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Themes in silas marner by George Eliot
Silas Marner summary by George Eliot
Silas Marner summary by George Eliot
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In Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, Ebenezer Scrooge transforms from a notorious miser to a humbled, kind-hearted soul as a result of three spirits who apprise him of life's true meaning. Mirroring Scrooge's evolution, in George Eliot's Silas Marner, Silas also transitions from a recluse in society to a rejuvenated man because of a little girl who crawls into his heart. Initially, Silas is lonely man who finds solace from his past with money and solitude. When Eppie enters Silas' home, he begins to understand that there is more substance to life than hoarding gold. Furthermore, after many years as Eppie's guardian, Silas is finally able to experience true happiness and the invaluable joy of love. After an unfortunate series of events that shaped Silas into a withdrawn and jaded soul, he cannot trust anyone or anything beyond the guineas in front of him. For example, Silas conducts day-by-day activities "in solitude . . . [and] his life [is] reduced to the mere functions of weaving and hoarding." These menial tasks engage Silas' mind and keep him from thinking about his troubles and worries. In addition, by placing value on money and weaving, he convinces himself that there is little time to "[seek] man or woman, save for the purposes of his calling or in order to supply himself with necessaries." As a result of his hermit-like behavior, Silas becomes a lonely and depressed outcast of his community. Moreover, Silas judges his happiness by "his guineas rising in the iron pot, [while] his life narrow[s] and harden[s] itself more and more into a mere pulsation of desire and satisfaction." This cycle thrusts him further into an impenetrable state of mind that will seemingly be his downfall if he continues in this manner. Fortunately for Silas, a life-changing event causes him to reevaluate his miserly goals and aspirations. The simultaneous occurrence of the stealing of his gold and the arrival of Eppie contribute to the beginnings of a positive change in Silas' demeanor and spirit. In his delirium over losing his money and upon finding Eppie on his hearth, Silas rambles that "the money's gone I don't know where, and this is come from I don't know where." Little does Silas know that Eppie will be more valuable than all of his precious treasures. The presence of Eppie in Silas' life allows his "mind [to] grow into memory, [and] as her life unfold[s], his soul, long stupefied in a cold narrow prison, unfold[s] too, and trembl[es] gradually into full consciousness.
Silas’ morality shines through again. Silas could have completely forgotten about his morals and taken all these opportunities to cause even more destruction and regret but instead he sacrificed so much of his hard work to be happy with himself and instead of trying to be accepted by society he wanted to be able to be accepting of himself without resenting anything. Silas’ self-sacrifice is the main cause to his true happiness. His morals also played a vital role in the novel causing him to realize he does not need material things in life to be happy.
One major theme that runs through The Pearl, The Good Earth, and Silas Marner is the impact of money on the lives of the characters. All three books vividly incorporate this theme in different ways. Money can greatly alter the way of life of any individual. It can be an advantage or a disadvantage. These three authors used this theme in these novels to show the reader the impact money can have on a person.
Just like the play, Ebenezer Scrooge is the main character in the story. He is a mean, cold-hearted man that has no Christmas spirit whatsoever. All that Scrooge cares about and will ever care about is his wealth until he is taken on a journey. He is lead by 3 ghosts of his past, present, and future as he was in the play. These ghosts show him what Christmas spirit is and try to force it upon him. All of this finally hits him once he is taken to the future and witnesses his own grave. Scrooge pleads for a second chance to change his bad ways. Once he wakes up in his bedroom after all of this craziness, he jumps for joy and makes many new friends while mending with some old friends. He fixes many of his wrongs and lives out the rest of his life as a happier, friendlier, and a generous
Often, readers don’t hear their protagonist shouting phrases such as “Bah!” and “Humbug!”, yet Ebenezer Scrooge is known as the prime character in the novel A Christmas Carol written by Charles Dickens. Right off the bat, the reader can notice Scrooge is known for being bitter, self absorbed, selfish, and cruel. Over the course of the book, the reader will reevaluate the main character and notice he becomes warmer, joyous, and pleasant. Growth and prosperity have both taken place by the end of the novel.
How and why does Ebenezer Scrooge change throughout “ A Christmas Carol?” Scrooge changes after seeing himself dead in the future. There are several quotes throughout the story to help prove this. This essay will show only three of these, one from the beginning, one from the middle, and one from the end. Scrooge thought he would never change, but it turned out that he was wrong.
First, Scrooge is taken to when he was a little boy and still in school. He is shown himself when his sister comes to see him and tells him that he is able to come home. He remembers how much he loved his sister and the Ghost of Christmas Past reminds him that she had a child, his nephew. Scrooge regrets the way he treated him earlier and now knows he should have been kinder. Next, he sees a young version of himself at work, working for Fezziwig as an apprentice. He remembers how much he enjoyed working for him and realizes how he treats Bob Cratchit. He realized that he needs to treat Bob with the same respect that Fezziwig gave him. Lastly, he is taken back to when his ex-fiance is breaking up with him. He watches with horror as she lists all the reasons why the relationship would not work out. When his fiance stops speaking and is heading for the door, he pleads to his younger self not to let her go, and not to be such a fool, but it was no use as he was technically not there and not able to be heard. All of these scenarios show that Ebeneezer is on the road to becoming a kinder person, but we still know he is not quite there yet. I know this because when speaking to ghost of Christmas Present he says, “I went forth last night on compulsion, and learnt a lesson which is working now. Tonight, if you aught to teach me, let me profit by it.” (664) This
There are reasons that the Lord of the Rings trilogy has spanned nearly one hundred years, allowing children to connect with their grandparents through their love of the tale, and that stories like Harry Potter have defined a generation: the story of a journey is one that audiences love to hear. Reading and watching about journeys can make the reader/watcher experience that journey with the characters. Journeys, however, do not have to be fantastical or magical to be powerful to a person. T.S. Eliot and Robert Frost, for example, were both modernist poets, but they were creators of journeys that seemed much simpler. This is not to say, however, that the journeys they wrote of were incredibly similar. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” and Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” both depict in first-person form physical journeys by the speakers, through a city and through the woods, respectively, but also the metaphorical journey taken through life. The speakers of each of these poems are in different stages of their life-journeys, which provides them each with a different perspective. The speakers also have very different attitude to their journeys, showing that the stage and setting of a journey can greatly affect how that journey is perceived by the journeyer.
