Silas Marner by George Eliot

First, just so you could say, “yeah, I know” if anyone ever mentions that George Eliot is a woman, is that the author’s real name is Mary Ann Evans. Silas Marner, the hero of the story, is this dude who has withdrawn from society because he was accused of a crime he didn’t commit. (Aside: see how people respond very differently to the same set of circumstances? The A-Team, accused of a crime they didn’t commit, go around and whack the bad guys. Or maybe it’s just the difference between 19th and 20th century mores.) So Silas migrates to a village far away, puts his head down, works hard, avoids people, and his only pleasure in life is to sit in front of the fire at night and count the gold that he has saved over the years.

One day his gold goes missing, along with his purpose in life. Then something happens which fills his life with joy and connects him with the surrounding community.

My favourite passage:

Favourable Chance, I fancy, is the god of all men who follow their own devices instead of obeying a law they believe in. Let even a polished man of these days get into a position he is ashamed to avow, and his mind will be bent on all the possible issues that may deliver him from the calculable results of that position. Let him live outside his income, or shirk the resolute honest work that brings wages, and he will presently find himself dreaming of a possible benefactor, a possible simpleton who may be cajoled into using his interest, a possible state of mind in some possible person not yet forthcoming. Let him neglect the responsibilities of his office, and he will inevitably anchor himself on the chance that the thing left undone may turn out not to be of the supposed importance. Let him betray his friend’s confidence, and he will adore that same cunning complexity called Chance, which gives him the hope that his friend will never know. Let him forsake a decent craft that he may pursue the gentilities of a profession to which nature never called him, and his religion will infallibly be the worship of blessed Chance, which he will believe in as the mighty creator of success. The evil principle deprecated in that religion is the orderly sequence by which the seed brings forth a crop after its kind.

This is funny:

“I know the way o’ wives; they set one on to abuse their husbands, and then they turn round on one and praise ‘em as if they wanted to sell ‘em …”

Update 23 June 2009

Oops, where’s the review? Well, this book satisfies our ingrained yearning for a happy ending. There’s lots of commentary on the human condition. Some might feel that the justice is a bit too poetic though. Having said that, we don’t know what happened to the guy who stole the money and framed Silas for it. Not that Silas didn’t ultimately try to find out, but I think the point is that he lets it go.

22 June 2009 | Book review | Comments