Evaluation of Time in The Mill and the Floss - Book Report/Review Example

Time in The Mill and the Floss The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot is archetypical of the Victorian art of storytelling in that it captures the eternal spirit of free will. The plot of the novel deals with the tension between circumstances and the spiritual vitality that keeps the characters going. Human destiny is also addressed from the perspective of the flow of time. Indeed, time is used as a measurement in the life of the female protagonist Maggie, and her brother Tom. The river on which the plot unfolds itself is a symbolic representation of the ever-flowing nature of time. Again, time is presented as a situational variable from the legal conflict over the mill in the beginning of the novel to the resolution in the end. This essay proposal is going to closely look into the role of time in The Mill on the Floss. The lives of middle-class country people in England were not incorporated as an intellectual component of novel writing in the Victorian era. George Eliot broke the tradition by detailing the existences of middle-class country people. While some critics and readers found it fascinating to see the characters through the observant eyes of the novelist, some strongly expressed their resentment for such casting. Leslie Stephen of Cornhill Magazine stated that no English author had documented "the essential characteristics [of quiet English country life]". (Ordinary People's Lives 2005-2006) Like any able novelist, George Eliot too in The Mill on the Floss contrived a plot which has ample scope of multiple interpretations. In this sense, the art of novels demands the readers to have certain acumens for psychological understanding of human relationships and their manifold layers. As a central presence in almost every major relational thread in the novel, Maggie remains till date a remarkable woman character ever portrayed in English literature. Her affectionate and mutually dependant relationship with Tom, and her uncontrollable attraction for Philip and later on Stephen throw up into contention the implicit and passive nature of time. The main characters in the novel, Maggie and Tom in particular, are portrayed as mere pawns struggling to get over the haunted memories of their past lives. With Maggie, it is the lost memory of intellectual and ideal cravings she used to possess within herself in her younger days. In the course of time, the familiarity of circumstances abandons her, leaving her despondent and wistful. Her mental world is perpetually at flux due to the conflict between her awareness of social responsibilities and her subconscious desire for self-fulfillment. As for Tom, time's scythe affects his life in a different manner. The tender relation he shares with Maggie changes with time, due to factors that are beyond his control. The unrelenting pressures of life are manifested in the novel through the loss of their father's mill to his rival, and the social degradation of the Tullivers. Hence, both Tom and Maggie are compelled to adapt different coping mechanisms to overcome the adversities. Traces of changes in terms of their bonding can be found in his disdainful behavior toward Philip Wakem, Maggie's suitor. Moreover, Tom's refusal to pardon Maggie when she wants to return to the loving and caring refuge of her brother underlines the crude nature of time as portrayed in the novel. However, the theme of time is masterfully interwoven into that of destiny. The reunion of Maggie and Tom in the penultimate hours of the novel goes to show humankind's futile attempt to defy destiny. (Losey 69) Time has been adapted as a "theme and procedure of subjective and novelistic consciousness at the very beginning of The Mill on the Floss and the past, for George Eliot, are always with us, always accessible, always the same." (Schleifer 69) These words are echoed in the last line of the novel, "In their death they were not divided." (Eliot et al. 522) So one can say that time acts like a leveler in the novel, unifying the two most powerful forces in the story in the end. Before elaborating furthermore on the thesis topic, it is worth taking a look at how the plot of The Mill on the Floss unfolds. The story begins with the childhood days of Maggie and Tom - a sister and brother living on the river Floss near the country of St. Oggs. Tom and Maggie share an intimate yet complex relationship in the sense that despite having a blood relation, Maggie is somewhat unusually dependent on Tom for her emotional needs. Maggie's most poignant moments of happiness are apparent when Tom shows his affection for her. Similarly, she feels totally dispirited when rebuked by her brother. She is depicted as an impulsive girl with immense intellectual and free-flowing bent of mind. Mr. Tulliver, the guardian of the household and father of Maggie and Tom, is the owner of the Dorlcote Mill at St. Oggs. The Tullivers earn their livelihood from this mill and they have also