The Mill on the Floss

George Eliot

Sparknotes

Table of Contents

Context

Plot Overview

Character List

Analysis of Major Characters

Themes, Motifs, and Symbols

Summary & Analysis

Book First, Chapters I, II, III, and IV

Book First, Chapters IV, V, and VI

Book First, Chapters VIII through XIII

Book First, Chapters XII and XIII

Book Second, Chapters I, II, and III

Book Second, Chapters IV, V, VI, and VII

Book Third, Chapters I, II, and III

Book Third, Chapters IV, V, and VI

Book Third, Chapters VII, VIII, and IX

Book Fourth, Chapters I, II, and III

Book Fifth, Chapters I, II, and III

Book Fifth, Chapters IV, V, VI, and VII

Book Sixth, Chapters I, II, III, and IV

Book Sixth, Chapters IV, V, VII, and VIII

Book Fifth, Chapters IX, X, and XI

Book Sixth, Chapters XII, XIII, and XIV

Book Seventh, Chapters I, II, and III

Book Seventh, Chapters IV, V, and VI

Important Quotations Explained

Key Facts

Study Questions and Essay Topics

Quiz

Suggestions for Further Reading

ContextGeorge Eliot was the male pseudonym of Mary Ann Evans (she would later call herself

Marian), born on November 22, 1918 at Arbury Farm in Warwickshire. Her father, Robert Evans, was an overseer at the Arbury Hall estate, and Eliot kept house for him after her mother died in 1836. The Mill on the Floss involves many autobiographical details, and it reflects Eliot's close childhood relationships with her father and her older brother Isaac. Eliot was sent to school as a child and at the age of fifteen and underwent a spiritual conversion to Evangelicism, similar to Maggie Tulliver's pious conversion upon reading Thomas a Kempis in Book IV of The Mill on the Floss.

In 1841, Eliot and her father moved closer to the town of Coventry, which was at that time a center of radical thought. Eliot made friends with a group of Coventry intellectuals, mainly members of the Bray family, and began reading such works as An Enquiry into the Origins of Christianity. Eliot soon gave up her Evangelicism in favor of a non-sectarian spirituality based on a sense of common humanity. She refused to attend church with her father and began work on a translation from German of Life of Jesus, a rationalist reexamination of some Bible sections. Life of Jesus was published in 1846, and on the strength of that accomplishment, Eliot moved to London after her father's death.

In London, Eliot became the assistant editor of John Chapman's Westminster Review and came into close contact with the leading intellectuals of the time, such as Herbert Spencer, John Stuart Mill, and Harriet Martineau. In 1852, Eliot met and became close to George Henry Lewes, a writer and an editor of The Leader. Lewes was living apart from his wife, and Eliot's decision to accompany Lewes to Germany, living as a couple, provoked a degree of scandal in London. In particular, Eliot sacrificed her relationship with her brother Isaac, and she depicted the pain of his disapproval in The Mill on the Floss in Tom's disapproval of Maggie's relationships with Philip and Stephen.

Eliot and Lewes lived together, considering themselves virtually married until his death in 1878. With the encouragement of Lewes, Eliot began writing fiction. Scenes of Clerical Life was published in 1856. Adam Bede (1859), her first full novel, was met with critical acclaim, and the public began to wonder what writer was behind the pseudonym of George Eliot. By the time of the publication of The Mill on the Floss in three volumes in 1860, Marian Evans's authorship had been tentatively guessed by a few London intellectuals and friends. Several well-received novels followed, including Middlemarch, the novel now regarded as her greatest artistic success. Eliot died in 1880.

Eliot's most important contribution to literature was in her treatment of realism. Eschewing the caricature fiction of Charles Dickens, Eliot perfected the genre of psychological realism, paving the way for the later work of the American novelist Henry James. Eliot understood that art should be near to life, valuing observed truths and creating a greater sense of sympathy in the reader by coherently and non-judgementally depicting the psychological motives of characters. Eliot's attention to character is mediated by a strong sense of historical and cultural climate. Thus in The Mill on the Floss, Mr. Tulliver's financial downfall is depicted within the larger context of the increased materialism of the British midlands in the first half of the nineteenth century, but it is also portrayed as the result of minute social and psychological actions and reactions of Mr. Tulliver and the characters that affect him, such as Mrs. Tulliver and Mr. Wakem.

The Mill on the Floss marks a break from the earlier work of Eliot, which was mainly a depiction of provincial life, and it bridged the gap to more wide- ranging later novels, such as Middlemarch, that drew detailed backdrops of the social and economic forces alive in an entire community. The Mill on the Floss is Eliot's only novel to end tragically and the most autobiographical novel.

Plot Overview

Maggie Tulliver is the impetuous, clever younger daughter of the Tullivers of Dorlcote Mill in St. Ogg's. Maggie frustrates her superficial mother with her unconventional dark coloring and unnatural activeness and intelligence. Maggie's father often takes Maggie's side, but it is Maggie's older brother Tom upon whom she is emotionally dependent. Maggie's greatest happiness is Tom's affection, and his disapproval creates dramatic despair in Maggie, whose view of the world, as all children's, lacks perspective.

Though Tom is less studious than Maggie appears to be, Mr. Tulliver decides to pay for Tom to have additional education rather than have him take over the mill. This decision provokes a family quarrel between Mr. Tulliver and his wife's sisters, the Dodsons. Mr. Tulliver is frustrated by the snobbish contrariness of the Dodsons, led by Mrs. Tulliver's sister Mrs. Glegg, and vows to repay money that Mrs. Glegg had lent him, thereby weakening her hold on him. He has lent almost an equal sum to his sister and her husband, the Mosses, but he feels affectionately toward his sister and decides not to ask for money back, which they cannot pay.

Mr. Stelling, a clergyman, takes Tom on as a student, and Maggie visits him at school several times. On one of these visits, she befriends Mr. Stelling's other student—the sensitive, crippled Philip Wakem, son of her father's enemy, Lawyer Wakem. Maggie herself is sent to school along with her cousin, Lucy, but is called home when she is thirteen when her father finally loses his extended lawsuit with Lawyer Wakem over the use of the river Floss. Mr. Tulliver is rendered bankrupt and ill. Tom returns home as well to support the family, as the Dodson's offer little help. The mill itself is up for auction, and Lawyer Wakem, based on an idea inadvertently furnished to him by Mrs. Tulliver, buys Dorlcote Mill and retains Mr. Tulliver as a manager in an act of humiliating patronage.

Even after Mr. Tulliver's recovery, the atmosphere at the Tullivers' is grim. One bright spot is the return of Bob Jakin, a childhood friend of Tom's, into Tom and Maggie's life. Bob, a trader, kindly buys books for Maggie and one of them—Thomas a Kempis's The Imitation of Christ—influences a spiritual awakening in her that leads to many months of pious self-denial. It is only after Maggie reencounters Philip Wakem on one of her walks in the woods that she is persuaded to leave her martyrish dullness in favor of the richness of literature and human interaction. Philip and Maggie meet clandestinely for a year, since Maggie's father would be hurt by their friendship as he has sworn to hold Lawyer Wakem as his life-long enemy. Philip finally confesses to Maggie that he loves her, and Maggie, at first surprised, says she loves him back. Soon thereafter, Tom discovers their meetings, cruelly upbraids Philip, and makes Maggie swear not to see Philip again.

On a business venture with Bob Jakin, Tom has amassed enough money to pay off Mr. Tulliver's debts to the family's surprise and relief. On the way home from the official repayment of the debts, Mr. Tulliver meets Lawyer Wakem and attacks him, but then Mr. Tulliver falls ill himself and dies the next day.

Several years later, Maggie has been teaching in another village. Now a tall, striking woman, she returns to St. Ogg's to visit her cousin Lucy, who has taken in Mrs. Tulliver. Lucy has a handsome and rich suitor named Stephen Guest, and they are friends with Philip Wakem. Maggie asks Tom for permission to see Philip, which Tom grudgingly gives her. Maggie and Philip renew their close friendship, and Maggie would consider marriage to Philip, if only his father approved. Lucy realizes that Tom wishes to purchase back Dorlcote Mill, and she asks Philip to speak to his father, Lawyer Wakem. Philip speaks to his father about selling the mill and about his love for Maggie, and Lawyer Wakem is eventually responsive to both propositions.

Meanwhile, however, Stephen and Maggie have gradually become helplessly attracted to each other, against both of their expectations and wishes. Maggie plans for their attraction to come to nothing, as she will take another teaching post away from St. Ogg's soon. Stephen pursues her, though, and Philip quickly becomes aware of the situation. Feeling ill and jealous, Philip cancels a boat- ride with Maggie and Lucy, sending Stephen instead. As Lucy has proceeded down river, meaning to leave Philip and Maggie alone, Stephen and Maggie find themselves inadvertently alone together. Stephen rows Maggie past their planned meeting point with Lucy and begs her to marry him. The weather changes and they are far down the river. Maggie complacently boards a larger boat with Philip, which is headed for Mudport. They sleep over night on the boat's deck and when they reach Mudport, Maggie holds firm in her decision to part with Stephen and return to St. Ogg's.

On her return to St. Ogg's, Maggie is treated in town as a fallen woman and a social outcast. Tom, now back in Dorlcote Mill, renounces her, and Maggie, accompanied by her mother, goes to lodge with Bob Jakin and his wife. Despite public knowledge of Stephen's letter, which acknowledges all the blame upon himself, Maggie is befriended only by the Jakins and the clergyman Dr. Kenn. Lucy, who has been prostrate with grief, becomes well again and secretly visits Maggie to show her forgiveness. Philip, as well, sends a letter of forgiveness and faithfulness.

Stephen sends Maggie a letter renewing his pleas for her hand in marriage and protesting the pain she has caused him. Maggie vows to bear the burden of the pain she has caused others and must endure herself until death but wonders to herself how long this trial, her life, will be. At this moment, water begins rushing under the Jakin's door from the nearby river Floss, which is flooding. Maggie wakes the Jakins' and takes one of their boats, rowing it down river in a feat of miraculous strength toward Dorlcote Mill. Maggie rescues Tom, who is trapped in the house, and they row down river towards Lucy. Before they can reach Lucy's house, the boat is capsized by debris in the river, and Maggie and Tom drown in each other's arms. Years go by and Philip, and Stephen and Lucy together, visit the grave.

Analysis of Major Characters

Maggie Tulliver

Maggie Tulliver is the protagonist of The Mill on the Floss. When the novel begins, Maggie is a clever and impetuous child. Eliot presents Maggie as more imaginative and interesting than the rest of her family and, sympathetically, in need of love. Yet Maggie's passionate preoccupations also cause pain for others, as when she forgets to feed Tom's rabbits, which leads to their death. Maggie will remember her childhood fondly and with longing, yet these years are depicted as painful ones. Maggie's mother and aunts continually express disapproval with Maggie's rash behavior, uncanny intelligence, and unnaturally dark skin, hair, and eyes. Yet it is only Tom's opinion for which Maggie cares, and his inability to show her unconditional love, along

with his embarrassment at her impetuosity, often plunges Maggie into the utter despair particular to immaturity.

The most important event of Maggie's young life is her encounter with a book of Thomas a Kempis's writings, which recommend abandoning one's cares for oneself and focusing instead on unearthly values and the suffering of others. Maggie encounters the book during the difficult year of her adolescence and her family's bankruptcy. Looking for a "key" with which to understand her unhappy lot, Maggie seizes upon Kempis's writings and begins leading a life of deprivation and penance. Yet even in this lifestyle, Maggie paradoxically practices her humility with natural passion and pride. It is not until she re- establishes a friendship with Philip Wakem, however, that Maggie can be persuaded to respect her own need for intellectual and sensuous experience and to see the folly of self-denial. Maggie's relationship with Philip shows both her deep compassion, as well as the self-centered gratification that comes with having someone who fully appreciates her compassion. As Maggie continues to meet Philip Wakem secretly, against her father's wishes, her internal struggle seems to shift. Maggie feels the conflict of the full intellectual life that Philip offers her and her "duty" to her father. It is Tom who reminds her of this "duty," and Maggie's wish to be approved of by Tom remains strong.

The final books of The Mill on the Floss feature Maggie at the age of nineteen. She seems older than her years and is described as newly sensuous—she is tall with full lips, a full torso and arms, and a "crown" of jet black hair. Maggie's unworldliness and lack of social pretension make her seem even more charming to St. Ogg's, as her worn clothing seems to compliment her beauty. Maggie has been often unhappy in her young adulthood. Having given up her early asceticism, she longs for a richness of life that is unavailable to her. When she meets Stephen Guest, Lucy Deane's handsome suitor, and enters into the society world of St. Ogg's, Maggie feels this wont for sensuousness fulfilled for the first time. Stephen plays into Maggie's romantic expectations of life and gratifies her pride. Maggie and Stephen's attraction seems to exist more in physical gestures than in witty discussion, and it seems to intoxicate them both. When faced with a decision between a life of passionate love with Stephen and her "duty" to her family and position, Maggie chooses the latter. Maggie has too much feeling for the memories of the past (and nostalgia for a time when Tom loved her) to relinquish them by running away.

Tom Tulliver

As a child, Tom Tulliver enjoys the outdoors. He is more suited to practical knowledge than bookish education and sometimes prefers to settle disputes with physical intimidation, as does his father. Tom is quite close to Maggie as a child—he responds almost instinctively to her affection, and they are likened to two animals. Tom has a strong, self-righteous sense of "fairness" and "justice" which often figures into his decisions and relationships more than tenderness. As Tom grows older he exhibits the Dodson coolness of mind more than the Tulliver passionate rashness, though he is capable of studied cruelty, as when he upbraids Philip Wakem with reference to Philip's deformity . Repelled by his father's provincial, small-minded ways and the mess these ways caused the family, Tom joins the ranks of capitalist entrepreneurs who are swiftly rising in the world. Tom holds strict notions about gender—his biggest problem with Maggie is that she will not let him take care of her and make her decisions for her. Tom's character seems capable of love and kindness—he buys a puppy for Lucy Deane, and he often ends up reconciling with Maggie—but the difficult circumstances of his young life have led him into a bitter single- mindedness reminiscent of his father.

