About this title: SILAS MARNER, George Eliot's timeless tale of simple people in small-town England, has the unwarranted reputation of being moralistic and saccharine; it is, in fact, one of George Eliot's most comic, balanced, and moving works of fiction. Falsely accused of theft, Silas Marner flees his home town and takes up residence in Raveloe, where he works as a weaver but remains an outsider. Embittered, alienated from humanity, and old before his time, he becomes a miser, able to love only his hoard of money, until he takes in a child who comes to him for shelter and redeems him through the power of ...
read more
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Description: Good. Pages unmarked, light creases on spine, minor wear on corners and edges, small dent on top front cover. Ships within 24 hours, Satisfaction Guaranteed. read more
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Signet Classics
Date Published: 1981
ISBN-13:9780451524270ISBN:0451524276
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Cover has very minor wear, pages are unmarked. Mass market (rack) paperback. Glued binding. 192 p. Audience: Young adult. read more
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Washington Square Press, New York
Date Published: 1962
Description: Poor. 245 pages. Pages yellowed with age but clean. corners bent, edges worn, cover creased, ripped and soiled. binding intact, and is readable. read more
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Signet Classics
Date Published: 1999-04-01
ISBN-13:9780451527219ISBN:0451527216
Description: Very Good. Mass market paperback. Light general wear. Page edge light tanning. Owner marks inside. Otherwise clean, tight, straight, unmarked. read more
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Signet Classics
Date Published: 1960
ISBN-13:9780451521088ISBN:0451521080
Description: Fine. No dust jacket as issued. Free upgrade to First Class mail. Nearly new with minor shelfwear only. Appears unread. Mass market (rack) paperback. Glued binding. Audience: Young adult. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Noble and Noble, New York
Date Published: 1965
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. xxviii, 451 p. illus. 20 cm. Noble's comparative classics. Includes Illustrations. "Collateral reading": p. 450-451. read more
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Airmont Publishing
Date Published: 1963
Description: Fair. No dust jacket as issued. Highlighting/underlining. Nice soft cover, lightly read, some shelf wear to cover, light wear on spine, light aging. 191 p. read more
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Magnum Books
Date Published: 1968
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. Nice soft cover, read once, light shelf wear to cover, light crease on spine, light aging, stk #2279aa. 317 p. read more
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Bantam Books
Date Published: 1981
ISBN-13:9780553212297ISBN:055321229X
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Mass market (rack) paperback. Glued binding. 192 p. Bantam Classics. Audience: General/trade. Gently used but the back cover is worn and the cover has creases. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Wordsworth Editions
Date Published: 1995
ISBN-13:9781853262210ISBN:1853262218
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. Wordsworth Classics. Audience: General/trade. Unread but has some slight shelf wear. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Ginn and Company, Boston
Date Published: 1898
Description: Fair. No Jacket. 12mo-over 6¾"-7¾" tall. Green cloth with black titles. Corner watermarked, boards soiled, name/date written on back. Profuse writing/doodling on endpages. Some underlining/marginal notes in text. Solid binding. Frontispiece of Eliot. 252 pages. read more
Description: Average wear to pages and cover, may have creased pages, may have wrinkles on cover, may have writing and/or sticker on inside/outside of front and/or back covers, the overall condition of the book is good, Author George Eliot, 1853262218. read more
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Signet Classics
Date Published: 2007
ISBN-13:9780451530622ISBN:0451530624
Description: Fine. No dust jacket as issued. Book in lIke New condition. Mass market (rack) paperback. Glued binding. 192 p. Audience: General/trade. read more
"George Eliot's definitely one of those authors you're supposed to read, and I hadn't, so I started reading Silas Marner... but came nowhere near finishing it. It's about Silas Marner, who's a weaver and a homebody, and he once lived somewhere else but someone accused him of a crime he didn't commit, so he left, and then he made a lot of money as a weaver, but he didn't get out much, except for this one time when he was robbed, and at some point a child shows up to metaphorically replace the gold...
So if you like heartwarming tales of redemption that take forever to get to, I guess this is your book. Personally, I went to Wikipedia to find out how the rest of the story went and even the three-paragraph summary felt like it went on too long. Pass."
"I picked this up really randomly while combing the shelves of the local library. It is a relatively compact novel, and only makes up 183 pages in this edition. It took about 50 pages for things to get interesting, but George Eliot does paint a beautiful picture of rural life, and the people that inhabit rustic England. Some of her characters are even funny!
Once I got into the story, I enjoyed it quite a bit. It's definitely a scenic sort of novel, rather than a page turner, but I'd recommend it to anyone that enjoys reading depictions of rural life, or anyone that enjoys a fable showcasing the triumphs of karma and morality. I was surprised to read somewhere that Eliot herself was an atheist, as her depictions of spirituality and even religion are quite favorable.
I found Silas Marner by George Eliot (AKA Mary Anne Evans) to be a delightful and worthwhile read. There are three main themes I noted in this story - faith (belief in God and the religious community), family, and social class. The element of community is closely tied to all three of these elements.