managed to secure a respectable social standing. Mr. Tulliver's decision to send Tom for pursuing higher education despite his lack of affinity towards academics triggers a family quarrel between him and his wife's sisters, the Dodsons. Noticing the adamancy of Mrs. Glegg, sister of Mrs. Tulliver, it occurs to Mr. Tulliver that she might be imposing her decisions upon him as she had earlier helped the Tullivers financially. To nullify this superior standpoint of Mrs. Glegg, Mr. Tulliver makes a vow to pay back the money Mrs. Glegg had lent him. Meanwhile, Tom is sent to Mr. Stelling, a member of the clergy, for schooling. Maggie's close association with Tom makes her visit her brother at school several times. On one occasion, she comes to know Philip Wakem, another student of Mr. Stelling. This event holds a significant bearing on the subsequent plot developments of The Mill on the Floss. Not only does it introduce the unrealized elements of Maggie's persona, it also triggers confrontations among the characters, which ultimately render dramatic components to the novel. Philip Waken whom Maggie befriends at Mr. Stelling's school is none but the son of Lawyer Waken, the rival of Mr. Tulliver. However, Maggie's attachment with Philip seems to have developed and strengthened due to his sensitive and amiable disposition. Maggie gets an opportunity to go to school with her cousin Lucy, but has to give up her academic pursuits at the age of thirteen when her father loses the delaying lawsuit over the use of the river Floss to Lawyer Wakem, Philip's father. This defeat sets off a series of misfortunes that leave the Tullivers economically bankrupt. Mr. Tulliver finds it difficult to come in terms with the destruction of his dreams and falls sick. During these days of hardship, he does not get much assistance from the Dodsons either. Consequently, Tom has to return to stand by his family. Lawyer Wakem buys the Dorlcote Mill and employs Mr. Tulliver as a manager, causing social humiliation to him. Maggie, thoroughly disillusioned by the pointless course of her life, undergoes a spiritual transformation upon reading The Imitation of Christ which is been bought for her by Bob Jakin, a trader by profession and Tom's childhood friend. George Eliot paints this episode with the precision of a creator who is well conversant with the ways of life in all its colors. She is completely robbed of vigor and enthusiasm which were so characteristic of the glory days of her childhood. In a way, she fights against time in an effort to overcome the ruthless aspects of the same. In her isolated stay in the deteriorating Tulliver household, she suffers from wastage of intellectual power. However, she soon comes to the realization that her ways of looking at life is likely to be faulty and are colored with a desire to attain martyrdom. As soon as her relation with Philip is rekindled on one of her walks in the woods that she is introduced anew to the undying spirit of life. The personality of Philip imbibes in her rejuvenated hopes and dreams of future. However, since both Mr. Tulliver and Tom are firmly against the relationship between Maggie and Philip, they decide to see each other sneakily. Their relation enables Maggie to give vent to her pent up romantic inclinations. Even though both are aware of the fact that Maggie's family is not going to approve of the relationship, they confess love for each other. The situation takes a dramatic turnaround when Tom comes to know of the secretive affair. He reproaches Philip bitterly and makes his sister swear to put an end to the relationship. Tom manages to bring his family back to a position of social repute and financial stability. A freak and violent confrontation between Mr. Tulliver and Lawyer Wakem leads to sudden illness of Mr. Tulliver before he dies. The storyline advances several years as Maggie gets herself a teaching job in another village. On one occasion she makes a visit to St. Oggs to meet her cousin Lucy who now looks after Mrs. Tulliver. During her visit, Maggie is introduced to Stephen Guest, a handsome and affluent gentleman who happens to be a suitor of Lucy. Both Stephen and Lucy are also on friendly terms with Philip. Maggie pleads to Tom to give her permission to meet Philip to which Tom agrees reluctantly. Realizing the pulse of Maggie and Philip, Lucy asks Philip to talk with his father Lawyer Wakem whether he would consider giving back the mill to Tom who has expressed his wish to purchase it. Lawyer Wakem agrees to both the proposals - selling out the Dorlcote Mill to Tom and marriage between Philip and Maggie. At this critical juncture, the plot again takes an unexpected turn as Maggie and Stephen get enamored to each other. Despite knowing very well that such a liaison will put them into trouble, they fail to conceal their feelings for each other. When Philip becomes aware of the situation, he develops a feeling of jealousy. He forfeits a boat ride with Maggie down the Floss, allowing Stephen to replace himself. As