Mr. Tulliver

Like the other main characters of The Mill on the Floss, Mr. Tulliver is the victim of both his own character and the circumstances of his life. His personal pride and rashness causes his bankruptcy; yet there is a sense, especially in his illnesses, that Tulliver is also sheerly overwhelmed by the changing world around him. Tulliver is somewhat more intelligent than his wife—a point of pride and planning for him—yet he is still "puzzled" by the expanding economic world, as well as the complexities of language. The lifestyle to which Mr. Tulliver belongs—static, local, rural social networks and slow saving of money—is quickly giving way to a new class of venture capitalists, like Mr. Deane. Part of the tragedy of Tulliver's downfall is the tragedy of the loss of his way of life. Mr. Tulliver is one of the few models of unconditional love in the novel— his affection for Maggie and his sister, Mrs. Moss, are some of the few narrative bright spots of the first chapters. Yet Tulliver can also be stubborn and obsessively narrow-minded, and it is this that kills him when he cannot overcome his hatred of Wakem.

Philip Wakem

Philip Wakem is perhaps the most intelligent and perceptive character of The Mill on the Floss. He first appears as a relief to Maggie's young life—he is one of the few people to have an accurate sense of, and appreciation for, her intelligence, and Philip remains the only character who fully appreciates this side of Maggie. Philip himself is well read, cultured, and an accomplished sketcher. Philip's deformity—a hunched back he has had since birth—has made him somewhat melancholy and bitter. Like Maggie, he suffers from a lack of love in his life. His attraction to Maggie is, in part, a response to her seemingly bottomless capacity for love. Philip's gentleness, small stature, and sensitivity of feelings cause people to describe him as "womanly," and he is implicitly not considered as a passionate attachment for Maggie. It is Philip who urges Maggie to give up her unnatural self-denial. He recognizes her need for tranquility but assures her that this is not the way to reach it. Through the remainder of the novel, Philip seems to implicitly offer Maggie the tranquility that she seeks—we imagine that Maggie's life with Philip would be calm, happy, and intellectually fulfilling.

Themes, Motifs, and SymbolsThemesThe Claim of the Past Upon Present Identity

Both characters and places in The Mill on the Floss are presented as the current products of multi-generational gestation. The very architecture of St. Ogg's bears its hundreds of years of history within it. Similarly, Maggie and Tom are the hereditary products of two competing family lines—the Tullivers and the Dodsons—that have long histories and tendencies. In the novel, the past holds a cumulative presence and has a determining effect upon characters who are open to its influence. The first, carefully sketched out book about Maggie and Tom's childhood becomes the past of the rest of the novel. Maggie holds the memory of her childhood sacred and her connection to that time comes to affects her future behavior. Here, the past is not something to be escaped nor is it something that will rise again to threaten, but it is instead an inherent part of Maggie's (and her father's) character, making fidelity to it a necessity. Book First clearly demonstrates the painfulness of life without a past—the depths of Maggie's childhood emotions are nearly unbearable to her because she has no past of conquered troubles to look back upon with which to put her present situation in perspective. Stephen is held up as an example of the dangers of neglecting the past. Dr. Kenn, a sort of moral yardstick within the novel, complains of this neglect of the past of which Stephen is a part and Maggie has worked against: "At present everything seems tending toward the relaxation of ties—toward the substitution of wayward choice for the adherence to obligation which has its roots in the past." Thus, without a recognition

of the past with which to form one's character, one is left only to the whims of the moment and subject to emotional extremes and eventual loneliness.

The Importance of Sympathy

The Mill on the Floss is not a religious novel, but it is highly concerned with a morality that should function among all people and should aspire to a compassionate connection with others through sympathy. The parable of St. Ogg rewards the ferryman's unquestioning sympathy with another, and Maggie, in her final recreation of the St. Ogg scene during the flood, is vindicated on the grounds of her deep sympathy with others. The opposite of this sympathy within the novel finds the form of variations of egoism. Tom has not the capability of sympathizing with Maggie. He is aligned with the narrow, self-serving ethic of the rising entrepreneur: Tom explains to Mr. Deane that he cares about his own standing, and Mr. Deane compliments him, "That's the right spirit, and I never refuse to help anybody if they've a mind to do themselves justice." Stephen, too, is seen as a figure that puts himself before others. His arguments in favor of his and Maggie's elopement all revolve around the privileging of his own emotion over that of others', even Maggie's. In contrast, Maggie's, Philip's, and Lucy's mutual sympathy is upheld as the moral triumph within the tragedy of the last book. Eliot herself believed that the purpose of art is to present the reader with realistic circumstances and characters that will ultimately enlarge the reader's capacity for sympathy with others. We can see this logic working against Maggie's young asceticism. Maggie's self-denial becomes morally injurious to her because she is denying herself the very intellectual and artistic experiences that would help her understand her own plight and have pity for the plight of others.

Practical Knowledge Versus Bookish Knowledge

The Mill on the Floss, especially in the first half of the novel, is quite concerned about education and types of knowledge. Much of the early chapters are devoted to laying out the differences between Tom's and Maggie's modes of knowledge. Tom's knowledge is practical: "He knew all about worms, and fish, and those things; and what birds were mischievous, and how padlocks opened, and which way the handles of the gates were to be lifted." This knowledge is tangible and natural—it brings Tom in closer association to the world around him. Meanwhile, Maggie's knowledge is slightly more complicated. Other characters refer to it as "uncanny," and her imagination and love of books are often depicted as a way for her to escape the world around her or to rise above it—"The world outside the books was not a happy one, Maggie felt." Part of the tragedy of Maggie and Tom Tulliver is that Tom received the education that Maggie should have had. Instead of Maggie blossoming, Tom is trapped. When Tom must make a living in the world, he discovers that his bookish education will win him nothing: Mr. Deane tells Tom, "The world isn't made of pen, ink, and paper, and if you're to get on in the world, young man, you must know what the world's made of." Tom soon returns and takes advantage of his skills for practical knowledge, making good in the newly entrepreneurial world. Tom's practical knowledge is always depicted as a source of superiority for Tom. From his childhood on, Tom has no patience for Maggie's intellectual curiosity. The narrowness of Tom's miseducation under Mr. Stelling seems somewhat related to the narrowness of Tom's tolerance for others' modes of knowledge. Yet Eliot remains clear that Maggie's intellectualism makes her Tom's superior in this case—"the responsibility of tolerance lies with those who have the wider vision."

The Effect of Society Upon the Individual

Society is never revealed to be a completely determining factor in the destiny of Eliot's main characters—for example, Maggie's tragedy originates in her internal competing impulses, not in her public disgrace. Yet, Eliot remains concerned with the workings of a community—both social and economic—and tracks their interrelations, as well as their effect upon character, as part of her realism. The Mill on the Floss sets up a geography of towns and land holdings—St. Ogg's, Basset, Garum Firs, Dorlcote Mill—and describes the tone of each community (such as the run- down population of Basset). The novel tracks the growth of the particular society of St. Ogg's, referencing the new force of economic trends like entrepreneurial capitalism or innovations like the steam engine. A wide cast of characters aims to outline different strata in the society—such as the Dodsons, or the Miss Guests—through their common values, economic standing, and social circles. In the first part of the novel, Eliot alludes to the effect these communal forces have on Maggie's and Tom's formation. Toward the end of the novel, the detailed background of St. Ogg's society functions as a contrast against which Maggie seems freshly simple and genuine.

MotifsThe Disparity Between the Dodsons and the Tullivers

Early on in the novel a distinction between the two families from which Tom and Maggie are descended is drawn out. The Dodsons are socially respectable, concerned with codes of behavior, and materialistic. The Tullivers are less socially respectable and have a depth of emotion and affection. The constant repetition of the characteristics of the two clans serves to create a division along which Maggie's and Tom's growth can be tracked. Tom is associated with the Dodsons, even more so when an adult, and Maggie is associated with the Tullivers.

Music

We often see Maggie nearly lose consciousness when listening to music; she is so overcome with emotion and forgetful of any punitive or self-denying impulses. As a motif, music works the opposite way too: when Maggie experiences moments of profound, unconscious discovery or understanding, these moments are accompanied by a sense of music, as when she reads Thomas a Kempis for the first time and feels as though she hears, "a strain of solemn music." The vulnerability that Maggie experiences in relation to music can also put her in danger. Stephen Guest woos Maggie with music, not with words, and we see that his singing creates an "emotion that seemed to make her at once strong and weak: strong for all enjoyment, weak for all resistence." Music in The Mill on the Floss is not meant to indicate moments when Maggie is either succumbing to evil or experiencing good, but rather it indicates her generally heightened sensibilities—Maggie seems to experience everything with more emotion than others, and music is used throughout the novel to underscore this effect.

Animal Imagery

Especially in the early books of The Mill on the Floss, Tom, and especially Maggie, are associated with animal imagery. The imagery is usually of farm-type animals—ponies, dogs, ducks—and usually points to the character's capacity for affection or non-adherence to social convention. Following Darwin, Eliot uses this imagery also to gesture toward the wider relation between humans and animals that can be especially seen in young children. Thus, when Maggie and Tom reconcile in Chapter IV of Book First, the narrator points out, "We [adults] no longer approximate in our behaviour to the mere impulsiveness of the lower animals, but conduct ourselves in every respect like members of a highly civilized society. Maggie and Tom were still very much like young animals."

Dark and Light Women

The motif of darkness and lightness of women—meaning their eyes, hair, or skin—is often used to emphasize the uniqueness of Maggie's appearance. The motif of darkness and lightness connects to the motif of the distinctions between the Dodsons and the Tullivers—the Tullivers have darker skin, while the Dodsons have lighter skin. The Dodsons, and indeed, all of St. Ogg's, respect or covet Lucy Deane's fair appearance. Her lightness is also prized in a larger cultural arena, and, in Book Fourth, Maggie becomes frustrated by the traditional plot lines in which the light, blond women live happily ever after in love. Maggie's family views her darkness as ugly and unnatural, yet by the end of the novel, it has made men perceive Maggie as more beautiful because her darkness is a rarity.

Symbols

The Floss

The Floss is a somewhat difficult symbol to track, as it also exists for realistic effect in the workings of the novel. On the symbolic level, the Floss is related most often to Maggie, and the river, with its depth and potential to flood, symbolizes Maggie's deeply running and unpredictable emotions. The river's path, nonexistent on maps, is also used to symbolize the unforseeable path of Maggie's destiny.

St. Ogg

St. Ogg, the legendary patron saint of the town, was a Floss ferryman. One night a woman with a child asked to be taken across the river, but the winds were high and no other boaters would take her. Only Ogg felt pity for her in her need and took her. When they reached the other side, her rags turned into robes, and she revealed herself to be the Blessed Virgin. The Virgin pronounced Ogg's boat safe to all who rode in it, and she sat always in the prow. The parable of Ogg rewards the human feeling of pity or sympathy. Maggie has a dream during her night on the boat with Stephen, wherein Tom and Lucy row past them, and Tom is St. Ogg, while Lucy is the Virgin. The dream makes explicit Maggie's fear of having neglected to sympathize with those whom she hurts during her night with Stephen (and also, perhaps, her fear that they will not sympathize with her in the future). But it is Maggie, finally, who stands for St. Ogg, as she rows down river thinking only of Tom's safety during the flood in a feat of "almost miraculous, divinely-protected effort."

Maggie's eyes

Eliot depicts Maggie's eyes as her most striking feature. All men (including Philip, Bob Jakin, and Stephen) notice her eyes first and become entranced. Maggie's eyes are a symbol of the power of emotion she contains—the depth of feeling and hunger for love that make her a tragic character. This unique force of character seems to give her power over others, for better or for worse. In Book First, Maggie is associated with Medusa, the monster who turns men to stone by looking at them. Maggie's eyes compel people, and different characters' reactions to them often reflect the character's relationship with Maggie. Thus, Philip, who will become Maggie's teacher, in a sense, and first love, notices that her eyes "were full of unsatisfied intelligence, and unsatisfied, beseeching affection." Bob Jakin, who views Maggie as superior to him and a figure of whom to be in awe, reports that Maggie has "such uncommon eyes, they looked somehow as they

made him feel nohow." Finally, Stephen, who will exploit the inner struggle that Maggie has felt for the entire novel, notices that Maggie's eyes are "full of delicious opposites."

Book First, Chapters I, II, III, and IVSummaryChapter I

The narrator stands on a bridge over the Floss next to Dorlcote Mill. The narrator peacefully watches a little girl and her white dog that stand on the bank of the river, watching the mill. The narrator can see the light of a fire burning inside the little girl's house.

It is decades later and the narrator has been dozing in her armchair, dreaming of that past afternoon outside Dorlcote Mill. The narrator proceeds to tell the story of what Mr. and Mrs. Tulliver were discussing in their house, in front of the fire on that afternoon.

Chapter II

Mr. Tulliver explains to Mrs. Tulliver his wish to send their young son Tom for further education, so that Tom might have a lucrative career and enough scholarly knowledge to help Mr. Tulliver with confusing legal processes. Stout, blond Mrs. Tulliver submissively does not object but wants to have her sisters to dinner to hear their thoughts on the matter. Mr. Tulliver refuses to ask his sister-in-laws' advice.

Mrs. Tulliver prattles on about her wish that Tom not be sent to a school too far away so that she can still do his washing. Mr. Tulliver, using analogy about not hiring a waggoner because of only a mole on his face, warns her not to set herself against a perfectly good school if they can only find one farther away. Mrs. Tulliver takes his analogy literally, and Mr. Tulliver tries to explain, but then gives up—"it's puzzling work, talking is." Bessy Tulliver continues talking about laundry while Mr. Tulliver resolves to himself to ask Mr. Riley's advice about a good school. Mr. Tulliver brings up his only doubt over Tom's education—that Tom is a bit slow, taking after Bessy's family. Mr. Tulliver laments the fact that his daughter instead of his son takes after his own family in her cleverness.

More than happy to concede Maggie's likeness to the Tulliver family line, Mrs. Tulliver calls her a "wild thing" and complains of her messiness, absentmindedness, and "brown skin as makes her look like a mulatter." Mr. Tulliver dismisses his wife's complaints, citing Maggie's ability to read "almost as well as the parson." Mrs. Tulliver wishes Maggie's dark hair would curl, like that of her pretty cousin Lucy Deane.