The characters of Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby experience dissatisfaction throughout their lives and attempt achieve a better state through their actions. Jay Gatsby embodies the idea of wanting more in life, abandoning his old life and changing his name, inventing a new person that “sprang from his Platonic conception of himself” (Fitzgerald 98). His new persona is successful, however Gatsby continues to feel incomplete without a partner. Myrtle Wilson is unhappy with her life in the Valley of Ashes, so she seeks a better life through her affairs with Tom Buchanan. Daisy is likewise disappointed in her marriage; she cannot divorce Tom, whom she is aware is having an affair, and has one herself. Dissatisfaction heavily impacts the actions people take to improve their lives. All people will inevitably reach a state of dissatisfaction and of desire for a better life, and the characters of The Great Gatsby change their lives as a result of being unhappy with what they have.
Ebenezer Scrooge learned a great deal about himself during the visitations of the three ghosts in A Christmas Carol. He learned things that not only changed his life, but also the lives of others such as Tiny Tim and his family. At first these changes came gradually, probably because they where not really "fuelled" by fear of what might be, but instead by remorse for things he had already done. Not until the second and third spirits visit Scrooge can a true change due to fear, not only in fear for what might be during his life but also in the end.
Upon reading more closely, the story is revealed to present a tragic journey of a man who has lost his sanity but seeks solace in the materialistic comforts of his old life. The story succeeds in making a number of statements about human nature: that wealth is the most powerful measure of social status and anyone without it will face ostracization; that denial of one 's mistakes and unfortunate circumstances only leads to more pain; that even the most optimistic people can hold dark secrets and emotional turmoil inside them. All of these themes compel the reader to ponder their real-life implications long after the story is
In "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens, Ebenezer Scrooge undergoes a transformation as a result of his encounters with three ghosts and becomes a kind, happy, and generous man. His greedy, cruel, and grumpy demeanor is replaced seemingly overnight, but he doesn’t just wake up and decide to be nice. It takes three Spirits to change his outlook on life - The Ghosts of Christmases Past, Present, and Future. The Ghost of Christmas Past makes Scrooge begin to regret his selfishness, and the Ghost of Christmas Present begins to teach him about others. This second Ghost helps to make him realize that money doesn't buy happiness. The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, however, teaches the most profound lesson of all: unless he changes, no one will care if Scrooge dies. Because of the Ghosts, by Christmas morning Ebenezer Scrooge is a completely different person from the man who went to bed on Christmas Eve.
T.S. Eliot, a notable twentieth century poet, wrote often about the modern man and his incapacity to make decisive movements. In his work entitled, 'The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock'; he continues this theme allowing the reader to view the world as he sees it, a world of isolation and fear strangling the will of the modern man. The poem opens with a quoted passage from Dante's Inferno, an allusion to Dante's character who speaks from Hell only because he believes that the listener can not return to earth and thereby is impotent to act on the knowledge of his conversation. In his work, Eliot uses this quotation to foreshadow the idea that his character, Prufrock, is also trapped in a world he can not escape, the world where his own thoughts and feelings incapacitate and isolate him.
making one see that Silas has a love for gold, at the same time one
It is said that George Eliot’s style of writing deals with much realism. Eliot, herself meant by a “realist” to be “an artist who values the truth of observation above the imaginative fancies of writers of “romance” or fashionable melodramatic fiction.” (Ashton 19) This technique is artfully utilized in her writings in a way which human character and relationships are dissected and analyzed. In the novel The Mill on the Floss, Eliot uses the relationships of the protagonist of the story, Miss Maggie Tulliver, as a medium in which to convey various aspects of human social associations. It seems that as a result of Maggie’s nature and of circumstances presented around her, that she is never able to have a connection with one person that satisfies her multifaceted needs and desires. Maggie is able, to some extent, to explore the various and occasionally conflicting aspects of her person with her relationships between other characters presented in the novel. “From an early age, Maggie needs approval from men...Maggie is not shown in any deep relationship with a female friend.” (Ashton 83) A reader can explore into Maggie Tulliver’s person and her short development as a woman in four primary male associations: her father—Mr. Tulliver, her brother—Tom Tulliver, her friend and mentor—Philip Wakem and her dangerous passion with Steven Guest.
Silas starts the story as a popular man from Lantern Yard as he is a regular attendee to church and is well respected. He is referred to as ‘Master Marner’. His best friend is William Dane. William frames Silas for a crime he did not commit. People in the village start to accuse Silas of the theft of the dead Deacon’s money. The way this church were organised in those days meant that it was down to pure luck to decide whether Silas was guilty or not. This was the main reason why lots were picked to decide Silas’ fate. He was a firm believer in God and was adamant that he would be cleared. “I can say nothing. God will clear me” (Chapter 1 page 12). Despite his solid belief, Silas was falsely found guilty and he had to leave his place of birth. The author, due to her different beliefs, portrayed this as if to say that it wasn’t up to God to decide your fate, but up to you to decide your own fate. However, contrary to this, his prayers did come true later on in his life, but in the form of a baby.