Essay About Story Of Silas Marner And Hoard Gold

The Outcast Weaver
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The story of Silas Marner is a beautiful, eloquently told story which gives the
reader a vived depiction of the period in which it takes place in a rustic village
in England in the 1800s. The story evokes many emotions from the reader
as well as teaches some moral lessons about life which are timeless. The
authors overall theme is a powerful demonstration of the importance of
friendship and love to ones life and the devatating, dehumanizing effect the
lack of friendship and love causes.
Silas Marner, The Weaver of Raveloe, by George Eliot, is a fictional novel
of what becomes of this once respected and esteemed young man, a weaver
by trade, after he is framed for a thft by his best friend who them marries his
fiancee. It is a poignant story which vividly demostrates the impact the lack
of love and friendship has on ones life, and what becomes of Silas as a
result of the injustices done to him.
Silas Marner, by George Eliot, is a fictional account of a frinedless,
reclusive weaver whose only purpose in life is to weave and hoard gold. O
once his hold is stolen, he feels totally lost without it. Then mysteriously,
this beautiful golden haired baby girl comes into his life in its (the gold
guineas) place which marks the “rebirth”, the journely of Silas Marner back
to humanity. This single event redeems his life through his love for the baby
and his willingness to care for and take her as his own.
The story evokes a lot of emotion from the reader in response to the total
injustice of what happened to Silas. First, complete anger as well as
sympathy, for the betrayal by his best frined by framing him for a theft and
framing him to get his fiancee. As is this was not bad enough, he is deemed
huilty by his town, so feels forced to leave. This event nearly destroyed Silas.
He moves to a nearby village called Raveloe, where he isnot accepted
because he is an outsider, therefore is not to be trusted.
“and even a settler, if he came from distant parts hardly ever ceased to be
viewed with a remnant of distrust,” (p.2)
One night after his gold had been stolen, Silas mistakes the golden-
haired baby girl that crawled into his cottage for his stolen gold guines but
soon realizes it is a baby girl. He decides to take care of her as his own
child. Things begin to change in Silas life, and this is the turning point of his
life.
The plot of the story is that Silas Marner, a weaver of linen by trade, is
betrayed by his supposed best friend William Dane. He framed Silas for a
theft which caused him to basically be driven out of his hometown, losing all
that he loved. He was betrayed by his best friend, his friends, his church and
his fiancee. He had lost everything including his hometown. He moves to a
nearby town called Raveloe where he is looked upon as a strange man with
peculiar “fits” and unusual powers to heal and is basically feared as someone
who is of the occult. He becomes a lonely, reclusive miser who lives to work
on his loomhis entire life beomes an endless pursuit to just weave and
hoard his gold guineas, it was
all he had. He spent his days just weaving his
linen like he was machine.
“Strangely, Marners face and figure shrank and bent themselves into a
constant mechanical relation to the objects of his life,” (p.18)
“So this pattern would continue and for all the linen he would sell, he
would keep hoarding the gold and spend almost nothing.” (p.18)
The gold became the only special thing in his life. Until one night when
his gold mysteriously disapperared. What could have happened but a robbery?
And who was the thief? Dunstan Cass, the son of Squire Cass, the most
important, respected and wealthy man in Raveloe. But Silas has no idea who
it was and neither does anyone else. On New Years Eve, he finds himseld at
home that night away from the festivities at the Red House. He goes into one
of his “fits” and awakens to catch this gold out of the corner of his eye.
He turned towards the hearth and notices an “uncertain glimmer”,
thinking it is his gold, he reaches for the gold, only to find the gold he sees is
the golden curly hair of a baby girl. After finding the mother dead outside, he
decides to claim the child as his own. But, Godfrey Cass, another son of
Squire Cass, Dunstans brother, is the father of the baby. This is a turning
point in Silas Marners Life. He turns from the crazed, workaholic existence
to become a caring, attentive and loving