Wrongly
accused of theft and exiled from a religious community many years before, the
embittered weaver Silas Marner lives alone in Raveloe, living only for his
precious hoard of gold. But when his money is stolen and an orphaned child,
Eppie, finds her way into his house, Silas is given the chance to transform his
life.
The story of an isolated man who learns to open his
heart, Silas Marner was George
Eliot’s favourite of her novels, combining humour, rich symbolism and pointed
social criticism.
Classic fiction often brings a
stimulating conversation to our meetings. The majority of our group has come to
reading classics later in life, so what we lack in literary comment is made up
for with unqualified, yet genuine observations.
This type of discussion can then
lead to a very enlightening look at what can some times be a rather sombre or
staid study.
Generally speaking Silas Marner was well received. Praise
was given to Eliot’s descriptive passages and character profiles. Village life
was superbly portrayed with all the human characters tenderly drawn out.
Everyone loved Dolly and her freely given advice on child-rearing, and anything
else she felt needed saying! Empathy for Silas was also forth coming and even
the neat and tidy, happy ending was forgiven.
There was some comment on the
difficulty of the language and also the pace, which was just a little slow and
frustrating for this busy time of year. We all agree that along with many other
English classics, Silas is at its
best when being read aloud. A few of us read out favourite passages and the
group’s enjoyment was clearly evident.
It was felt that the theme of
redemption was strong and could apply to many modern stories today, but
basically this was a beautifully told ‘fairy’ tale that did not fail in its aim
to enchant us.
