Introduces her four major concerns illustrated in Silas Marner –
namely village life.
Within the very first paragraph on the book, Gorge Elliot introduces
her four major concerns illustrated in Silas Marner – namely village
life (of the late 18th century), superstition and belief, alienation
and historical change (in this case specifically that caused by
industrial revolution and the ending of the Napoleonic Wars). These
concerns are closely woven together in the story (and in some cases
real life) as can once again be seen in this opening two paragraphs
and often can be looked at in relation to one another.
Village life was probably Gorge Elliot’s primary focus when writing
the novel and her anthropological investigations provide us with a
fair deal of insight into it throughout the novel. The village of
Raveloe is the setting for the majority of the story. The third line,
while not introducing us to it per se, introduces us to the general
idea of villages resembling it. It is said to be “far away among the
lanes or deep in the bosom of the hills”. This is an important
introduction, physically and psychologically distancing Victorian
readers from Raveloe and making it seem totally different from the
world they live in. In many ways, this difference is very real.
Raveloe is still untouched by the effects of the industrial revolution
that created the town Elliot’s readers are familiar with. It is
Elliot’s objective to provide a comparison between Raveloe and such
towns – represented in the novel by Lantern Yard.
The opening paragraph also describes the villagers. They are described
as “untraveled” and are very much uneducated. Knowledge to them is
something suspicious, most likely due to the fact h...
... middle of paper ...
...example of this would have to be the sentence “how was a man to be
explained unless you at least knew somebody who knew his father or
mother?” The point is that this is most certainly not true as a
complete stranger new not be a dangerous or dishonest person. In this
way Elliot lightly pokes fun at the attitudes of the villagers.
Thus, it can be seen that within the opening two paragraphs, Elliot
sets up the foundations of the primary concerns in this book. While,
it is quite obviously not possible to go into anything resembling
detail regarding any one of them, the paragraphs provide a platform
upon which build up upon. The attitude and tone of the narrator, while
not obviously apparent, can also be felt here. This opening basically
serves as a generalization to which the life of Silas Marner, as
detailed in the rest of the novel, is a specific example.
One example is the following lines: “Early deprived of parental guardianship, far removed from relatives, she [Mag Smith] was left to guide her tiny boat over life’s surges alone and inexperienced. As she merged into womanhood, unprotected, uncherished, uncared for, there fell on her ear the music of love, awakening an intensity of emotion long dormant” (Gates et al. 475). “She surrendered to him a priceless gem, which he proudly garnered as a trophy, with those of other victims, and left her to her fate” (Gates et al.
Same Goal, Different Route in The Great Gatsby A more thorough investigation of The Great Gatsby is necessary to uncover a well-disguised theme by Fitzgerald in this work. Upon a simple read through one would probably not notice the great similarities of Jay Gatsby and Myrtle Wilson, but the two characters seemed to have the same agenda for their lives. While Gatsby took the route of acquiring money at all costs to join the upper class of society and to be acceptable in the eyes of a woman, Myrtle chose to make her way up in society at the cost of her marriage by attaching herself to money. The underlying question is who had the most success. As a young man, Jay Gatsby was poor with nothing but his love for Daisy. He had attempted to
one's who stand alone with no one to look to for love or support. "For
For readers who observe literature through a feminist lens, they will notice the depiction of female characters, and this makes a large statement on the author’s perception of feminism. Through portraying these women as specific female archetypes, the author creates sense of what roles women play in both their families and in society. In books such as The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck and The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the roles that the main female characters play are, in different instances, both comparable and dissimilar.
Upon first inspection, Hester Prynne and Huckleberry Finn may not appear to have much in common. Hester Prynne is an ostracized woman and mother in 17th century Puritan Boston, while Huck Finn is a 14 year old boy essentially running away from home in the antebellum south; their stories are vastly different from one another. However, there are certain similarities between these two characters and their circumstances. Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter and Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn share a common trait; a protagonist that rejects society and who must learn to coexist with the moral and religious influences that bolster it. Though Huckleberry’s rejection may be more external and obvious than Hester’s, both characters go against
Jane Eyre's literary success of the time has been cheaply commercialized. In other words, Bronte's novel never got the appreciation it deserved, in the areas it deserved. Many 19th century critics merely assigned literary themes to their reviews to "get it over with". Critics commended Jane Eyre for everything from its themes to its form. However, their surface examinations amount to nothing without careful consideration of the deeper underlying background in Jane's life where their hasty principles originate. The widely discussed free will of Jane's, her strong individuality, and independence are segments of a greater scheme, her life. For example: Jane's childhood serves as the most important precedent for all of the self-realism although this purpose is widely disregarded. Even though "many have celebrated Bronte's carefully wrought description of her protagonist's first eighteen years for its vivid pathos, no one has as yet accorded this childhood its deserved weight in the novels ultimate resolution." (Ashe 1) Jane Eyre's genius develops in a series of internal reactions to external circumstances rather than shallow judgments about those internal happenings.
