscilla for example).
As much as I hate Godfrey, I really enjoyed his conversation with Anxiety. I think a lot of us can relate to that, and it seems that Eliot was touching upon mental health before it was a thing…
One of the things I struggled the most with was the language that is used in dialogues. The dialect really tripped me up, but Eliot uses language in a way to show class and social standing, which ties into someone’s worth.
It seems the people of Raveloe (and just in general in the story) use religion almost as a crutch, or a convenient excuse to take action, or not. Everyone says Silas will get his money back because of karma, but nobody really does anything to find it. And they make it very clear that if he wants Eppie to do well and be liked, she needs to be baptised…Eliot seems critical of religion and her characters often use it as a weapon or emotional blackmail.
I’m looking forward to Part 2. I want to know if Godfrey and Dunsey get their dues, and how is Nancy doing? She happy? Probably not… married to that piece of…
Anyways, see you for Part 2 and Happy Reading!