Silas Marner

I had read a book, Silas Marner, recently and I want to share that with you.

Silas Marner is a man who throughout his life has lived quietly content. He is known for his work with fibers and the village folk appreciate him. When a longtime friend frames Silas for a crime that he himself committed, Silas leaves and resettles in a different town, this time a person more recluse. He resumes his work, builds favor for it in the process, but remains alone. He eventually learns to budget and save his money, to a point where he finds a new hobby turned obsession: money. It comes to a head when all of his savings are stolen by an incredibly immature lord’s son. When all hope seems lost, Silas soon after comes across a newly orphaned child, taking her in as his own and giving him the rejuvenated sense of positive living and building kinship with your neighbors.

The biggest thing that would not leave my mind while reading Silas Marner is how comparative it is to Les Miserables. Although he does not serve time for committing a crime, Silas Marner goes through social injustices that are a result of halfhearted efforts from the authorities (first incident) and just time in itself vs the available criminology (second incident). He goes through a period in his life where he is lost and struggles to find a joy to hold on to, and just like Jean Valjean he finds a new sense of purpose by taking in an orphan and raising them to adulthood. By the end of Silas Marner, all justice is served and things are brought full circle. A great happy ending. Silas Marner is a lot more simple, the cast of characters smaller and the moments given to us are fewer, but they are the ones of the most importance. I have yet to read Les Mis to be honest; I tried starting it and got discouraged. I know that when I do go to read it, I have a feeling that it will be more complete and fleshed out than the simple snapshots given in Silas Marner.

To be able to give so much in such a smaller amount is a great feat, though. I do not know about you, but when I read a shorter book, I always go in with the assumption that it will be too simple and not give as much depth into character and situations as a longer book. Silas Marner was one of those books that gave a lot. The characters have a history and reasoning for the things that they do and say. I would say this would be a good book to get into if you are looking for something short but deep.

There is a moment toward the end that I appreciated very much. [Spoiler] When Eppie and Silas have a meeting with Godfrey Cass and his wife about Eppie and her future, considering the revealing of Eppie being Godfrey’s daughter from a previous marriage. Throughout her life, Godfrey would make monetary donations to Silas as his way of providing for Eppie. Now that she is becoming a young woman and of marrying age, Godfrey wants to step in and bring her into his home and make her into someone of high society and marry her off to someone of that higher caliber. Silas and Eppie stand their ground though, and place boundaries on the relationship with Godfrey. Eppie loves her simple life, even if it is of less “quality” compared to others. Godfrey accepts this begrudgingly. Love this. Even in that time where one would think that in a situation like that, you do not have a choice in the matter regardless of how hard you fight that.

If you are given a choice for higher society living and you have to leave you know and love behind, would you do that? I do think I would, now that I have had experiences being in both environments. I think I am called to simple, and the rough and gruff. Some people are and some people are not, and that is ok. In Silas Marner, you see the different ways people in both environments behave and what they do with that circumstance, both negative and positive.

There are a tremendous amount of articles done on Silas Marner and its different themes. So much has been drawn from it, it is incredible. If you are more of a scholarly reader, I would check those articles out. I would absolutely read Silas Marner again. I would recommend it as reading material for a formal class discussion, a book club, you name it. You will be able to find it here.

I hope you all had a wonderful summer and are enjoying the fall. Enjoy the sunshine.

10/10