Early in the story, Silas was a member of a religious community that encompassed his entire identity. When he left this community he was without faith, family and community. In his new home he did not gain any of these things because he was an outsider and a recluse until his money was burglarized and he found the child that was to become his daughter. After these two significant events, he had a family and the community started to recognize and support him. After establishing friendships and trust with the community then the invitation was accepted by Silas (and Eppie) to participate in the communities' faith.
Furthermore, the story shows the difference between the privileged and commoners in the society. The privileged such as Cass Godfrey and to a greater extent Dunstan Godfrey lived lives of advantage and ease because of the social status of their father the squire. It was not due to there ambition, work or intellect that they were able to live in relative ease when compared to others in the community.
One thing that I did not like about the story was that all of the characters were acted upon by forces that shaped there existence rather than by there determination and work to change their situation or status. All of the characters accepted their lot in life and did little to improve or change it. I feel the story would have benefitted from Silas taking a more proactive role in fighting his exclusion from the religious group or integrating into the new community, or if Cass would have done something to deal with his first marriage or the care of his daughter. All the characters were passive and didn't look to resolve the issues they had, while willing living there lives in there appointed position in the community.
To conclude, Silas Mariner is a moral tale, where the good, honest characters are eventually rewarded for living lives of simplicity and honesty (e.g. Silas and Eppie) and the cowardly and weak characters are punished for their indolence and malice (e.g. Dunston and Cass).
Important Quotes:
Chapter 2 - page 15 "Minds that have been unhinged from their old faith and love, have perhaps sought this Lethean influence of exile, in which the past becomes dreamy because its symbols have all vanished, and the present too is dreamy because it is linked with no memories."
Lethe Definition 1. Lethe Greek Mythology The river of forgetfulness, one of the five rivers in Hades. 2. A condition of forgetfulness; oblivion.
Chapter 2 - page 16 "Every man's work, pursued steadily, tends in this way to become an end in itself, and so to bridge over the loveless chasms of his life."
Chapter 9 - "Godfrey was silent. He was not likely to be very penetrating in his judgments, but he had always had a sense that his father's indulgence had not been kindness, and had had a vague longing for some discipline that would have checked his own errant weakness and helped his better will."
Chapter 10 - page 82 Athanasian Creed - unfamiliar reference to this creed A Christian creed of the early fifth century, originally attributed to Athanasius but now considered to be of unknown origin.
Chapter 11 - page 100 Quote by Nancy to Godfrey "I should be glad to see a good change in anybody, Mr Godfrey," she answered, with the slightest discernible difference of tone, "but it 'ud be better if no change was wanted."
Chapter 12 - page 104 Unfamiliar reference "by the invisible wand of catalepsy"
Catalepsy definition: "A condition characterized by lack of response to external stimuli and by muscular rigidity, so that the limbs remain in whatever position they are placed. It is known to occur in a variety of physical and psychological disorders, such as epilepsy and schizophrenia, and can be induced by hypnosis."
Chapter 13 - page 113 "And when events turn out so much better for a man than he has had reason to dread, is it not a proof that his conduct has been less foolish and blameworthy than it might otherwise have appeared? When we are treated well, we naturally begin to think that we are not altogether unmeritorious, and that it is only just we should treat ourselves well, and not mar our own fortune."
Chapter 14 - page 124 "In the old days there were angels who came and took men by the hand and led them away from the city of destruction. We see no white-winged angels now. But yet men are led away from threatening destruction: a hand is put into theirs, which leads them forth gently towards a calm and bright land, so that they look no more backward: and the hand may be a little child's."
Chapter 15 - page 125 Thoughts of Cass Godfrey about Eppie being raised by Silas "The child was being taken care of, and would very likely be happy, as people in humble stations often were - happier, perhaps, than those brought up in luxury."
Chapter 17 - page 144 Priscilla Lammeter commenting on how wives treat their husbands "I know the way o' wives; they set one on to abuse their husbands and then they return round on one and praise 'em as if they wanted sell 'em."
Chapter 18 - page 154 Quote by Nancy to Godfrey "But I wasn't worth doing wrong for - nothing is in this world. Nothing is so good as it seems beforehand - not even our marrying wasn't you see."
Conclusion = page 171 Last lines of the book "... that when a man had deserved his good luck, it was the part of his neighbours (sp) to wish him joy.""
"Funny thing is I thought I knew what this book would be like. I thought the charachter would be a sort of scrooge type, you know being a miser and all. but Silas Marner was so much more than I ever could have expected! He was such a sympathetic charachter - I completely fell in love with this book! I was suprised at how little of the book was dedicated to what I thought it would be. I loved how all of the charachters were interwoven (lives interwoven without them ever knowing) ..and him being a weaver and all that is even more interesting.. and great depiction of the kharma wheel in action.. this book was lovely and wonderful and I think it may be one of my favorite books of all time! I wish I had read it years ago.. it's been on my bookshelf forever but, as I said, I thought I knew what it was about. I totally didn't!"
We guarantee every item's condition, as described on Alibris. If you are not satisfied that an item is as described, return your purchase for a refund.
rating