they head towards Mudport, Stephen implores Maggie to marry him instead of Philip. Maggie, who is struck between her fidelity to Philip and her attraction to Stephen, lands in a psychological mess. Her decision to part with Stephen is later changed when Stephen, taking the blame upon himself, sends her an apologetic letter in order to renew their relation. Maggie by now comes to the realization how she has caused pain in everyone's life and takes a solemn oath unto herself to bear the burden. The novel nears its end as a massive flood occurs in the Floss. Maggie and Tom become reunited at the final hours before the boat they are in is overturned in the Floss by the approaching waves of the floodwater. A careful examination of the plot of The Mill on the Floss establishes the notion of time in multifaceted dimensions. Firstly, the death of Maggie and Tom ends a saga which began 15 years ago in their childhood days. Their kinship was characterized by mutual affection and intimacy. Capsizing of the boat in the end makes for a reenactment of the beginning of the novel, or in other words, of an earlier time which hardly changes. If one investigates The Mill on the Floss from the viewpoint of a modern novel, it would be clear that time is often presented as an abstraction of changes in human beings, especially in narrative discourses. "Time is not a thing", as Martin Heidegger observes in On Time and Being. (Schleifer 67) If the closing of The Mill on the Floss is perceived as the redemption of time, the same theory does not stand for the opening of the novel. A notable shift in the novelist's sensibility is apparent in the first chapter as George Eliot manipulates the reader's responses with regards to interpreting time as accidental and non-essential. (Schleifer 68) She creates an impersonated, illusionary world of nostalgia in the first chapter itself: "A wide plain, where the broadening Floss hurries on between its green banks to the sea, and the loving tide, rushing to meet it, checks its passage with an impetuous embraceHow lovely the little river is, with its dark changing wavelets! It seems to me like a living companion while I wander along the bank and listen to its low placid voice, as to the voice of one who is deaf and loving." (Eliot et al. 7) This haunting experience is rounded off with the deathly embrace in the end as the Floss, a signifier of ever flowing time, engulfs the brother and sister with an absolute finality. With their death, time also comes to an end just as the novel does. Secondly, time is introduced as a forward-moving construct in the novel. It is the harbinger of destiny which is irreversible in nature. As Maggie and Tom rows down the furious river under flood situation, they symbolically cross the point of no return and hence, are overpowered by the water. To look at this point from another perspective, time is the antagonistic element in the lives of all the characters in The Mill on the Floss. Everyone tries to defy it but none succeeds. The story of the Tulliver family ends with the submersion of Maggie and Tom but history, much like the flowing of a river, never ends: "And every man and woman mentioned in this history was still living." (Eliot et al. 521) Deus ex machina is a literary device which is used in the plot development of the novel to connect the loose ends of the narrative (Hellenica 2006). This is apparent in the way the sub-plots create tension in the continuous flow of the main plot. The flood can be considered as a deux ex machina in the sense that it helps resolving the chain of unexpected events caused by Maggie's association with more than one man. Hence, time gives an accurate and justified measurement of the past. In addition to this, the conceptualization of time helps the readers to mentally connect between the past with the present at any given moment in the storytelling. Readers never feel like getting detached from the past occurrences. To sum it up, The Mill on the Floss accounts for a cyclic documentation of time. The time span recorded in the novel is about 15 years and all along this temporal framework the narrative advances little by little, giving ample opportunity to the readers to measure the impact of time on each and every character accurately. It won't be an overstatement to claim that the plot and characterization play a subsidiary role to the delineation of time in the novel. Works cited Eliot, George, Gordon S. Haight, and Dinah Birch. The Mill on the Floss. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998. Schleifer, Ronald. Modernism and Time: The Logic of Abundance in Literature, Science, and Culture, 1880 - 1930. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000. "Ordinary People's Lives." BookRags. 2005-2006. 11 March 2009 Losey, Jay, William Dean Brewer. Mapping Male Sexuality. Farleigh Dickinson University Press. 2000. "Deus ex machine". Hellenica. 2006. 11 March 2009 < http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/LX/DeusExMachina.html > Read More