At this moment, Maggie enters the room and throws off her bonnet and refuses her mother's injunctions to work on her patchwork for Mrs. Glegg, whom Maggie doesn't like. Mr. Tulliver chuckles at her honesty as she leaves the room.

Chapter III

Mr. Tulliver and Mr. Riley have been discussing local arbitrations and troublesome lawyers such as Wakem, all of whom Mr. Tulliver believes have been created by the devil. At a pause in the conversation, Tulliver asks Riley's advice about Tom's schooling. Tulliver explains his plan to educate Tom so that Tom can go into business instead of looking to replace himself at the mill.

Maggie, who has been sitting with a book, runs to her father proclaiming that Tom would be incapable of such an evil. Tulliver comforts Maggie, bragging to Riley of her cleverness. Maggie feels excitement at the mention of her intelligence to Riley, who is busy looking at the book she has dropped. Maggie hopes to earn Riley's respect with an exposition of the book—"The History of the Devil" by Daniel Defoe—but Riley is unreceptive. Mr. Tulliver is suddenly embarrassed by his daughter's knowledge and sends her to her mother.

Tulliver explains his fears that Tom is more inclined to an outdoors sort of knowledge and isn't at ease speaking to strangers as Maggie is. Riley recommends a parson named Stelling as a tutor for Tom. Riley speaks elaborately of Stelling's merits and soon convinces Tulliver, though we learn that Riley's recommendation has sprung more from Riley's desire to do a favor to Stelling's father-in-law and to speak authoritatively, than from first-hand knowledge of Stelling's merits.

Chapter IV

Maggie, not allowed to accompany her father to fetch Tom from school, won't let her hair be curled to spite her mother, then runs up to the attic. Maggie picks up the doll that she uses as a voodoo doll, abusing it with nails and beatings, while she imagines it to be people who vex her like Aunt Glegg. Maggie's sobbing abates after a while, and she runs outside into the sunshine to her dog, Yap, celebrating Tom's imminent arrival. Maggie runs into the mill with her father's miller, Luke, and tries unsuccessfully to convince Luke to read some of her books. Luke declines, warning, "That's what brings folks to the gallows—knowin' everything but what they'n got to get their bread by." In the midst of the conversation, Luke mentions the fact that Tom's rabbits have died, and Maggie becomes upset, realizing that she had forgotten to feed the rabbits according to Tom's request and has killed them. Maggie is soon distracted, however, as she accepts Luke's invitation to visit his wife at his nearby house. At Luke's house, Maggie becomes interested in a series of pictures depicting the parable of the prodigal son.

Analysis

The opening of The Mill on the Floss introduces us first to the narrator of the tale. The narrator is presented as a witness who lived in St. Ogg's at the time of the Tulliver's and now remembers and tells the tale thirty years later. However, we soon see that the narrator also remains unnamed and omniscient. Thus he/she recounts to us not only the dynamics of a conversation between Mr. and Mrs. Tulliver that she was not present for, but also the dynamics of each of their thought processes. Every so often, however, the narrator does refer to his/herself in the first person and recount personal opinions, as with the narrator's musings on Mrs. Tulliver at the end of Chapter II—"I have often wondered…. " Often these first person sections will involve an address to the reader, as with the narrator's plea on behalf of Mr. Riley at the end of Chapter III—"If you blame Mr. Riley very severely…. " Thus we might look for two modes of narration in The Mill on the Floss. The first, impersonal omniscient mode will be used for basic narration, and especially narration of larger social or historical forces within St. Ogg's, while the second, more personal, will be used often with an address to the reader and will betray sympathy or lack of sympathy for a character.

One of the techniques that the narrator uses is that of free indirect narration, meaning the use of a character's own mode of expression to narrate a passage involving that character. This mode of narration might require some attention to recognize, especially given that some passages in The Mill on the Floss will only partially use free indirect narration, sliding into it at the end of a paragraph, for example. Eliot often uses the technique for satiric effect, when introducing

characters. Thus, Mr. Riley is described in his own flattering words at the opening of Chapter III, to comic effect.

The description at the end of Chapter III, of the forces that have brought about Mr. Riley's recommendation of Mr. Stelling, is a good example and plea for George Eliot's psychological realism. Here the narrative explicitly distinguishes itself from more dramatic modes of art that portray characters' motives as blatant and forcefully conscious. Thus Mr. Riley would be depicted by a dramatist as having an obvious motive of selfishness and a goal of benefitting himself in sight when he recommended Mr. Stelling. George Eliot, however, is more interested in mapping the subtle nuances of social interaction that give rise to Riley's inappropriate endorsement. Instead of condemning Riley outright for a moral failure, Eliot traces the psychological causes of his behavior to their root in ambiguous, and sometimes good, intentions, such as Riley's sympathy for Stelling's father-in-law because he has so many daughters. Finally, Mr. Riley is not seen as a freestanding character but within the context of his era, his profession, and his education. Thus, we see that The Mill on the Floss will not be so interested in tracing the workings of fate on the destinies of individual characters, so much as the minute inner workings of characters that arise as a result of both their individual mindsets, and their treatment at the hands of other characters and larger, but subtle, historical forces.

As the main character of The Mill on the Floss, Maggie Tulliver will get the most in-depth psychological realist examination of the kind used to explain Mr. Riley above. Yet, in these opening three chapters, Maggie is introduced through the opinions and eyes of others, usually her parents. The Tullivers' discussion of Maggie in Chapter II actually serves more to pinpoint their individual characters—Mr. Tulliver as good-natured and practical and Mrs. Tulliver as superficial and dim-witted—than to render Maggie's character in depth. Here in these initial chapters, the figure of Maggie seems ominous through the eyes of others. Mr. Tulliver, though proud of Maggie's intelligence, has morose predictions about the future of a clever girl and seems to feel superstitious and intimidated toward Maggie's talents at times. Mrs. Tulliver directly relates Maggie to both untamed nature—she is a "wild thing"—and madness—she is a "Bedlam creatur." Finally, Maggie is associated with the devil in Chapter III, not only through her possession and knowledge of "The History of the Devil" by Defoe. Maggie's discussion of the devil's black and red coloring recalls her parents' discussion about her own coloring and descriptions of her dark hair, skin, and eyes.

In Chapter IV we get a closer look at Maggie and see that her world consists of oversensitive experiences of the world. Maggie feels pain and happiness more drastically for being a child and even more for her active imagination and knowledge of books, both of which inflect her perception of the world. For example, part of Maggie's attraction to the Mill involves the personal histories that she invents for the animals that live there, and Maggie feels her own guilt about neglecting Tom's rabbits more fully when she connects it to the parable of the Prodigal Son. The narrator is sympathetic with Maggie, yet also creates distance, by emphasizing the sinister quality of her voodoo doll and her unthinking neglect of Tom's rabbits. Less morally ambiguous is Luke, whose words are often presented as aphorisms of wisdom or unknowing foreshadowings of events to come.

Book First, Chapters IV, V, and VI

SummaryChapter V

Tom arrives home to the delight of Mrs. Tulliver and Maggie, who dotes on Tom affectionately. Tom greets Maggie and shows her the fishing line he has saved all term to buy her, so that they can go fishing tomorrow. Tom had to fight some boys over his money, and Maggie adoringly compares his strength to Samson's. Impatient with Maggie's hypothetical imaginings, Tom decides to go see his rabbits, and Maggie must confess that they are dead. Tom tells Maggie he doesn't love her and severely reminds her of her past naughtiness. Maggie, distraught, clings to Tom, but he shrugs her off. Maggie retreats to the attic and remains there, miserable, until her presence is missed at teatime. Mr. Tulliver, suspecting that Tom has been hard on her, orders Tom to fetch her and treat her kindly. Maggie begs Tom's forgiveness, and the two share the cake that Tom has brought and nuzzle each other like "two friendly ponies."

Tom and Maggie go fishing the next day. Maggie is respectful of Tom's practical knowledge of the outdoors and is impressed by his superiority and refusal to acknowledge her bookish cleverness. Maggie, through no skill of her own, catches a fish. Today, both Tom and Maggie envision that they will always be together, and always be happy. The narrator informs us that their lives will change. But as the narrator him/herself strolls in the woods, he/she reflects that childhoods spent outdoors inspire a lifelong love of nature that affects one's perception of the world.

Chapter VI

Mrs. Tulliver prepares for the visit of her sisters—all former Miss Dodsons—and their husbands and children. Though Mr. Tulliver scoffs at the opinions of the Dodsons, Mrs. Tulliver values their participation, not least because they each have money saved to be left to their nieces and nephews. Her sister Mrs. Deane will bring her daughter Lucy, whom Mrs. Tulliver loves as her own as a result of Lucy's demureness and coloring. The Dodsons consider themselves a respectable family with a sense of superiority and particular ways of maintaining households and social relations meant to distinguish themselves from other families.

Tom steals two pastries from the kitchen for himself and Maggie. Maggie offers to take the one with less jam, but Tom insists that she choose between them fairly, without looking. Maggie ends up with the bigger pastry, and Tom refuses when she tries to give it to him. But he finishes his own smaller one first and watches angrily as she eats all of her larger one, calling her "greedy." Tom runs off, and Maggie sits feeling regretful and confused about the pastry. She arouses herself finally to realize that Tom has gone off with Bob Jakin.

Tom and Bob play heads-or-tails with Bob's half-penny, and Bob cheats, snatching back the coin and claiming it was heads. Tom accuses Bob of not playing fair, and the two fight. Tom forces Bob to give him the half-penny, then refuses to take it, saying he doesn't play with cheaters and won't hang around Bob anymore. Bob yells insults after Tom and throws the pocketknife that Tom had given him, picking it up again when Tom is out of sight.

Chapter VII

Mrs. Glegg is the first of the Dodsons to arrive at the Tullivers. All the Dodsons are handsome women, though Mrs. Glegg stingily keeps her new or expensive clothing in storage, wearing shabbier clothing that smells of mold instead. Mrs. Glegg reproaches Mrs. Tulliver for various extravagances while they wait for the others to arrive. The Pullets soon come; Mrs. Pullet is crying dramatically over the death of an acquaintance. Mrs. Pullet goes with Mrs. Tulliver to admire a new hat, while Mrs. Glegg ruminates on their extravagance and on the unbecoming qualities of Maggie, who resembles her father's sister, Mrs. Moss, rather than the Dodsons.

The Deanes arrive, and Maggie and Tom come in to greet Lucy Deane. Mrs. Glegg speaks loudly to Mrs. Tulliver of the need to thin out Maggie's unruly hair. Maggie and Lucy get permission from Lucy's parents for Lucy to stay over. Maggie drags Tom upstairs with her to have him watch while she cuts her hair. Instead of joining in her rebellious triumph, Tom laughs and insults her new appearance. Tom goes downstairs, leaving Maggie feeling remorseful. First Kezia, the family servant, then Tom come upstairs and finally coax Maggie down to dinner. Everyone is shocked—then the women are reproachful and the men amused. Maggie begins to sob, and her father comforts her.

The children soon adjourn with their dessert, and Mr. Tulliver announces his plans for Tom's education. Mrs. Glegg in particular is skeptical and pessimistic about this plan. Mr. Tulliver and Mrs. Glegg quarrel, and Mrs. Glegg leaves, taking Mr. Glegg with her.

Analysis

As the title of Book First, "Boy and Girl," suggests, much of these chapters are spent examining Maggie and Tom's childhood relationship. Eliot presents their relationship as close, with Maggie as dependent upon Tom. Imagery such as that used to describe Maggie's hugs—"Maggie hung on his neck in rather a strangling fashion"—lend an ominous tone to their relationship and foreshadow the final events of the novel. While Tom can be affectionate and loving toward Maggie, we also see that he does not encourage her cleverness, as her father does. Tom immediately cuts off Maggie's imaginings about Tom's hypothetical bravery when faced with a lion. Though Tom shares Maggie's fantasy of the two of them always living together happily, part of his fantasy involves exerting dominion over her by always "punish[ing] her when she did wrong."

Indeed, the depiction of Maggie and Tom's childhood relationship in Book First raises an important theme of forgiveness and justice. Tom is characterized as a stubborn boy who sticks to a code of fairness in his dealings and judgments of others. The administration of this code can cause pain to others, as with Maggie's confusion over proper conduct in the matter of the pastry in Chapter VI, or indirectly affect Tom adversely, as with the loss of Bob Jakin as a playmate. Yet, Tom always feels satisfied in the knowledge that he has acted correctly. Maggie, on the other hand, operates in relation to feelings. When she is deemed naughty by Tom or her mother or another, she does not reflect on the fairness or unfairness of the judgment against her but focuses instead on the misery of feeling unloved. Maggie craves forgiveness and offers forgiveness to others—she even inspires forgiveness in Tom in Chapter V through the overwhelming power of her own love and affection. The only twist on this is that Maggie does not easily forgive herself. Unlike Tom, who feels secure in his actions, "Maggie was always wishing she had done something different."

In her essay "Silly Novels by Lady Novelists" (1856), George Eliot disparaged several genres of novels, all of which violate realistic conventions by making their characters extraordinary beyond belief. One of the violations she focuses on is the tendency to sentimentalize child characters and put language in their mouths more befitting an adult. Eliot seeks to make Tom and Maggie seem realistic by focusing precisely on their immaturity. Through this, another theme of the section emerges—the lack of life perspective felt by children. Maggie's dramatic scenes of grief are connected repeatedly in the narrative to her inability to put her miseries in the context of past trials overcome or enjoy the experienced faith in the future.

The Tullivers and the Dodsons discuss Maggie's and Tom's physical and behavioral characteristics in relation to each of their parent's family line. This line of conversation, combined with the narrator's discussion of the faculties that distinguish humans from animals, reveal the historical context of Darwinism to George Eliot's novel. Darwin published his study On the Origin of the Species by Means of Natural Selection; or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life in November 1859 as George Eliot was in the midst of writing The Mill on the Floss. Eliot was already interested and knowledgeable in the field of natural history and the language of natural history occurs throughout The Mill on the Floss.

