Silas Marner and the Little Girl - Essay Example

Silas Marner and the Little Girl George Eliot, in her excellent book Silas Marner explores the preciseness of love and hope in human relationships. This novel depicts the issues of selfless love, the concept of community, the immaculate role of religion, and the rank of the virtues of family. The writer goes a long way with the imprints of goodness in ‘Silas Marner’ and the wickedness in characters like Godfrey Cass and Dunstan Cass. A story can be best read if it touches the reality of life with the association of its envelop to furnish the theme with a warm finish. Eliot’s book is no exception from this which describes the story of a countryside weaver and the changes he undergoes with the entry of a little girl. This paper tends to evaluate how Eliot keeps it all the way hearty to even a normal reader with absolute score of melodious story and literature. It will also answer to what extent the entry of little girl Eppie altered the old man’s outlooks. Hardships cause exemplary diversions at each turning point of Silas Marner’s life. Initially, at Lantern Yard, the weaver’s domestic city begins the remarkable alteration of his character. Silas’ innocence turns a mystery as he was caught with circumstantial evidences for the theft of a small Christian organization’s fund. His repeated plea for innocence goes in vain and he is proclaimed guilty. The Gods of good time even show no mercy upon him and the woman he was to marry sides him by and later marries William. Ultimately, with the heaviest heart a man can have, he leaves his city for ever. Marner settles near the village of Raveloe in the early 19th century, where he lives as a recluse who exists only for work and his precious hoard of money. However, his treasure gets stolen by Dunstan Cass, a depraved son of Squire Cass, the towns leading landowner. The loss as the second event was the maximum wreck to Silas- a loss that he could never recover even with the endeavour of his well wishers. Now the story takes a real turn with the entry of an orphaned child to Raveloe. She is unknown to people there but she was really fathered by Godfrey Cass, the eldest son of the local squire. The child is of a desperate parentage from her mother Molly who had a secret marital affair with Godfrey Cass. Adding to anguish, she was addicted to opium severely. In the eventful winter night Molly comes to the town with the child in her arms to prove her relationship with Godfrey and to claim his fatherhood for the child. She was so determined that she wanted to publicly declare her relationship with Godfrey Cass and in his refusal, ruin him of his social status. The woman was so disoriented that she takes opium on the way and sits all at loss in the deep-freezing winter night. Fate never discriminates its victim from experiments; the child moves away from its mother and wanders about as the mother sits dead shivering on the way. It trots a long way and reaches Silas’ house. Marner, who follows the child’s way back to its mother, finds her dead with soft snow enveloping her still body. Struck deeply by emotional imbalance, he finds no way to leave the child. He takes the child home and names her Eppie, a name much to the similarities of his deceased mother and sister Hephzibah. As the story further runs in deep, Eppie basically influences Marner’s life. Symbolism is the best factor of destiny here; when Silas loses his precious asset of gold, he gains Eppie, a child with golden curls. Eppie is indeed the miracle that entered his life, perhaps a treasure that carries whole fragrance of true happiness. “He had a dreamy feeling that this child was some how a message to him from that far-off life” (223). With the end of Eppie’s mother, Godfrey Cass is now liberated to marry his new love, Nancy, masking his first marriage from her. Eppie grows great in the hearts of all people around with her strongest bond with her foster father. Marner also has reason to call her beloved because she is the only reason why the people include him in their town. The author cleverly makes all her efforts to sum up the story a hearty one with a fascinating end. Silas’ words reveal his strong feelings toward the child as he speaks to Mrs. Kimble, “No-no-I can’t part with it, I can’t let it go; it’s come to me- I’ve the right to keep it” (231). In the due course, Dunstan Cass meets his end in a pond in front of Silas’ house with the lost bag of gold which is restored to Silas later. Sensing the pulse of readers, Eliot made it at her best when Godfrey confesses his relationship with the dead woman and his relationship with the child to Nancy. However, Silas never wants to leave the child. He rebuffs Mr. Godfrey’s offer thus, “the mother is dead and I reckon it’s got no father: it’s a lone thing- and I am a lone thing. My money is gone, I don’t know where-and this is come from I don’t know where. I know nothing-I am partly mazed” (237). Later when the childless couple decides to take Eppie to their care Silas leaves the decision to Eppie. However, she declaims their request with her unwillingness to abandon her beloved relationships for the sake of being a gentleman’s daughter. The development of the story is appealing with changes it matters the mechanical life from a tightfisted man to a philanthropist. Before the entry of the child his every move was about making money and was always preoccupied with dreams about being rich. The details in the story read better about how much his gold that he hides under his loom. To him, money was the only inspiring thing in his life. Later with the entry of Eppie, he changes his insider- the greedy miser into a beloved father for whom he has never known to. Eppie’s golden hair reminds him of the gold he has lost; and her presence treats him as a source to find the lost asset by spending time with the kid. He deeply loves the child as he takes her for an angel sent by gods of fortune. She now becomes his only reason for living, and the child opens the stingy weaver’s heart with its cute smiles. Silas finds it meaningful living for the new found child and he forgets his past and its tribulations. As the story goes on we find a new man in Silas wakes up, a man who has conquered his inner self. Marner’s affectionate attachment with the child lifts him up to the utmost periphery of anyone’s expectations. For the first time since he came to the countryside, he thought of going back to his hometown. He says to Eppie “I want to see Mr. Patson, the minister: something may ha’ come out to make ‘em know I was innocent o’ the robbery” (352). Eliot pays utmost attention to keep the momentum going with reality of life. The changes that happen to the weaver’s ruined life takes spectacular turns all after the entry of the golden-curled child. In most stories, several fabrications can be seen like the entry of a fairy to help the deprived hero. He remains to be a true father to her and agrees Eppie to marry Aaron. Eppie also do not want to leave his presence and love as she says, “you won’t be giving me away father, and you will only be taking Aaron to be a son to you”. May be this story looks like a happy ending book of moral descriptions but Eliot gives enough space for strong criticism against organized religion and gentry with authorized specifications of wrong doings during the industrial revolution. The author has fondly done everything fantastic to make this story an excellent piece of penmanship. In this marvelous work, the writer confirms the adherence of the events and turns to realistic effect without leaving any scope for a negative scrutiny. Eppie’s entry transforms Marners’s life to a new melancholy in the initial stages; but as the weaver bravely surpasses his entire plight with courage, the child proves to be a treasure to him at the end of the story. Works Cited Eliot G. Silas Marner, the Weaver of Raveloe. William Blackwood and Sons, 1861. Read More