"Cliff Notes - Silas Marner" - читать интересную книгу автора (Cliff Notes)

rural landowners who wielded local political power and stood
independent of the aristocracy. By Eliot's own time, this class
had nearly been obliterated. Raveloe's class system is smoothly
integrated, however. Upperclass men drink at the Rainbow, too,
and villagers are invited to the Red House parties. They all
hear the same gossip. Everyone meets at church.

Silas Marner, in contrast, comes from a large industrial
town, though he stayed within a smaller community there, his
religious sect. While his hometown is a portrait of the "new"
industrialized city of the nineteenth century, his sect is a
portrait of the fanatical Evangelical or Puritan denominations
that had challenged the established Church of England since the
sixteenth century. (Eliot herself had briefly been influenced
by Evangelicals.) The customs of such a place are totally
different from those of Raveloe, so Silas is branded an alien.
Therefore, he lives outside the village, in a cottage beside a
dangerous, desolate stone-pit. After Eppie enters his life,
however, a garden blooms around its walls, signifying the roots
he has put down at last.

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SILAS MARNER: THEMES

The following are major themes of Silas Marner.

1. LUCK AND FATE

Are some people simply luckier than others? Or is there an
overall justice ruling life? Different characters in this book
answer these questions differently. Dunstan Cass trusts his
native good luck, while Godfrey nervously waits to see if his
luck will be good or bad. Neither believes in a system of just
rewards and punishment, until years later when Godfrey accepts
his childlessness as a divine punishment. Dolly Winthrop trusts
blindly to the wisdom of "Them" above, but she does believe that
good deeds on Earth are fairly rewarded. Silas, however, used
to believe in just rewards in his Lantern-Yard days, and his
faith was cruelly disappointed. He seems to be the victim of a
blind destiny--even Eppie comes to him like a blessing out of
nowhere. As you follow this theme through the book, notice its
relation to religion (see Theme 2). Consider not only what
characters say, but also how their lives eventually work out in
the plot.

2. RELIGION

Under the name of Christianity, many different faiths exist
in Silas Marner. Eliot did not believe in a divine being
herself, yet most of her public probably did. How does she