Georgiana's behavior in the 19th century from Nathaniel Hawthorne “The Birthmark”. By the 19th century standards she is expected to live by a certain way and do certain things to satisfied her husband. Georgiana lived up to her expectations as a women and as a wife.
Jane is much more lenient with herself than she is with Mrs. Reed and her cousins. This due to the way in which they treat her compared to the way they are treated as well as the way other people treat her in comparison to how they treat her cousins and Mrs. Reed. At Gateshead, she is treated terribly by everyone around her, while she simply struggles to just stay under the radar. The reason for her bad treatment is a combination of two reasons. The first is that the family, being raised by Mrs. Reed their whole lives, have grown to be selfish, evil people who have little remorse for anyone but themselves. The second reason is that she is only a part of the family through marriage, and because her parents are dead and cannot stick up for her,
Charlotte Bronte includes this passage in order to draw parallels between Mr. Rochester and Jane. In the first passage, Jane thought Mr. Rochester didn’t want to marry her because of her social class and lack of wealth and beauty. In this passage, Mr. Rochester feels Jane likes St. John more than him because of his appearances. A common theme throughout the book as well as in this passage is jealousy drives passion. In the beginning of the book Mr. Rochester used Ms. Ingram in order to make Jane jealous. In this passage, Jane similarly makes Mr. Rochester jealous by explaining how St. John is handsome. Both, at the time, knowingly tempted the other by using someone else to spark jealousy and drive the other to deeper emotions. For example, Jane
One example of a strong, independent woman in Hawthorne’s life was his mother. She did not necessarily look outside of her home for her independence; hers was a forced independence. Elizabeth Hawthorne’s husband died when young Nathaniel was only four years old. She raised him and his siblings while displaying strength that single mothers are forced to produce on a daily basis. While some scholars say that Elizabeth Hawthorne withdrew from her family and society with the death of her husband, Nina Baym has a different insight into the woman that raised Nathaniel Hawthorne. She states that Hawthorne had a “deep attachment to his mother” (Baym 7). She also goes on to say that there are many discrepancies in how his mother is described. However, she believes with ample evidence that Elizabeth Hawthorne connected with her family and her children on a profound level
In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel, The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne depicts Hester Prynne as a strong woman able to resent the conforming laws of the Puritan Society. However, Hawthorne also depicts another side of Hester that is much more worrisome, especially in regards to her daughter Pearl. Hester continuously wants the best for her daughter and wants to be able to protect her as she grows older, but the Puritan society builds a sort of barrier that Hester must break through. On the outside, Hester is confident and doesn’t allow the townspeople to see her weaknesses, but on the inside, Hester is upset and worried about what the future holds for her and Pearl.
-the lonely drudgery, of my present life: for I _was _lonely. Never, from month to month, from year to year, except during my brief intervals of rest at home, did I see one creature to whom I could open my heart
Nathaniel Hawthorne was born on July 4, 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts. He was the only son of Nathaniel and Elizabeth Clark Hathorne and he had two sisters. Nathaniel’s father was a sea captain who died of yellow fever at sea in 1808. With the death of his father, his family was left with poor financial support so they moved in with his wealthy uncles. He was left immobile for several months due to a leg injury and that is where he gained his love for reading and writing. His uncles sent him to Bowdoin College from 1821-1825 where he met and became friends with Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and future 1853 president Franklin Pierce. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s life was full of Puritan legacy. An ancestor, William Hathorne, came to America from England
her lack of respect and how she herself views him as a person based on
For many centuries, the developing world has created numerous opportunities and possibilities for individuals that often become the basis for one’s personal ambitions. These desires in turn influence the decisions and performances that one makes throughout their life in their pursuit of such aspirations. Over the last few decades, many works of literature have been published which highlight common ambitions of the various time periods, and the obstacles that were faced by those with such dreams as attaining the ideal job and travelling the world, being well-known and appreciated, or able to act as one wishes without conviction from others. The particular works of Margaret Laurence, Katherine Mansfield, and Alice Munro, to be later discussed,