Silas Marner Research Paper

During the Victorian Era many women found it hard to be taken seriously as writers by the general public. Because of this many women published under male names and kept their true identities secret for the sake of their work. Mary Anne Evans did just this when she published her novel 'Silas Marner' in 1861 under the pen name 'George Eliot'. George Eliot was a famous author in the nineteenth century who publish several well known poems and novels, 'Silas Marner' being one of them. 'Silas Marner' was in no way poorly written, but I found it to be just another novel. It was decent, but I didn't feel that it stood out from all of the other novels I've written and it wasn't my type of story. 'Silas Marner' is about a man named Silas who moves to the small English town of Raveloe after being accused of a murder he didn't …show more content…
I like the town of Raveloe and thought it was the perfect setting because it really afftected the behaviors of those who lived there. Raveloe was described very well too; in some scenes I could picture just what it looked like. This novel also carries a theme relatable to all about the importance of relationships with other people. This is very relevant today, especially as people become more interested in cell phones than the people around them. In additon, the descriptions of characters and setting were good and Silas's transition was believable. Eliot also included a few symbols like gold which is a symbol to Silas as well. The book tells us that, to him, "Mysterious money had stood to him as the symbol of earthly good. . . ."(Eliot 10) Another symbol I thought was done well was Eppie. When Silas first finds Eppie he thinks her hair is his gold; he thinks it's his treasure. By the end of the novel Eppie has become Silas's treasure and, like his gold one was, she is the most important thing to him. I like how Eliot showed that by Silas's mistake when he first saw the