The end of Chapter VII includes the main plot event of Book First—the quarrel between Mr. Tulliver and Mrs. Glegg. The quarrel will cause a dispute over the five hundred pounds lent to the Tullivers by Mrs. Glegg that will last for the rest of Book First. In the larger plot of the novel, this minor money issue will be the first in a series of events that lead to Mr. Tulliver's financial downfall.

Book First, Chapters VIII through XIIISummaryChapter VIII

Mrs. Tulliver reminds her husband that Mrs. Glegg might ask for her loan of five hundred pounds back from the Tullivers because of Mr. Tulliver's poor behavior. Mr. Tulliver decides to ride to Basset to see his sister and her husband—the Mosses—and ask them for the three hundred pounds that he has loaned them. Basset is a poor neighboring village, and the Mosses live a poor existence, since Mr. Tulliver's sister married a man of little means against Tulliver's will.

Quantcast

Mr. Tulliver has resolved to be firm and his resolve weakens a little at the sight of his sister and her kind inquiries after Maggie. Mr. Tulliver sympathizes with his sister, since she has four daughters. Mrs. Moss replies meekly that she hopes her four sons will always look after her daughters as Mr. Tulliver has done for her and as Tom should do for Maggie. Mr. Moss comes in from the field, and Mr. Tulliver meets with him in the garden, demanding that Moss find a way to come up with the three hundred pounds. Mr. Tulliver leaves the Mosses but has a change of heart on his way out, provoked by the thought of Maggie being left with no one but Tom to look after her after Tulliver's own death. Mr. Tulliver rides back and relents. He comforts his sister and tells her to try to raise some of the money if she can.

Chapter IX

Tom, Maggie, Lucy, and Mrs. Tulliver prepare for a visit to the Pullets. The children are making cardhouses—Lucy and Tom are the most adept. Maggie accidentally knocks Tom's house over, but Tom doesn't believe it was an accident. Tom remains cold to her, walking instead with Lucy to the Pullets'. Mrs. Tulliver and the children arrive at the Pullet's and go upstairs so that Mrs. Tulliver can admire Mrs. Pullet's new hat.

Back downstairs, Mr. Pullet plays his music box, and Maggie sits happily entranced. She hugs Tom, accidentally spilling his wine and is chastised by the adults. While the children go outside to play, Mrs. Tulliver spends time convincing Mrs. Pullet to go to Mrs. Glegg and convince her not to call back her five hundred pounds from the Tullivers. Sally, the Pullets' servant, ushers in Lucy, covered with mud, and the women scream.

Chapter X

We discover the events that lead to Lucy's muddy appearance. Once outside, Tom leads Lucy to see a toad, leaving Maggie behind. Lucy calls Maggie over to see, but Maggie now implicates Lucy in her anger toward Tom and silently refuses. Tom leads Lucy to the pond, farther away than the children were supposed to venture. Maggie follows at a distance, and when Tom sees her near them, he cruelly orders her away. Maggie shoves Lucy in the mud, and Tom slaps Maggie. Maggie remains satisfied that their happiness was spoiled.

Seeing Lucy covered in mud, Mrs. Tulliver goes in search of her two children. She finds Tom and sends him to fetch Maggie from the pond, but Maggie is no longer there. A frantic, unsuccessful search for Maggie ensues. Mrs. Tulliver finally decides to go home, hoping Maggie will be there.

Chapter XIClick here to find out more!

Maggie runs off from the Pullets' with the idea of reaching Dunlow common and joining the band of gypsies that must be there. Maggie meets two beggars in the road and gives them the six pence in her pocket when they ask her for it ungraciously. Maggie travels inside the hedgerow to avoid further meetings. When she reaches a bend in the road she sees a gypsy camp and a tall gypsy woman walking towards her. Maggie tells the woman her wish to live with them and to teach them many things. The woman brings Maggie to sit near the fire, where other gypsy women remove her bonnet and the contents of her pocket. Maggie continues to explain her plans to live with them and perhaps become the queen of the gypsies.

Soon Maggie becomes hungry but refuses to eat the strange food she is offered. Disenchanted by the rude manners of some of the women, and feeling hungry and confused by their strange language, Maggie wishes to be taken home. When the men gypsies return to camp, one of them puts her on his donkey to take her home. Maggie is convinced he wants to kill her and is wary even after she recognizes the road to St. Ogg's. Maggie spots her father riding down the same road on his way home from the Mosses, and the gypsy man returns her to a confused Mr. Tulliver, who rewards the gypsy with five shillings. At home, Mr. Tulliver speaks harsh words to Mrs. Tulliver and Tom on Maggie's behalf, and she never hears of the incident again.

Analysis

The remaining chapters of Book First feature, in part, Mr. and Mrs. Tulliver's separate and opposite reactions to Mrs. Glegg's argument with Mr. Tulliver and the prospect of her recalling the five hundred pounds lent to the Tulliver's. There is a comic element to Mr. and Mrs. Tulliver's incompatible world views, which has been sustained over many years of marriage and strengthened by contrariness, but it is precisely this dynamic of cross purposes between them that will recur throughout the novel and exacerbate Mr. Tulliver's economic downfall.

These chapters continue on in an examination of the characteristics of the Dodson sisters. They functioned in Chapter VII as a group, as they do often in the novel, but Eliot also draws carefully detailed distinctions between them. Mrs. Pullet, like Mrs. Tulliver, enjoys a love of handsome goods. One of the socio-historical concerns of the setting of The Mill on the Floss is the growing materialism of the middle classes in England in the 1830s and 40s. Material goods, in these chapters, afford women like Mrs. Tulliver and Mrs. Pullet a way of looking at and valuing the world. Details like Mrs. Tulliver's protection of her visiting clothing and Mrs. Pullet's series of shoe scrapers are comic, but they also produce an adult background that increases our sense of Maggie's alienation and also contrasts with the financial position and emotional priorities of Mr. Tulliver's sister and her husband.

The combination of her own insensitivity, bad humor, and bad luck that has plagued Maggie's relations with Tom for the opening chapters of Book First continues to plague her in these chapters, with a new element added—the presence of Lucy Deane, of whom Maggie is jealous. Lucy Deane is everything that Maggie is not—demure, pretty, blond, light-skinned, and doted on by Mrs. Tulliver. Maggie's malicious behavior toward Lucy, especially given Lucy's good humor and love of Maggie, is another instance in which Eliot creates distance, rather than sympathy, between Maggie and the reader. Additionally, if we have been sympathetic to Maggie's tendency toward imagination and invention, her foolish and gross misestimation of gypsy life, while comic, also puts her in danger. Maggie's miserable loneliness after the scene with Lucy and her escape to the gypsies is alleviated only by the unconditionally loving presence of Mr. Tulliver. Mr. Tulliver is aligned with Maggie in the prevalence of emotion over justice in his decision-making, as seen in his relenting treatment of the Mosses in Chapter VIII.

The first several chapters of Book First all took place at Dorlcote Mill. In these chapters, the landscape of the novel is widened—both in geographical and socio-economic terms—as we move both through the parish of Basset and to the gypsy camp. The natural description of the unfertile land in Basset offers reasoning for the impoverished cultural atmosphere of the parish and a subtly rational explanation for the poverty of the Mosses. This variety of detailed settings also serve to develop our understanding of the relative privilege enjoyed by the Tulliver children in their household.

Book First, Chapters XII and XIII

SummaryChapter XII

The narrator describes St. Ogg's as an inland town, "which carries the traces of its long growth and history like a millennial tree." We are taken briefly through Roman, Saxon, and Norman times and are told the story of St. Ogg, patron saint of the town. Ogg was a ferryman on the Floss, who ferried a woman and her child across the river Floss one windy night when other ferrymen refused. Upon reaching the other side, the woman revealed herself as the Virgin Mary, sainted Ogg for his pity of her and quick action, and subsequently saved Ogg during one of the historical floods of the river Floss. The history moves on through the civil wars of Puritans and Loyalists and through the changing dynamics of anti- Catholic feeling. At the time of our story, people in St. Ogg's do not spend much time thinking about politics or the long history of the town.

The narrator discusses Mr. and Mrs. Glegg. Mr. Glegg is retired and spends much time in his garden, thinking about natural history as well as "the 'contrariness' of the female mind, as typically exhibited in Mrs. Glegg." Mr. Glegg and Mrs. Glegg are both stingy, though Mr. Glegg is more good-natured in his impulse to save money.

Mr. Glegg goes into breakfast and finds his wife still sullen from the quarrel at the Tullivers and unreceptive when he urges her not to call back the five hundred pounds from them. Mrs. Glegg retreats to her room in a stubborn huff, but changes her mind by the end of the day and decides not to demand the money, chiefly because Mr. Glegg has pointed out potential loss of money trying to find another way to invest it. Mr. and Mrs. Glegg enjoy their evening quarrel-free and discuss the folly of the Tullivers.

Chapter XIII

Mrs. Pullet arrives at Mrs. Glegg's the following day to discover that Mrs. Glegg has already decided she won't call her money back, and Mrs. Pullet does not need to coax her. Instead, they discuss the poor behavior of the Tulliver children at Mrs. Pullet's and share pessimistic predictions for both Tom's and Maggie's futures. Mrs. Pullet would like to see Maggie sent to a boarding-school.

Before Mrs. Pullet can advance to the Tullivers to announce Mrs. Glegg's amiability in the matter of the loan, a letter arrives from Mr. Tulliver telling Mrs. Glegg that her five hundred pounds will be repaid within the month. Mr. Tulliver had hastily sent the note upon learning that Mrs. Tulliver had sent Mrs. Pullet to plead for him. Mrs. Glegg is insulted and family relations suffer. Mrs. Glegg does not return to the Tulliver's until just before Tom leaves for school in August.

Analysis

The opening of Chapter XII uses a long history of St. Ogg's to begin forming the long historical and geographical background to the novel. Indeed, St. Ogg's and its anonymous citizens will form almost a character in their own right as the novel begins to focus on Maggie's and Tom's respective coming-of-ages in relation to their community. In addition to her detailed renderings of individual consciousnesses and tendencies, Eliot attentively traces accumulations of cultural and social characteristics that weigh on her characters. This particular description of St. Ogg's indirectly focuses on one of the main dichotomies of Eliot's novel—the traditional versus the changing. As they are described in Chapter XII, the Glegg's certainly fit into the strata of St. Ogg's society that values all that is static and traditional, yet the history of the town itself foregrounds the inevitable movement of change through the region. Part of The Mill on the Floss will concentrate on the diminishment of traditional provincial life in the face of newly materialistic, entrepreneurial forces. The end of Chapter XIII highlights this movement, as Mr. Tulliver must go outside his family structure to borrow five hundred pounds from a client of Lawyer Wakem's. Here Wakem symbolizes these new forces, and Mr. Tulliver must subsume himself to them as part of his "destiny." The ominous reporting of this situation at the end of Chapter XIII, at the end of Book First, points to the importance of Mr. Tulliver's actions to Book First (his name appears in several of the Book First Chapter titles), as well as the importance of these themes of provincialism versus materialistic capitalism to come.

The portrait of Mr. and Mrs. Glegg in Chapter XII further fills out the extensive description of the Dodson women through Book First—as a unified front, but also as distinguished by quirky, detailed differences. One of the themes that unifies the Dodson women, is their respect for, and attention to, the state of death. We have already seen Mrs. Pullet's deep interest in terminal maladies and funerals. This interest is shared by Mrs. Tulliver, if in a more off-hand way, such as her comment to Mr. Tulliver about the family bedsheets back in Chapter II, "An' if you was to die tomorrow, Mr. Tulliver, they're mangled beautiful, an' all ready, an' smell o' lavender as it 'ud be a pleasure to lay 'em out." In Chapters XII and XIII, Mrs. Glegg is described partially in terms of her frequent hypothetical considerations of the state of things after her own (or Mr. Glegg's) death. Death stands as an ideal state for Mrs. Glegg—a time during which true affection can be felt for her husband and when her standing as a respectable member of the community will be vindicated through the generous terms of her will. This reverential desire for the state of death dictates Mrs. Glegg's particular morality, a sense of duty in relation to legacy, instead of living relations. Thus she will not cut Tom and Maggie out of her will in Chapter XIII despite their father's poor behavior.

The discussion between Mrs. Glegg and Mrs. Pullet in Chapter XIII about Maggie's vices serves to emphasize, at the end of Book First, the overwhelming negative pressure that Maggie

has faced throughout the first book. Maggie's spontaneous, non-conforming, and imaginative sense of self must continuously run against outside censure of her appearance, behavior, and talents. Only Maggie's father is depicted as loving her unconditionally, but even his love excuses her personality, rather than supporting it.

Book Second, Chapters I, II, and IIISummaryChapter I

Tom goes to school under Mr. Stelling for his first term. The experience is jolting to Tom—he is Mr. Stelling's only student and feels inadequate to the Latin and Euclid that Stelling attempts to teach him. Mr. Stelling, who considers Latin and Euclid the only measurements of intelligence and only methods of teaching, scolds Tom for his supposed laziness. Tom becomes "more like a girl than he had ever been in his life" as both his pride and sense of correctness in his previous way of life are diminished. He feels lonely—his only distraction being Mr. Selling's toddler, Laura—and he wishes for Maggie's presence.

Maggie comes for a visit before the end of term. Maggie condescendingly offers to help Tom with his studies and sits to study his Latin and Euclid, both of which take her longer to understand than she supposed. She impresses Mr. Stelling with her intelligent chatter but feels mortified by his allusion to her attempt to run away to the gypsies, and his comment that women have only "superficial cleverness" and are "quick and shallow." Tom is sad when Maggie leaves.

Tom goes home gratefully for Christmas at the end of the half-year, happy to see his familiar home. The narrator meditates upon one's affection for the worn furniture of childhood versus the impulse to acquire newer, nicer things.

