The Changes in Silas Marner by George Elliot

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The Changes in Silas Marner by George Elliot In order to answer this question we must first look at what changes do actually occur; firstly there is the main change in the book, which is the change that occurs in Silas Marner himself. This is the main theme of the book, and indeed, this change is divided into two parts; the Silas before Eppie arrives and the Silas after she has arrived. Furthermore this is the first and simple way that we can see that George Elliot has accounted for this change; she has divided the book into two parts according to the above change. Whilst this is the main change in the novel, there are many others, but the important difference to note is that they all revolve around the above change; take, for instance, the change that occurs in the Raveloe village itself; it changes as Silas does, for at first they thought that Silas was strange or even some kind of demon, but then as he changed and 'opened up' so they grew to accept him. Another major change that occurs throughout the book is the change in Godfrey Cass; this change is slightly different to the rest, for two reasons; firstly, whereas most other changes happen gradually, Godfrey's change happens spontaneously when he tells Nancy of his secret affair. Secondly, whilst the other changes seem to be improvements (such as the change in Silas), Godfrey's change does not quite seem to make him that much of a better person; he still had an affair and he is still grateful that Mollie died. Generally though, the changes in the novel are positive, for by the end of the book Silas is happy and has Eppie, Godfrey has Nancy, the Raveloe people are satisfied and Dunstan is found dead and therefore Silas gets his money back. The main change though, is the change that happens to Silas Marner. This change can be split up into four basic parts; before he was excommunicated, after he was excommunicated and moves to Raveloe,

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