Dogs and small children (Middlemarch)

I liked the way Elliot used dogs in chapter 39. Dorothea is mentioned petting her uncle's hound, Monk. Then Elliot reminded us about the incident early on in the book, in which Dorothea said she did not like the toy dog that Sir Chettam had brought her as a present when trying to win her love. Mr Brooke then goes to visit some of his tenants, the Dagleys, about one of their boys who had been caught having poached a leveret. The Dagleys had a sheepdog called Fag. Fag was thinking of causing some mischief until he saw Monk, then thought better of it. The hostility of Mr Dagley towards Mr Brooke increases, until Mr Dagley throws a pitchfork in the ground, at which point Monk starts barking. I thought that was a good way of building up the tension. It was also a sort of metaphor. Mr Brooke has the bigger dog. Although Mr Dagley has some natural justice on his side, in the end Mr Brooke has easier recourse to the law, and money to pay baliffs if need be.

Apart from getting into the mind of dogs, I also really like the way Elliot got into the mind of the small girl, Lette in chapter 40. I liked the way her father cut off the seal from a letter in one piece so that she could have it. I also liked the bit where she was described as an inconvenient child who listened to everything, when she asks her sister Mary if she could come along with her after Mr Farebrother, the vicar, asked Mary to visit her mother.