Chapter II

Christmas at the Tullivers' is tense, as Mr. Tulliver is preoccupied with the problem of Mr. Pivart, a new landowner upriver who purports to use some of Mr. Tulliver's waterpower. Mr. Tulliver suspects that Lawyer Wakem supports Pivart and would represent him in future litigation. Mr. and Mrs. Moss are supportive of Tulliver at Christmas dinner, but Mrs. Tulliver begs him not to "go to law" and laments his stubbornness. Mr. Tulliver's lawyer, Gore, is less clever than Wakem, yet Mr. Tulliver is likely to go to law against Wakem, as he still bears a grudge over a suit that Wakem won against him, costing Tulliver his private right of road and the bridge. Additionally, Mr. Tulliver is goaded by the fact that he has been forced to borrow money from Wakem's office to repay Mrs. Glegg.

Tom has learned that Wakem's son will be sent to Mr. Stelling next term. Mr. Tulliver warns Tom not to be antagonistic toward Wakem's son despite his own grudge against Wakem, as the boy is a "poor deformed creatur."

Chapter III

Tom arrives back for his second half-year at school with Mr. Stelling, and a new student has arrived—Philip Wakem. Tom and Philip have their first meeting, and both boys are wary of each other—Tom because he knows Philip's father to be a bad man; Philip because he is afraid of

being jeered at for his humpback. The ice is soon broken when Tom notices Philip's talent for drawing, and the conversation moves easier. Then Tom spontaneously asks Philip if he loves his father, and Philip defensively replies "yes." Tom is quite sure of his own father's righteousness, as well as the fact that Lawyer Wakem is evil, and his son must be bad, too, if he loves his father.

Philip and Tom are not to have the same lessons because Philip is much more advanced and intelligent. The boys reconcile through Philip's knowledge of Greek war stories. Tom then tries to reassert his superiority in the face of Philip's older age and knowledge of fighting stories, by indirectly reminding Philip of his handicap.

Analysis

If most of Book First focused on Maggie, Book Second concentrates fully on Tom's school years at the house of Mr. Stelling. In the same ways that Maggie has suffered in her childhood with an external world that is much at odds with her personality, Tom suffers in the unfamiliar environment of higher education. Eliot seems to invite this connection and stress gender for the first time, when she repeatedly mentions that Tom is now "like a girl." Here, being a girl refers to a state of being in which external pressure has colluded to make one feel weak. It is only in subtle points such as this that Eliot indirectly calls attention to the fact that part of the difficulty Maggie feels in simply existing comes from her gender. Indeed, we see in Chapter I that even Mr. Stelling, who values education and intelligence, holds generalized ideas about female capabilities—women have "a great deal of superficial cleverness; but they couldn't go far into anything." Mr. Stelling, like authority figures in Maggie's life, also does not consider the effect his statement of this judgment will have on Maggie.

Tom's difficulty in coming to terms with Mr. Stelling's idea of education and general value systems is also mirrored in Mr. Tulliver's bafflement in relation to potential litigation over waterpower from the Floss in Chapter II. Both Tom and Mr. Tulliver are depicted as characters who imagine physical solutions to social problems. Tom brings percussion caps to school to help him fit in and be respected. In Chapter II, Mr. Tulliver imagines the law in terms of a cockfight, "it was the business of injured honesty to get a game bird with the best pluck and the strongest spurs." Both Tom and Mr. Tulliver seem baffled, to an extent, by intricate, slippery language. Tom does not understand Mr. Stelling's educated humor about declining his dinner or a Latin verb, and we have already seen Mr. Tulliver's early judgment in Book First, Chapter II, "it's puzzling work, talking is." Both face up-and-coming adversaries—Mr. Stelling and Mr. Pivart are not from established, local, provincial families like the Tullivers but instead have arrived recently on the scene and intend to make money quickly. This ethos of rapid wealth rests on speculation and on qualities that seem vague to the Tulliver men. Mr. Stelling would rise in the world based on his investment in others' perception of him as a learned man. Mr. Pivart would rise in the world based on the deceptive intricacies of litigation and invisible waterpower. Tom and Mr. Tulliver do not have heads for these sophisticated ways of money and image making, so foreign to their own ethos of cumulative saving. Mr. Tulliver remarks in Chapter II of Mr. Pivart's claims to water power: it's "a very particular thing—you can't pick it up with a pitchfork." This clash between the Tulliver's older, provincial way of life and the newer aggressive materialism is presented neatly in the narrator's meditation at the end of Chapter I on the affection for the weathered furniture of one's childhood versus the impulse to acquire newer and better housewares. The narrator warns of the dangers of unchecked materialism—"who knows where that striving might lead us"—and speaks of the important affection for tradition.

Book Second, Chapters IV, V, VI, and VIISummaryChapter IV

Philip and Tom's relationship continues in the oscillating manner of their first meeting. At times they enjoy each other's company—Philip helps Tom with Latin and tells him extra-detailed war stories—at other times, Philip behaves "peevish[ly]" and bitterly about his deformity. Tom's education continues in the manner that Mr. Stelling sees fit, though much of it will be of no practical use to Tom in his profession.

Tom is happier in his second term with Mr. Stelling. Stelling does not push Tom so hard, now that Philip Wakem is around and academically accomplished enough to make Mr. Stelling's reputation respectable. Stelling has also hired a drillmaster for Tom—the local schoolmaster, Mr. Poulter. Tom enjoys Poulter's battle stories and begs him to bring his sword so Tom can see his sword exercises. Poulter, a man of questionable judgment who often drinks before his sessions with Tom, brings his sword one day and performs his sword exercises for Tom. Tom runs inside to get Philip, but Philip is in the middle of singing and yells at Tom for bursting in. They exchange harsh words, and Tom calls Philip's father a "rogue." Tom leaves the room and Philip cries "bitterly."

Back outside, Poulter agrees to let Tom keep his sword for the weekend in exchange for five shillings.

Chapter V

Maggie comes for a second visit to Mr. Stelling's. She notices Philip's cleverness and wants him to think her clever too. Maggie also has special feelings for deformed creatures because she finds them more grateful for her attention. Philip thinks Maggie seems nice and wishes that he had a sister.

Tom brings Maggie upstairs to show her his secret. When she is allowed to open her eyes, she sees Tom dressed as a pirate holding Poulter's sword. Maggie is gleeful at his costume. Tom unsheathes the sword and points it at her, intent upon inspiring respect and fear in her. Tom accidentally drops the sword while executing a cut and thrust, and it falls on his own foot. Maggie screams and tugs at Tom, who has gone unconscious. Mr. Stelling rushes into the room.

Chapter VI

Tom has been seen by a doctor and lays in bed unable to walk. Tom fears he will be handicapped for life. Philip senses Tom's fear. He feels genuine dread on Tom's behalf and asks Mr. Stelling if Tom will be lame, reporting back to Tom the good news that he will soon walk well again. Tom invites Philip to come sit with him between lessons, and Philip accepts, spending much time with Tom and Maggie at Tom's bedside.

One day, Philip sits in the study with Philip while Tom's foot is dressed. Philip asks Maggie, "if you had had a brother like me, do you think you should have loved him as well as Tom?" Maggie replies, "yes," and admits that she would feel pity for Philip. Maggie soon senses her error in alluding to Philip's deformity and assures him she would admire his cleverness and talent and will never forget him. Philip tells Maggie that he likes her eyes, to her delight. Maggie kisses Philip and promises to kiss him when she sees him again.

When Mr. Tulliver comes to pick up Maggie, she reports how nice Philip is and entreats Tom to agree. Mr. Tulliver warns Tom not to try and be good to Philip, but not to get "too thick

with him—he's got his father's blood in him." Tom and Philip never become close friends, and their personalities soon continue to be at odds.

Chapter VII

Tom continued at Mr. Stelling's into a fifth session, at the age of sixteen, while Maggie went to a boarding school with Lucy Deane. Maggie hardly ever saw Philip again, and she sensed that he and Tom were no longer friends. Mr. Tulliver was now engaged in the lawsuit with Lawyer Wakem and Pivart, and any mention of the name Wakem angered him.

Tom continues monotonously with his education. He is now tall and pridefully reserved and is sure that his father's lawsuit will be decided in their favor soon.

One day in November, Maggie comes to the Stelling's to tell Tom that their father lost the lawsuit and is bankrupt. Tom is shocked, having foreseen nothing but perpetual success for himself and his father. Maggie further reveals that their father has fallen off his horse and has lost his senses. Tom explains to Mr. Stelling why he must return home, and Mrs. Stelling gives Maggie a basket of food. Tom and Maggie go "forth together into their new life of sorrow."

Analysis

The introduction of the character Philip Wakem in Book Second begins one of the main conflicts of the novel. Maggie and Philip, sharing the same interests, grow fond of each other. Yet as Mr. Tulliver becomes more embroiled in his lawsuit against Mr. Pivart, as represented by Lawyer Wakem, Philip's name becomes less welcome in the Tulliver household. Philip's deformity—a hunchback—adds a subtler series of conflicts as some characters adjust their relationship with Philip according to their pity for him.

The depiction of Maggie in Book Second continues to stress her affiliation with animals. In Chapter II, we saw Maggie continue to shake her head, as though to shake her hair out of her eyes, even after her hair is pulled back. This action was described in Book First, Chapter II as "an action which gave her very much the air of a small Shetland pony." In Chapter V, Maggie's eyes remind Philip of "the stories about princesses being turned into animals." The references to Maggie's animalism point somewhat to her non-conformism—she doesn't use the artificial conventions of others, letting her natural exuberance dominate instead. Often, however, the references to Maggie's animalism coincide with some suggestion of magic or mythology, as in Philip's connection here and associations of Maggie with a "Pythoness" or "Medusa" in Book First.

Eliot continues to emphasize her own realism—few of her characters exist as blatantly good or bad and few of her situations are obvious and predetermined. Thus, she writes of Tom's response to Mr. Stelling's single-minded educational philosophy: "Nevertheless, there was a visible improvement in Tom under this training; perhaps because he was not a boy in the abstract, existing solely to illustrate the evils of a mistaken education, but a boy made of flesh and blood, with dispositions not entirely at the mercy of circumstances." Similarly, the interactions between both Tulliver children and Philip are portrayed as neither flatly antagonistic nor idealistically loving. Tom and Philip's relations, analyzed in detail, wobble in a gray zone of amiability. Maggie's like for Philip is not straightforward or ideal. In Chapter VI, she tells Philip that she would love him more for her pity if he were her brother. We also learn in Chapter V, that part of Maggie's affection for Philip hinges on her own need for appreciation: "Maggie had rather a tenderness for deformed things she was especially fond of petting objects that would think it very delightful to be petted by her."

Though Maggie and Philip enjoy a degree of mutual respect and interest, Maggie's relationship with Tom remains the focus of Book Second. Eliot continues to depict the two as a couple, though, by the end of Book Second with the jump in year between Chapter VI and Chapter VII, their childhood is over. Mr. Tulliver's bankruptcy and illness, along with Maggie's and Tom's reactions, will dominate the central part of The Mill on the Floss. Eliot uses biblical imagery of Adam and Eve's expulsion from Eden in the final image of Book Second, alluding to their newly fallen financial state, as well as the loss of innocence that accompanies tragedy and makes them into adults.

Book Third, Chapters I, II, and IIISummaryChapter I

Mr. Tulliver, upon losing the lawsuit against Wakem, remains optimistic. He would ask Furley, who held the mortgage on the mill and house, to buy the property and keep the Tullivers on as tenants. Tulliver had signed away the family's furniture as collateral on the loan of five hundred pounds from a client of Wakem's, but he lets Mrs. Tulliver ask the Pullets to buy up the loan, so they could keep their furniture. Tulliver dispatches a note to Maggie's school asking her to return home, as he wants her by his side. Then Tulliver goes home to Mrs. Tulliver, who still does not know the full extent of their trouble, and angrily tells her not to worry.

Quantcast

The next day Tulliver rides downtown to see Gore, his lawyer, about asking Furley to take buy the mill and keep Tulliver on as miller. On his way to the office, a clerk delivers him a note from Gore. Tulliver reads the note on the way home. It explains that Furley has already transferred the mortgage to Wakem. Mr. Tulliver has been found lying hear his horse, insensible.

When Maggie arrives home, Tulliver is vaguely conscious and has lost some memory. He seems anxious about the letter and to have Maggie near him. Mrs. Tulliver sends for her sisters, who gather downstairs and deem Mr. Tulliver's bad luck as fate and judgment upon him. Maggie and Mrs. Tulliver agree that Maggie should fetch Tom from school. On the carriage ride home, Tom expresses hatred toward Mr. Wakem, whom Tom is convinced has been planning to ruin their father.

Chapter II

Maggie and Tom return to their house to find a stranger smoking in the parlor. Maggie does not know who he is, but Tom understands that he must be the bailiff and feels pained and ashamed. Maggie checks on her father, and then they go in search of their mother, whom they find in the store room in the attic, crying over her best goods. Mrs. Tulliver is despondent that all her goods shall be sold and is dramatically pessimistic about their future: "we shall be beggars … we must to the workhouse." Mrs. Tulliver explicitly blames Mr. Tulliver for their troubles, and Tom, too, begins to feel reproachful toward him for the first time. Maggie is angry at the atmosphere of bitterness toward her father, as well as the implication that she is shut out from Tom and Mrs. Tulliver's grief. Maggie reproaches them both and returns to her father. Tom becomes annoyed with her but softens upon seeing her at their father's bedside.

Chapter III

Mr. and Mrs. Glegg, Mrs. Deane, and Mr. and Mrs. Pullet gather at the Tullivers'. The narrator remarks on the rising fortunes of Mr. and Mrs. Deane, one of many sources of ill will and quarreling among the Dodson sisters this morning. Mrs. Tulliver beseeches the sisters to buy up her good china and linens, though Mrs. Deane and Mrs. Pullet will buy only the few items they want for themselves. Mr. and Mrs. Glegg encourage Mrs. Tulliver to concentrate on the necessities, such as beds, instead of luxuries.

