The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot - Essay Example

Essay Proposal and Annotated Bibliography Essay proposal: Interrogate the ways that time is measured and marked in The Mill on the Floss. ‘George Eliot: A Biography’- by Blanche Colton Williams, deals with the biography of the novelist, ‘The Development of the English Novel’- by Wilbur Lucius Cross, deals with the development of English novel, and ‘A Century of George Eliot Criticism’- by Gordon Sherman Haight, deals with criticism were most helpful for this research. The novel- The Mill on the Floss, by George Eliot is a fictional autobiography.

The main characters in this novel are molded by their surrounding circumstances, haunted by past, but ready to fight against ever flowing time. Tom and Maggie, the main characters chose different ways to fight against past (time) but their fight become futile under the flow of time. The Novel begins with the early life of the heroine, Maggie Tulliver and ends with the death of Maggie and her brother Tom, in a flood on the river Floss. The plot of the novel is quite slow moving but it helps to have an accurate measurement of time.

The river Floss itself represents time, which is endless and ever flowing. The past haunts Tulliver family with Mr. Tulliver’s death, family crises, bankruptcy, and loss of the Mill etc. Tom is more practical than Maggie. But Maggie wasted her intellectual aptitude in her socially isolated state and she embraced intense spirituality. The death in flood denotes the end of time and the novel. The strong bond of love between brother and sister signifies ever flowing time. The series of events in the life of Tom and Maggie force them to struggle against death, the point of no return.

George Eliot points out that: (“And every man and women mentioned in this history was still living” (Eliot 591) the story of Tulliver family ends with the death of Tom and Maggie but history never ends. The ever flowing river Floss or time is represented as the force that is capable to determine the destiny of Tulliver family. So, the ways that time is measured and marked in the novel helps to connect the present state to past and future. George Eliot use time to measure the development of the story and it leads to the last conflict and doom of Tom and Maggie.

The time is marked and measured and this helps the reader to have a clear idea cyclic procedure of time, i.e. nature. Moreover, time unveils the past of Tulliver family and leads the important characters to their destiny. Works cited Eliot, George. The Mill on the Floss. ICON Group International, Inc., 2006. Annotated Bibliography Colton Williams, Blanche. George Eliot: A Biography. The Macmillan Company, 1936. Eliot, George., Theodor Storm and John T. Krumpelmann. “George Eliots The Mill on the Floss and Theodor Storms Immensee.

” Blackwell Publishing 11(1926): 41. http://www.jstor.org/pss/313919 The Journal Article by George Eliot, Theodor Storm and John T. Krumpelmann, namely “George Eliots The Mill on the Floss and Theodor Storms Immensee.” Published by ‘Blackwell Publishing’, in 1926, deals with the topic of similarity between George Eliots The Mill on the Floss and Theodor Storms Immensee. It is pointed out in this Article that there exists similarity in characters and mood of both the novels. Grabes.

The Yearbook of Research in English and American Literature. Gunter Narr Verlag, 1992. In the book by Grabes, namely ‘The Yearbook of Research in English and American Literature’, published by Gunter Narr Verlag, in 1992, Monika Fludernick deals with the narrative techniques used by George Eliot in her novel The Mill on the Floss. Logan, Peter Melville. “George Eliot and the fetish of realism.(Critical Essay)”. Studies in the Literary Imagination. 22 Sept. 2002: http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-99119679.

html The Magazine Article by Peter Melville Logan, namely “George Eliot and the fetish of realism. (Critical Essay)” Published by ‘Studies in the Literary Imagination’, in 2002, deals with some interesting facts about George Eliot. The novelist is interested to observe the social life of the villagers and this influenced her to write on endless quality of time in village life. This passionate affection towards village life influenced her to develop the plot of the novel. Lucius Cross, Wilbur.

The Development of the English Novel. The Macmillan Company, 1899. Sherman Haight, Gordon and George Eliot. A Century of George Eliot Criticism. Methuen, 1966.