Way Ahead of Schedule

In my annual commitment to (try to) read a novel, other than A Christmas Carol and Old Man and the Sea, I usually fail to get through the novel. Last year I tried Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian and, well, didn’t get very far. A friend of ours, Katie Prudek, one evening convinced me I might be able to get through one of her favorite (short) novels, by one George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans), Silas Marner. So I got a copy and thought I’d give it a whirl and then finish it off over Spring Break.

I did, way ahead of the scheduled Spring Break, and way ahead of most years’s schedule. I usually don’t begin my novel attempt until summer or Fall, but this year I got going in February and had a hard time putting it down. So, thanks, Katie.

What’s your favorite (classical) novel? Why?

My thoughts:

First, a great story capturing social tensions between England’s ordinary folks and the elite establishment. Silas experiences a gross injustice and loses the love of his life, flees Lantern Yard and its conservative Christian non-conformist church, moves to Raveloe to become a workaholic money-making weaver. A thief — one connected to the elites — steals all his gold and money, money he had come to idolize. By (fictionalized intent but) happenstance a woman and her daughter wander upon his mostly out of the way location in the country, she dies and the young daughter wanders into Silas Marner’s home and she takes over his life — she becomes the gold he lost and more. I’ve omitted some of the important elements of this story so as not to spoil it for those who will read Silas Marner.

Second, the story presses to the fore classic themes: bucolic glory in Silas Marner, family as even more important than religion, religion as propping up society and serving society, the knavery and limitations of bad characters (the limits of the Squire and his sons are notable) counterposed by the good character of others, the triumph of the good over the bad, and — perhaps most of all — wonderful skill in setting up each new development in the plot in a way that is as organic as it is composed. I found the story compelling.

Third, sentimentality. Silas Marner is sentimental, and there is a reason we like the sentimental and hence she dips her bucket deep into that well. Not as sentimenal as Dickens, but still sentimental.

Fourth, lots of turning inside-out of themes: Silas is unjustly accused of stealing his Calvinist church’s funds, he becomes rich as a weaver as he abandons the church and friendship with others, the little girl Eppie has gold hair that replaces his wealth and takes his possessions to a much higher level, and wealth is then all put in its proper place below love of family.