The Dodson sisters look for Tom and Maggie to be brought in the room so they can be humbled by the sisters' charity. The aunts and uncles allude to Tom and of all the money spent on his education and warn the children that they must work and bear the brunt of their father's "misconduct." Tom quiets Maggie's temper and respectfully proposes that they pay Mr. Tulliver's debt of five hundred pounds—with the interest to be paid by Tom himself—and save the Tulliver family some disgrace along with their furniture. Mrs. Glegg contends that the Tulliver debts extend far beyond five hundred pounds, making it futile to relieve even that debt. Maggie loses her temper and warns the aunts and uncles to keep away from the house if they don't mean to help at all. The aunts take this outburst as confirmation of their past predictions that Maggie will come to no good.

Mrs. Moss enters the troubled household, sympathetic and humble, as she has her brother's three hundred pounds still but cannot pay it back with eight children to feed. Mr. and Mrs. Glegg suggest that the security note should be found, and Mrs. Moss should be made to pay the debt. Tom interjects to relate that his father once told him that the Mosses should never be made to pay back the loan. Tom means to abide by his father's spoken will. Mr. Glegg suggests that he and Tom then find the promissary note and destroy it. Mrs. Moss is grateful, and she, Tom, and Mr. Glegg go upstairs to search for the note.

Analysis

Events begin to move more quickly in Book Third of The Mill on the Floss. Contemporary reviews of the novel complained of the tediousness of the opening two books, filled as they are with metaphysical narrative rather than action. Yet it is only through this detailed exposition of the formation of Maggie's and Tom's characters that their respective responses to their troubled adulthoods seems to work in a course. For it is in these opening chapters of Book Third, that Maggie and Tom come directly into adulthood, already tired and harried by the stresses of taking over family affairs while their mother is distraught and their father ill. The adult characters notably resort to placing blame within the situation—Mr. Tulliver blames the supposed perniciousness of lawyers, Wakem specifically, while the Dodson sisters blame Mr. Tulliver himself. Thus it is left to Maggie and Tom to maturely act on matters and as they do, the narrative moves swiftly. Long meditative sections involving the narrator's personal opinions, or general historical information are shortened in favor of dialogue and shorter paragraphs.

Book Third's ambitious title, "The Downfall," is tempered with the narrator's sense of the un-epic quality of the subject matter—the bankruptcy of a small town miller and his family. The narrator calls attention to the dullness of the content of her story in the opening of Chapter I but points to the emotions involved as of an epic quality: Mr. Tulliver "was as proud and obstinate as if he had been a very lofty personage, in whom such dispositions might be a source of that conspicuous, far-echoing tragedy, which sweeps the stage in regal robes and makes the dullest chronicler sublime." Yet the narrative of the "tragedy" at hand continues to include the same sort of deflationary, satiric material used through the novel as a whole. Thus, Mrs. Tulliver in Chapters II and III is not so much condemned for her concern for her linens and china, as held up as an object of ridicule or humorous pity. Her mind sticks to the issue of the linens and china as though

she cannot comprehend anything else. In Chapter II, she "stroke[s]" the linens "automatically," attentive to little else. In Chapter III, she manages to turn all conversation back to the linens and china, as when Mrs. Deane mentions medicating "jelly" and Mrs. Tulliver, in return, pleads for the safety of her jelly dishes. This treatment of Mrs. Tulliver has the double effect of deflating the epic quality of the family's tragedy and making Mrs. Tulliver more sympathetic; her ridiculous obsession invites our pity, rather than our censure.

In these opening chapters of Book Third, Maggie's personality is once again aligned with her father's. Beyond the fact that Mr. Tulliver summons Maggie in his trouble and recognizes only Maggie during his memory loss, their individual tendencies, too, are depicted as similar. In the same way that Mr. Tulliver has rashly and singlemindedly pursued the Wakem litigation—with no objective thought to the potential consequences—Maggie is shown to rush into situations without considering the outcome, as when she loses her temper with the aunts and uncles and thereby endangers the chances of their aid. Tom is shown to be the only member of the Tulliver family capable of attaining a prudent view of the situation and taking action accordingly.

Book Third, Chapters IV, V, and VISummaryChapter IV

Maggie and Mrs. Moss sit down at Mr. Tulliver's bedside while Mr. Glegg and Tom open Mr. Tulliver's oak chest in search of the Mosses' promissary note for the three hundred pounds he has lent them. While they are looking through papers, the hinges on the oak chest give way, and it bangs shut loudly. The noise rouses Mr. Tulliver from his sleep and temporary amnesia, and he demands to know what they are doing with his papers. They explain to Tulliver that he has been ill and that they've had to look after his affairs. He asks for his wife, and Maggie goes to get her. Mr. Tulliver tells Tom to pay Luke the fifty pounds the family owes him before paying anything else and, in answer to Tom's question, tells him to be easy on the Mosses' about the loan. Mrs. Tulliver enters the room, and Mr. Tulliver asks her forgiveness for the state of their affairs and blames the "raskills" of the "law" for his downfall. He admonishes Tom to get back at Wakem, if he ever has the chance.

Mr. Tulliver begins to drift off again, mumbling directions for the future, as though preparing the family for his death. But Tulliver is not presently dying; his death is to be "a long descent under thickening shadows." Mr. Tulliver sinks back into semi-consciousness, having never remembered that Wakem now owns the mortgage to his property. Tom sets about fulfilling his father's wishes.

Chapter V

Tom leaves for St. Ogg's to see his uncle Deane about getting a job. Tom feels humiliated about his family's condition but does not blame his aunts and uncles, as Maggie does, for not helping them. Tom cheers himself with optimism about his possibilities of getting a good job and making money quickly, as his uncle Deane has done.

In town, the local publican salutes him and mentions Tom's father's downfall, meaning to be friendly. Tom, embarrassed, passes him without speaking, and the publican takes offense. Once in his uncle Deane's office, Tom must wait while his uncle finishes auditing accounts. When Deane has finished, Tom tells him of his wish to get "a situation." Deane points out that Tom is quite young, and possesses no knowledge of the real world, only useless Latin. Tom manages to

convince Deane that he cares enough about his own reputation to work hard at whatever job Deane might find him. Deane is impressed by this but makes no commitments.

Tom leaves feeling pained at the full understanding of his own disadvantage. At home, Maggie tries to cheer Tom by joking that she could teach him bookkeeping if she had learned it herself. Tom becomes angry at the implication that she might teach him and says, "You're always setting yourself up above me and everyone else." Maggie tries to explain that he has been misunderstanding her intent and accuses him of being harsh with her often. Maggie runs upstairs to cry and wishes that life were more like her books, where people "did not show their kindness by finding fault."

Chapter VI

The Tulliver family sits by Mr. Tulliver's bedside as the sale of their furniture takes place downstairs. When it is over, Kezia, the housemaid, tells Tom that a man downstairs would like to see him.

Tom escorts the red-haired stranger into the parlor and realizes it is Bob Jakin when Bob pulls out the pocketknife Tom had given him when they were boys. Bob reminds Tom of the early kindness of the pocketknife, and Tom asks somewhat condescendingly if there's anything he can do for Bob now. Bob says no, and before he can finish speaking, Maggie comes in the room. Maggie focuses immediately on the empty bookshelves because she wasn't expecting so many books to have been sold. Close to tears, she sits down.

Bob continues, explaining that he has just won ten sovereigns for dousing a fire at a gentleman's mill. He puts nine of the sovereigns on the table, explaining that he used one to get himself started as a packman but that Tom should have the rest since Tom isn't as "lucky" as Bob. Tom is touched, but he refuses the money. Bob seems hurt that Tom will take nothing from him, and Maggie realizes what Bob wants, suggesting that the Tullivers will always think of Bob as a friend to depend on. Bob leaves satisfied.

Analysis

These middle chapters of Book Third consist of the nearly formal transference of power from Mr. Tulliver to Tom. Mr. Tulliver regains consciousness again briefly in Chapter IV and attempts to make arrangements. We are signaled by the narrator that Tulliver has reached the beginning of his end: "But with poor Tulliver death … was to be a long descent under thickening shadows." Tulliver is depicted throughout Book Third as a man caught in a world he no longer understands. By contrast, Tom shows himself to be adaptable and canny in Chapter V during his meeting with Deane. Tom recognizes the shift in worlds—from his father's model of slow saving to a newer model of venture capitalism—and he means to be part of the second: "he did not want to save money slowly and retire on a moderate fortune like his uncle Glegg, but he would be like his uncle Deane—get a situation in some great house of business and rise fast." The clearest sign that Tulliver is not adept within the changing world is his mistake about Tom's education. In Chapter IV, Tulliver still holds hope that Tom's education will set him off well in the world, but Deane makes clear in Chapter V what Tom already knows—the education on which his father spent much money is no good to him in the necessary world of finance and business.

The stress of the home situation seems to exacerbate Tom and Maggie's pre-existing differences. The narrator clearly documents the differences in their reactions. For example, Tom, adhering to his usual sense of justice, blames his father slightly for the family's downfall, while

Maggie pities their father immensely, in part because it gives her a chance to love him more. Rather than Maggie and Tom rallying together in their family's difficult time, their relationship seems to become more tense and the differences between them heightened. In Chapter V, the differences are articulated by each when Tom becomes frustrated with Maggie and explains his perception of her ego to her. Maggie still seeks Tom's love more than anyone else's for her happiness. She calls Tom to task for not perceiving her intentions correctly and for not unconditionally loving her.

Bob Jakin's reappearance reminds us of the childhood scene between Bob and Tom and reinforces the growing theme around Tom's righteous sense of justice or fairness. Bob's big-heartedness—he has chosen to remember Tom's gift of the pocketknife rather than Tom's judgment and dismissal of him as a cheater—is contrasted with Tom's minute sense of justice. Tom applies a code of "fairness" to immediate situations, disregarding emotional attachments and the big-picture understanding of a person's character. Tom does not perceive the emotional intention behind Bob's gesture, dismissing his nine sovereigns at one point because "those sovereigns wouldn't help me much." Maggie, by contrast, understands the intention behind Bob's gesture: "That's what you would like—to have us always depend on you as a friend that we can go to—isn't it Bob?" In Chapter V, when a local publican mentions Mr. Tulliver's misfortune to Tom, Tom takes it as a jibe and inadvertently insults the publican in return. We could assume that Maggie, with her perceptive capacity for sympathetic understanding and without Tom's sense of pride, would not have misread the publican's good-natured gesture as aggressive.

Book Third, Chapters VII, VIII, and IXSummaryChapter VII

Mr. Tulliver is still not fully conscious, and the sale of the house and mill is rapidly approaching. Mrs. Tulliver and the children have hope that uncle Deane and his company, Guest & Co., will buy the mill and keep Mr. Tulliver as manager. They fear, though, that Mr. Wakem decide to bide on the mill since he now holds the mortgage on it.

Mr. Deane has also found Tom a temporary warehouse job. Tom life is grim—he goes to the warehouse all day, then takes bookkeeping lessons at night. He's also recently realized that, besides the sale of the house, mill, and furniture, his father owes still more debts and is therefore truly bankrupt.

Deciding to take action herself, Mrs. Tulliver goes into town to see Mr. Wakem without telling anyone. She entreats Mr. Wakem not to bid on the sale of the house and mill, because Guest & Co. Plan to buy it and keep her husband on as manager. Mr. Wakem is short with Mrs. Tulliver and resolves after showing her out to buy the mill and house and keep Tulliver on as manager, although the idea of purchasing the property had not occurred to him before Mrs. Tulliver came to see him. Mr. Wakem's actions do not necessarily make him an evil man. In the course of her visit, Mrs. Tulliver inadvertently revealed several incentives for Wakem to buy the property, including Mr. Tulliver's hatred for Wakem, and the intentions of Wakem's rivals, Guest & Co., to buy it themselves. Wakem plans to keep Tulliver on as manager, in part because Tulliver's humiliation will increase knowing that Wakem has made a charitable gesture toward him and partly because Wakem understands that Tulliver is an honest miller.

Chapter VIII

Wakem has bought the property and stopped by to present to Mr. Deane and Mr. Glegg his willingness to keep Tulliver on as miller. Mr. Tulliver is unaware of this, as his memory is still vague. The doctor orders that Tulliver should walk downstairs in hope that his memory will catch up. Maggie and Tom try to explain to him what is happening with his affairs, and Mr. Tulliver's pain is renewed upon learning again that he is bankrupt. Maggie and Tom are careful not to reveal that Wakem now owns the property. Mrs. Tulliver enters into the conversation bemoaning her poor luck. Mr. Tulliver promises to do anything he can to make amends. Mrs. Tulliver requests that he be respectful toward Wakem, revealing that Wakem has bought the property. Mr. Tulliver is upset, and Tom offers support, saying that his father shouldn't be made to work under Wakem. Mr. Tulliver moans that "[t]his world's been too many for me."

Chapter IX

Mr. Tulliver struggles with his hatred for Wakem and his promise to Mrs. Tulliver to make amends. Tulliver walks around his property with Luke and remembers scenes from his childhood spent on the same property. Mr. Tulliver has a great attachment to his home, and he and Luke discuss the dislike of new places and people. At home that night, Mr. Tulliver seems to be working something over in his mind. He gets anxious for Tom's arrival and tells Maggie to get the family Bible. When Tom arrives home, Mr. Tulliver calls him in. Tulliver vows in front of his family to fulfill his promise to Mrs. Tulliver and work under Wakem, but he also vows not to forgive Wakem. He makes Tom write in the family bible that Wakem will not be forgiven and that "I wish evil may befall him," and he signs his own name, Tom Tulliver. Maggie protests, but Tom insists on carrying out his father's orders.

Analysis

Though it is not foregrounded, one of the main plot points of Book Third is the Tulliver's loss of their furniture and threatened loss of their home. Mrs. Tulliver is mocked in Chapters II and III of Book Third for her panic about the impending sale of her linens and china, a panic that seems to far outweigh her concern for her sick husband. Despite this satire, however, the genuine emotional importance of objects is often stressed in this section of the novel. The painfulness of losing objects is first explored in Book Second when Tom happily returns to his home and its familiar objects after having briefly "lost" them while away at school. The narrator points to the centrality of objects to one's earliest consciousness: "objects became dear to us before we had known the labour of choice and where the outer world seemed only an extension of our personality: we accepted and loved it as we accepted our own sense of existence and our limbs." In Book Third, Chapter IV, the narrator speaks of the language of familiar objects: "All long-known objects, even a mere window fastening or a particular door-latch, have sounds which are a sort of recognized voice to us." In the same way, Maggie's reaction to the loss of the family's books expresses the sincere pathos of losing childhood things: "the end of our lives will have nothing in it like the beginning!" Through oblique narrative discussion and singular plot moments like Maggie's discovery of the loss of books, or Bob's sentimental attachment to his pocketknife, Book Third gestures clearly to the sadness of the loss of the Tullivers' household goods.

