Hi emily, I am glad you like TMOTF. You are right, Eliot has a way with words. She is descriptive, but her description is not boring at all, atleast I did not find it boring.
Happy Reading!
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Hi emily, I am glad you like TMOTF. You are right, Eliot has a way with words. She is descriptive, but her description is not boring at all, atleast I did not find it boring.
Happy Reading!
well, mr. tulliver is like maggie, sensitive, in touch with his feelings, connected to nature and all related to it. while mrs tulliver is just like her sisters, the dodson aunts, all she thinks is what people are going to say about them...i must say i don't like her very much...when the tullivers go bancrupt, the aunts come suppossedly to help them, but they do nothing....they don't want to lend the money to their own sister without interest....i mean, what kind of people are they?.... then maggie gives them a piece of her mind... :)... my favourite part....
Whoo! Finished. I'm looking forward to Dr. Moreau, now—150 pages. I can eat that thing in a day!
The Afterward in my edition says that Eliot wasn't happy with how she portioned out the story, and I agree. The last third was rushed, and Mrs. Tulliver's sudden move to support Maggie by going against Tom seemed hackneyed and out of character. I think I could have done with a nice long paragraph to explain her inner-workings on that one. We don't really get to "see" Bessy in the last third; it's just mentioned from time to time that she's there, in the other room. So, when she makes a decision that is seemingly borne of a great shift in character, I'm left to wonder what went before. How was her mind changed by living with the Deane family, and by losing her husband?
The flood in the last few pages struck me as ridiculous and tacked-on as a cop-out ending, until the writer of the Afterward pointed something out. One of Maggie's first scenes has her explaining this illustration to Mr. Riley:
Honestly, when I read that for the second time, I cried. Maggie had proved her innocence, though it took a witch-hunt (the town gossip) and a water trial to do it. In the end, it seems to me that the flood was the most planned-out, essential plot point in the story, if only Eliot had fleshed out the scene some more... or a lot more. There was foreshadowing of it throughout the book, and plenty of water-symbols to support the theme. Take Maggie floating on the water as Stephen and she "elope" in the boat. Her inclination to stop struggling and let the boat bear her along into sin is a metaphor. She touches Stephen for the first time when she trips upon getting into/out of (can't remember) the rowboat, and he keeps her from falling into the water. Then, they travel in two separate boats when they run away. He also pays longer visits when it rains... okay, so I'm sure I could come up with a less lame-sounding argument if I went back and really searched, but you get where I'm going with this.Quote:
"It's a dreadful picture, isn't it? But I can't help looking at it. That old woman in the water's a witch; they've put her in to find out whether she's a witch or no, and if she swims she's a witch, and if she's drowned—and killed, you know—she's innocent, and not a witch, but only a poor silly old woman. But what good would it do her then, you know, when she was drowned? Only, I suppose, she'd go to heaven, and God would make it up to her."
It seems to me to follow the moral that innocence takes hard work and sacrifice, while sin takes the easy way out, that the traditional metaphor of sinking-versus-floating is inverted so that sinking represents victory, and floating suggests defeat.
absolutely beautifully put Em. You have great understanding.
Finally finished!! Sheesh what a sad book.
It did seem strange to me at first, but then there's the line in the book where Mrs. Tulliver says something to the effect of "I need to be with the child that is in trouble". Although this you're right this doesn't seem like the same woman that was so preoccupied with her linens when her husband went bankrupt.Quote:
The Afterward in my edition says that Eliot wasn't happy with how she portioned out the story, and I agree. The last third was rushed, and Mrs. Tulliver's sudden move to support Maggie by going against Tom seemed hackneyed and out of character. I think I could have done with a nice long paragraph to explain her inner-workings on that one. We don't really get to "see" Bessy in the last third; it's just mentioned from time to time that she's there, in the other room. So, when she makes a decision that is seemingly borne of a great shift in character, I'm left to wonder what went before. How was her mind changed by living with the Deane family, and by losing her husband?
I"ve always been a big proponent of sad ending - not everything can end happily. But this seemed so cheesy, was Maggies happy ending that Tom was with her and called her "Magsie". Why was she so wrapped up in Tom, who didn't give a crap about her?
I think it must have been a reflection of Eliot's relationship with her own brother growing up, since much of the book was born of her childhood memories.
I agree about it being cheesy, though. Whenever there's a problem of several unrequited lovers or some such un-fixable problem in a book, I find myself thinking, "Oh dear... someone's going to have to die." It's just such an easy fix in an otherwise impossible situation, and it's unfortunate that it was employed here.
Though I got bored at first, it is an amazing thing . when I read the last chapter I could not help crying for 10 min. That day was sad one because I felt as if I lost dear person :bawling: :bawling: :bawling: I was bereaved
i have it in prose course this semester and i have read the summery and only first chapter in book2 the novel is okay but the style of the writer is a little bit hard isn't it? by the way am not native speaker english is my second language
it is ok but causing to me troubles
I'm teaching English as a foreign language and The Mill on the Floss gives fabulous insight on the roles of women/men during the victorian era.
The struggle Maggie endures, between what is deemed suitable for a girl and what she profoundly desires is captivating.
I teach french pupils and they were quick to point out how Eliot managed to creat a link between the readers and herself, directlt addressing readers.
Some of them are presenting Chapter 7, book 1 at their Baccalauréat oral next week... Can anyone tell me whether her book was written to "promote" feminism or if it sort of happened "by accident" ? I suspect the latter is true but can't find any hard evidence towards it.
Many thanks,
K.
As i remeber I read the first chapters for the translation course at the university. After that course, as i liked the story, I read the transaltion and it really impressed me, I think I have to read the original one this time, when i find the time