Eliot's treatment of attachments to the past in Book Third is appropriately complex. On the one hand, we have Maggie, still only thirteen years of age and still suffering the wildly extreme emotions of youth. This state has been continually characterized as the result of having no sense of a past to put trouble in perspective. At the end of Chapter V, the narrator characterizes Maggie's sadness, "There is no hopelessness so sad as that of early youth, when the soul is made up of wants, and has no long memories." Maggie's youth places her in a vacuum of the present, in which all of her troubles and joys seem more extreme, for having nothing to which to compare

them. So here, a memory and sense of the past is presented as a valuable tool in maturity. However, much of Book Third concentrates on Mr. Tulliver's illness—an illness which places him mentally in his own past, with no capacity for experiencing the present or the future. When he recovers from the illness, we see in Chapter IX that Tulliver is still living in the past and that this state of mind is an association with unhealthiness: "[Tulliver] was living in that freshened memory of the far-off time which comes to us in the passive hours of recovery from sickness." We see in Chapter IX that it is precisely this nostalgia for his past that allows Tulliver to restrain his pride and agree to continue working at the mill under Wakem. However, it also seems that the heightened feeling Tulliver has experienced from the memories of his past have created a bitterness that manifests in his evil wishes toward Wakem to be inscribed in the family Bible—a record of the past. One's relationship to one's own past functions in that novel as an important part of one's character. We see in Book Third that the varieties of relationships cannot be easily categorized as "good" or "bad" and must be examined in their complexity.

At the end of Chapter VII, the narrator examines Wakem's motives for going expressly against Mrs. Tulliver's plea and buying Dorlcote Mill to employ Tulliver as miller. This portrait of a thought process relates back to the portrait of Mr. Riley's motives for recommending Stelling as a tutor. As always in her genre of psychological realism, Eliot does not allow characters to be simply classified as "good" or "bad" with motives that are blatantly selfish or charitable. The portrait of Wakem's decision, like other psychological descriptions in The Mill on the Floss is careful to take into account the effect of Wakem's relationships with peers in St. Ogg's, as well as the tenor of Wakem's relationship to Tulliver, as Wakem himself would see it in terms of the social hierarchy of the town. Eliot is concerned to pull together an array of forces weighing on Wakem, as well as an array of detail about Wakem's conduct. Together, these pieces of information do not allow for an easy classification of Wakem as evil.

Book Fourth, Chapters I, II, and IIISummaryChapter I

The narrator compares two modes of life or of novelistic subject matter. The first could be related to the everyday dwellings, washed out by a flood, to be seen on the banks of the river Rhone that speak to a past "narrow, ugly, grovelling existence." The second could be related to the castle ruins on the river Rhine. The second consists of lives from the past that are colorful, sublime, and grandiose—a time of beautiful good and extreme evil.

The reader might imagine the story of the Dodsons and Tullivers to belong to the first mode of life, "irradiated by no sublime principles, no romantic visions, no active, self-renouncing faith." The "oppressive narrowness" felt in the tale of the Dodsons and Tullivers may be tedious to encounter, but, "it is necessary that we should feel it if we care to understand how it acted on the lives of Tom and Maggie." The religious or moral ideas of the Dodsons have always been prosaic. They are Protestants but truly revere what is "customary and respectable"; they do not have a striking sense of spirituality. The Dodsons are exceptional only in their conviction that "the right thing must always be done towards kindred." Thus, the Dodsons will never turn their backs on unfortunate kin, though they will be hard on them in their speech.

The Tullivers, by contrast, are not as self-serving as a family but rather show "elements of generous imprudence, warm affection, and hot-tempered rashness." The Tullivers are even less big on religion, valuing common sense instead.

Chapter II

The initial trauma and accompanying adrenaline of the family downfall having worn off, the Tulliver household has become morose and monotonous, with few visitors. Mrs. Tulliver wanders around the house, bewildered at their loss. Maggie begins to feel tenderly toward her mother, who has become pitiful. Mrs. Tulliver, hopeless for herself, has begun to rest some hopes on Maggie, and dotes on her slightly by brushing her hair.

Mr. Tulliver is not his old self. Instead, he is singleminded in his attempt to pay his debts. He has turned into a miser, keeping a rigid hold on the house. He still likes Maggie to be near him, but this is now more of a need than a desire—there is no love in it.

Maggie feels no love any more from her father, nor from Tom, who is just as singleminded about repaying the debts as his father. Yet the money accumulates slowly, and it may be a very long while until they are all paid.

Chapter III

Maggie sits outside, unable to read, as she is distracted by the rage Mr. Tulliver exhibited yesterday after a visit to Wakem. This time he had beaten a boy from the mill and last time he had beaten his horse. Maggie worries that he might hit her mother some day.

Bob Jakin comes through the gate. He gives Maggie several picture books and several prose books, because he remembered her sadness upon having discovered her books had been sold. Maggie takes the books happily, and she asks Bob questions about Bob's dog Mumps to stall his departure. Bob reveals to Maggie his extra-wide thumb that he uses to cheat his old customers of their full length of cloth. Maggie tells Bob seriously that "that's cheating" and that she doesn't like to hear of it. Bob says sincerely that he wished he hadn't said anything and explains to Maggie that his customers attempt to cheat him as well.

After Bob leaves, Maggie sits upstairs by the window feeling incredibly lonely. She has no friends, and life has "no music for her anymore." She feels that even the other members of her family have tasks to focus on or minds dull enough not to mind, but Maggie seeks to understand why her life has become so sad. Even Tom's schoolbooks, and the acquisition of male knowledge they promise, offer little solace. Inevitably, Maggie ends up feeling selfish about her own sadness by remembering her father's.

Maggie sits down to read one of the books Bob gave her, whose author she vaguely recognizes—Thomas a Kempis. The book has passages marked by a previous owner and a low voice seems to speak the passages to her. The book speaks of renouncing self-love in favor of the tranquility of focusing on the sufferings of others and thinking of heaven instead of earth. Maggie feels she has found the secret that will give her the strength to endure happily through her difficult life. Maggie begins to live her life as deprivation and penance, though she sometimes outdoes herself by putting too much "exaggeration and wilfulness, some pride and impetuosity" into her new practice. For Maggie there is still a hint of the old Maggie, who demands full feeling out of life and love and happiness. In her youthful way, she has missed the point that Thomas a Kempis's writings hold implicit that "renunciation remains sorrow, though a sorrow borne willingly. Maggie was still panting for happiness, and was in ecstasy because she had found the key to it."

In her house, Maggie's new demeanor makes her mother proud and affectionate. Maggie's new grace of manner increases her father's gloom at the future he can't provide her.

Analysis

Book Fourth contains very little plot action and contains no specific scenes other than Bob Jakin's visit to Maggie when he gives her the books. The Book is a short one and focuses on the tenor of Maggie's inner life as the state of her family affairs continues to be difficult. At the opening of Book Fourth, the dreadful, initial excitement of the bankruptcy and Mr. Tulliver's illness have passed, leaving uneventful sorrow. By the end of the book, Maggie has sought to remedy her sorrow and the lack of intensity in her life by adopting Thomas a Kempis's religious mode of self-abnegation over self-love.

The narrative of Book Fourth begins with a distinction between dull, prosaic existence and colorful, sublime existence. Eliot continues to call attention to the lowly status of her subject matter. In Book Fourth, she underscores the sadly prosaic quality of the Tullivers and their situation by referring descriptively to hierarchies and subject matter outside of the main narrative of The Mill on the Floss. Thus, in the opening of Chapter I, the narrator discusses the more colorful subject matter of fantastic narratives that include "robber barons" and "the wandering minstrel, the soft-lipped princess, the pious recluse." Next to these characters, the ordinariness of the Dodsons and Tullivers is emphasized. In Chapter III, the narrator discusses the upper class, who hardly appear in the novel proper—"good society" with "its claret and its velvet-carpets, its dinner-engagements six weeks deep, its opera and its faery ball-rooms." On the one hand, these glimpses at the characteristics of the upper class or of the subject matter of "exciting" literature are somewhat ironic—Eliot knows that she has made the most of her subject matter and that readers are now fully involved in the story of the Tullivers. These comparisons, however, also serve to emphasize the particular dullness of the Tulliver's existence, thus letting Maggie's intense personality and intelligence stand out within it. The stifling atmosphere of her family's spiritual and actual poverty, combined with the penalty of having been born a girl, seem to drive Maggie to the need for release—release found in the spiritual writings of Thomas a Kempis.

A key word for Book Fourth is "sublime," meaning something majestic or something of high spiritual, moral, or intellectual worth. Book Fourth depicts Maggie as striving for sublimity, even while trying to be humble and self- effacing—she views the writing of Thomas a Kempis as "a sublime height to be reached." Though the narrator remains sympathetic to Maggie, the narrator is also unsparing in her explication of Maggie's youthful mistakes. Maggie's enthusiasm and intensity clash with her efforts to degrade and humble herself. Book Fourth contains many metaphors of things high clashing with things low—for example, Maggie "often strove after too high a flight, and came down with her poor little half-fledged wings dabbled in the mud." Maggie's natural impulse toward the heights of sublimity clashes with Book Fourth's title from Pilgrim's Progress, "The Valley of Humiliation." Book Fourth thus fully outlines the battle of opposing forces within Maggie that was alluded to in the last line of Chapter V, Book Third ("No wonder, when there is this contrast between the outward and the inward, that painful collisions come of it.") and that will dominate the remainder of the novel.

Book Fifth, Chapters I, II, and IIISummaryChapter I

From a window, Maggie sees Mr. Wakem approach and notices that Philip is with him. Philip tips his cap to her, and Maggie runs upstairs, unwilling to spoil a reunion with Philip by the presence of their fathers.

Several days later, Maggie goes out for her usual walk in the rocky area near her house, called the Red Deeps. Maggie's chosen life of deprivation has suited her—she looks stately and older now, though there still remains "a sense of opposing elements, of which a fierce collision is imminent." Philip Wakem emerges from the woods and admits to Maggie that he has followed her there, wanting to see her again. Maggie is frank—she is happy to see him and thanks him for the kindness shown to her and her brother in their youth and explains how she is sad that they cannot restart their friendship. Philip protests, asking Maggie to meet him in the woods now and then. He first suggests that it is their duty to repair the enmity between their families, that their meeting would affect no one, and finally that meetings with her would provide the only happiness of his days. Maggie cannot agree to meet him as it would thwart her purpose of putting other people's happiness in front of her own and her desire to give up her discontent with her narrow life. Philip rejects this as damaging asceticism and speaks of the need to hunger after "certain things we feel to be beautiful and good," like qrt. Maggie finally agrees not to make her decision today but to come again to the Red Deeps and tell him her decision then. Philip is happy but still slightly sad at his perception that she has never considered the possibility that they will become lovers.

Maggie returns home with a conflict within her. Philip returns home feeling that Maggie is the only woman in the world with enough love to love him in his deformity. He vows to be Maggie's "guardian angel," and to "do anything, bear anything for her sake."

Chapter II

Tom has been getting on in the world slowly but has become a credit to his uncles, especially his uncle Deane who acquired the warehouse position for him. Tom is frustrated by the slow accumulation of money and, about a year ago, took an opportunity to venture some capital with Bob Jakin. First, Tom needed capital to venture, and Mr. Tulliver proved too uneasy about losing money. Instead, Tom decided to visit his uncle Glegg with Bob to ask for Glegg to advance him some money to venture.

Bob and Tom meet Mr. Glegg in his garden. Glegg is wary of Bob, dressed in his packman gear, at first, but is won over by Bob's innocent talkativeness. Bob explains the plan to buy goods cheaply at Laceham and sell them for a profit. Mrs. Glegg calls the men in from the garden but is dismissive of Bob the packman. Bob senses that Mrs. Glegg would be a good target to whom he can sell his goods and begins buttering her up, speaking of her high-class status and of his knowledge of the Dodsons. Bob plays coy with the contents of his pack, insisting that they're beneath her tastes and prices.

The men explain the moneymaking scheme to Mrs. Glegg, who is first skeptical, then hurt—feeling as if she's been left out of a profitable plan. Bob returns to the subject of his goods and, after much more coyness, shows Mrs. Glegg his goods. Mrs. Glegg, entranced with stories of lesser women getting good deals, buys some muslin and net. Bob also gets Mrs. Glegg to lend twenty pounds of her own money toward the venture.

That gathering of the initial capital was a year ago, and by the time Philip and Maggie meet in the Red Deeps, Tom has a hundred and fifty pounds return, unbeknownst to his father.

Chapter III

Maggie continues to struggle with the question of whether to continue meeting Philip. She decides to tell him she can't, because it would have to be secret, though she feels that the friendship between herself and Philip is blameless and naturally good. Maggie meets Philip in the

Red Deeps and tells him they cannot meet again, and Philip acquiesces but insists they spend a half-hour together before they part.

Maggie poses for Philip to continue a picture of her. They continue to have the argument in which Maggie sticks by her pious self-effacement, and Philip insists that she is unnaturally stupefying herself, instead of reaching for a full life. Maggie hears some truth in what he says but also senses that he is not completely correct. Philip argues against her self-denial in part because he knows it to be unnatural but also selfishly, because he knows it will cause her not to see him. Maggie asks Philip to sing her a song, which he does, but the indulgence of the music causes Maggie to insist that she leave. Philip offers a loop-hole to Maggie: he will continue to walk in Red Deeps and if they meet by chance, there will be no secrecy involved. Maggie's eyes consent and they leave it at that.

Analysis

In Book Fifth, Maggie's internal struggle between self-effacing tranquility and the desire for a full, sensual life reaches a crisis point as a result of the figure of Philip. Philip's deformity is intrinsic to his role in encouraging Maggie against self-deprivation—Philip has suffered too much self-denial and lack of love in his life to romanticize that position, and his intellectual curiosity is equal to Maggie's, so he knows what she is denying herself. Throughout the personal and philosophical arguments between Philip and Maggie, the narrative encourages us to understand that, from a big picture viewpoint, Philip's understanding of Maggie's actions as self-denying is correct. Thus when Maggie continues to meet Philip in the woods, we see through the rest of Book Fifth that the effect on her is positive and affects others positively, such as Tom, who has "been better pleased with Maggie since she had been less odd and ascetic; he was even getting rather proud of her." Yet, the narrative also encourages us to be suspicious of the immediate motives behind Philip and Maggie's continued meetings. Both Philip and Maggie are portrayed as fallible. Maggie's natural need for admiration and love is egotistically gratified by Philip's presence, as when Philip prepares for a portrait of her in Chapter III, and Maggie's face "looked down like that of a divinity well pleased to be worshiped." Philip is portrayed as fallible through his own self-pity, which is illustrated in moments such as his commentary on his singing voice in Chapter III: "But my voice is only middling—like everything else in me." This self-pity (along with a genuine suffering at the lack of love he has experienced) leads Philip to be somewhat selfish in his motives for convincing Maggie to see him.

The second plot line of Book Fifth involves Tom's attempts to gain money more quickly by risking money in a venture with Bob Jakin. These two plot-lines, Maggie's secret meetings with Philip's and Tom's attempts to get the Tullivers out of debt more quickly, are alluded to in the title of Book Fifth, "Wheat and Tares." The phrase comes from the Bible (Matthew 13: 24–30), specifically a parable about a man who plants wheat in his fields only to have his enemy come during the night and plant tares, or weeds. The man sees the damage but wishes to wait until both the wheat and tares have come to harvest so that he can separate them out cleanly and save his wheat. In this metaphor, Tom is sowing the fruitful wheat that will get his family out of debt, while Maggie sows only weeds by going against her father's wishes. Yet, the parable also alludes to the sense that the narrative must continue further—to see Maggie's and Tom's respective actions played out—before judgements and classifications can be made.

The scene between Bob Jakin and Mrs. Glegg provides some needed comic relief in this serious and weighty Book Fifth. Bob continues to be a character that upends Tom's strict code of "fairness." Tom displays his generosity toward Tom, but continues to haggle, cheat, and

misrepresent, though only to characters who seem to have it coming to them, such as Mrs. Glegg with her disproportional miserliness.

Book Fifth, Chapters IV, V, VI, and VIISummaryChapter IV

It is a year later, and Maggie and Philip have been meeting regularly in the Red Deeps. On this day Maggie gives returns a book to Philip, which he has lent her and announces her determination to read no more books in which the blond women "carry away all the happiness." Philip teases Maggie that she would like to carry away all the love from her blond cousin Lucy. They continue to discuss love, and Philip begins to drop hints of his own love for Maggie and wish for her to love him, and Maggie finally understands. Maggie is shocked and begins to adjust her understanding of their last year together. Philip asks her if she loves him. Maggie explains simply that she loves no one better but begs that they not discuss it further as she reveals her lingering fear that their meetings will lead to "evil." Philip's company has already led her to want more from the world and become weary of her home and her parents. Philip entreats Maggie to think only of their love.

Maggie and Philip near the end of their walk. Philip fears that Maggie loves him only as a brother. Maggie agrees that her happiness with him is as great as the happiness she felt as a child, when Tom was good to her. As they part, Maggie is caught up in the moment, and her words express more than she feels—she agrees that she would like to be always with Philip and make him happy and stoops to kiss his "pale face that was full of pleading, timid love—like a woman's." Maggie leaves feeling truly happy, feeling that "if there were sacrifices in this love, it was all the richer and more satisfying."

Chapter V

The day after Maggie's last meeting with Philip, her aunt Pullet comes to tea at the Tullivers'. The table conversation shifts from Lucy Deane's beauty to Philip Wakem, whom Mrs. Pullet reports having seen "a-scrambling out o' the trees and brambles at the Red Deeps." Maggie, sitting across from Tom, blushes deeply and is unsure if Tom notices.

Tom did notice and remembers hearing Mrs. Tulliver scold Maggie for walking in the clay at Red Deeps, but his mind refuses to accept the possibility that his sister would seek the company of a deformed man. The next afternoon, Bob Jakin mentions having seen Philip Wakem on the mill side of the river. Tom, convinced, confronts Maggie on her way out of the house. Tom questions her, and Maggie explains everything, including their vows of love. Tom makes Maggie swear on a Bible never to see Philip again, or he will tell their father of her deceit. Maggie insists that she see Philip once more, and Tom brings Maggie to Red Deeps to meet Philip. Tom berates Philip and insults his deformity. Philip stands by his good intentions to Maggie and accuses Tom of being incapable of understanding what he feels for Maggie.

Tom pulls Maggie away and Maggie confronts Tom about his cruel words to Philip and his continual enjoyment in punishing her. Tom reminds Maggie that his actions have brought the family goodness, while Maggie's actions have brought no one good. Tom leaves for appointments,

and Maggie goes to her room to mourn. Yet the end of the chapter wonders about the cause of a "certain dim background of relief in the forced separation from Philip."

Chapter VI

Three weeks later, Tom comes home early from work in a good mood. He triumphantly tells his father of the money of Uncle Glegg's on which he has traded and that he now has three hundred and twenty pounds return. Their debts will finally be fully paid. Mr. Tulliver breaks into sobs.

Tom explains that Mr. Tulliver is to meet the creditors tomorrow at the Golden Lion. Mr. Tulliver triumphs at the realization that Wakem must know of the publicized event. He tells Tom that Tom must make a speech to the creditors and make his father proud and, in turn, make Wakem ashamed of his own crooked son. Mr. Tulliver stays up late savoring his triumph with Tom. He wakes up with a start in the morning from a dream, presumably about Wakem—"I thought I'd got hold of him."

Chapter VII

Sitting at the Golden Lion the next day, Mr. Tulliver seems his old self. Tom makes a brief speech of which Mr. Tulliver is quite proud. After the party, Tom remains in town to take care of business, and Mr. Tulliver heads home, hoping to meet Wakem in the street. At the gates of Dorlcote Mill, Tulliver does meet Wakem, who scolds him about a farming method. Mr. Tulliver becomes furious and proclaims that he'll "serve no longer under a scoundrel." As Wakem tries to pass, Tulliver spurs his horse, and Wakem's horse throws Wakem from the saddle. Tulliver jumps off his horse and flogs Wakem with a riding whip. Maggie rushes out of the house and holds her father back. Luke arrives and helps Wakem back onto his horse, as Wakem vows that Tulliver will "suffer for this."

After Wakem's departure, Tulliver becomes faint and goes to bed. Tom arrives home triumphant, becomes gloomy again upon hearing the awful news of his father's violence. The next morning, Mrs. Tulliver awakens Tom and Maggie to tell them she has sent for a doctor and that their father is asking for them. Tulliver charges Tom with the task of getting the old mill back in the family and caring for Mrs. Tulliver and Maggie. Tulliver announces that he doesn't forgive Wakem, and his last words before death are "This world's … too many … honest man … puzzling…. " Maggie asks Tom to forgive her, and they hold each other and weep.

Analysis

The second part of Book Fifth moves quickly with events: Maggie's declaration of love for Philip, Tom's discovery of Maggie and Philip's meetings, Tom's repayment of the Tulliver debt, Mr. Tulliver's death. This section of the novel also works to cement the particular difficulties of Maggie's relationships with both Tom and Philip that will underlay their interactions for the rest of the novel.

In Chapter IV of Book Fifth, Philip's admission of love to Maggie takes her by surprise. The new, less innocent tint that this puts on their meetings of the last year works to increase Maggie's guilt about their secrecy and secure a quicker agreement to Tom's ultimatum. Though Maggie returns Philip's love in declaration, doubt is cast upon the romantic quality of this love. When Maggie and Philip first met as children, her love for him was compared to her love for deformed animals—she loved them more because she found that they appreciated and returned her love

more than healthy animals. Here, Maggie's love has matured but still is not portrayed as the love of one equal to another. Maggie's love for Philip still involves some level of pity but now also reflects her newfound desire for self-denial. Loving Philip and devoting herself to his happiness would imply making a sacrifice, putting his happiness before her own. While Maggie does not see herself and Philip as equals, the narrative also reflects this difference. Philip has been described as "womanly" several times throughout Book Fifth, and the narrative implies that his love for Maggie involves neediness rather than romantic desire. Finally, Maggie is portrayed as too young and inexperienced to know the difference between romantic love and other love and thus to be able to distinguish her love for Philip as the latter. When Philip fears that Maggie loves him only as a brother, Maggie agrees that she does, because for Maggie, her love for Tom is the pinnacle of her career of loving—it represents the ideal to her. Chapter IV opens with Maggie scorning the conventional scenes of love in which the blond haired woman wins the man, yet Maggie's unconventional acceptance of Philip's love is not fully endorsed by the narrative commentary.

Tom's angry scolding of Maggie in Chapter V shifts the terms of Maggie's internal debate slightly. While before, Maggie was at war about whether to stick to her tranquil plan of self-denial or to experience the fullness of life through her meetings with Philip, Tom now reminds her that it is her "duty" to stay away from Philip. Thus the terms of Maggie's internal debate shift to an argument between her duty to her family and her selfish love of what Philip offers her. Though Tom's terms change Maggie's internal struggle slightly, Tom's authority over Maggie is somewhat undermined by his cruel treatment of Philip. Soon, however, the death of Mr. Tulliver insures that Maggie will be mindful of family duties much more efficiently than Tom could have done. In death, with his admonitions to bring down the Wakem family still ringing, Mr. Tulliver's will seems much more compelling than when he was alive.

Finally, Book Fifth contains several allusions to the growing beauty of Maggie's cousin Lucy Deane. Philip's statement in Chapter IV that Maggie would like to "carry away all the love from your cousin Lucy" foreshadows the events of the end of the novel.

Book Sixth, Chapters I, II, III, and IVSummaryChapter I

Lucy Deane, wearing mourning for the death of her mother, sits in her parlor with her suitor, Stephen Guest, at her knees. Stephen is the son of Mr. Deane's senior partner. Stephen is handsome, rich, and leisurely. The two are flirtatious and secure in their love, though no betrothals have been made yet. Lucy tells Stephen of the imminent arrival of her cousin Maggie, who has had a hard life and has been serving as a governess in another town. Lucy allows Stephen to assume that Maggie is fat, blond, and dull-witted like Mrs. Tulliver, who now lives at the Deane's. Lucy is worried that Maggie will not want to see Philip Wakem, a friend of Lucy and Stephen's who comes often to sing with them. Lucy writes a note to Philip for Stephen to take to him. Lucy and Stephen sing several duets before Stephen must leave.

After Stephen's departure, Lucy takes a quick glance at herself in the mirror. Though beautiful, Lucy is not truly vain, for she is too benevolent and filled with thoughts of others to be vain. Now Lucy rehearses in her mind the preparations for Maggie's arrival—Lucy's favorite cousin must have the best of everything and a truly relaxing visit.

Though Lucy is only the daughter of his father's lesser partner, Stephen is sure of his love for her. Lucy is exactly the kind of woman he has always admired—beautiful and kind to others, even other women.

Chapter II

Lucy and Maggie sit in Lucy's parlor—Lucy is describing Stephen Guest. Lucy remarks on Maggie's beauty, which seems enhanced by her "shabby clothes." Maggie envies Lucy's happiness, which is gained from the happiness of others. Maggie admits to being regularly unhappy and sometimes getting angry at the sight of happy people. Maggie's years of renunciation had ended, and she has been experiencing "desire and longing," contributing to her unhappiness. Lucy brings up the topic of Philip Wakem with Maggie, who assures Lucy that she, Maggie, does not think harshly of Philip as Tom does. Maggie is about to explain her promise to Tom not to see Philip, when the doorbell rings and Stephen Guest enters.

Stephen is quickly fascinated by Maggie's tall, dark, beauty, and her frankness. Maggie quickly realizes that Stephen had drawn a satirical portrait of her in his head before meeting her. Maggie is frank about her annoyance at his conventional compliment to recover himself and also satirical about Stephen's obvious self-assurance. Maggie is also frank about her own poverty, to Lucy's dismay and Stephen's interest. Stephen changes the subject to a variety of things—the upcoming town bazaar, the charity of the minister, Dr. Kenn, the next book for the Book Club—in hopes that Maggie will look at him as he speaks.

Stephen proposes a boating trip. While Maggie gets her bonnet, Lucy informs Stephen that Maggie will see Philip, and Stephen informs Lucy that Maggie is too tall and "fiery"—not his "type" of woman. Yet, Stephen remains intrigued by Maggie, because she is so unlike other women. He looks forward to having to take her hand during the boat-ride. When Stephen catches Maggie, who slips getting out of the boat, Maggie herself feels charmed by the protective touch.

Back at the Deanes, after the boat-ride, Mr. and Mrs. Pullet are visiting so that Mrs. Pullet might donate a formal dress to Maggie. The group openly discusses the beauty of Maggie's arm shape and the tragedy of her unsophisticated brown skin.

Chapter III

After an evening of Stephen's singing, Maggie goes up to her bedroom, too excited by the music and the vague atmosphere of romance to sleep. Lucy comes in and asks her opinion of Stephen. Maggie teases that he is too self- confident—"a lover should not be so much at ease." At Lucy's mention of more music with Philip Wakem, Maggie remembers to tell her that she, Maggie, has promised Tom not to see Philip. Lucy offers to speak to Tom, but Maggie insists upon going herself. Maggie explains the story of her relationship with Philip to Lucy. Lucy is enthusiastic about Maggie and Philip—she vows to find a way for them to be married.

Chapter IV

Maggie goes to Bob Jakin's house, where Tom now lives. Bob's new wife greets Maggie, and Bob soon comes in. Bob speaks to Maggie of Tom's glumness and drops a hint that Tom might be in love with Lucy, for whom Tom just acquired a new dog.

Tom comes in, and Maggie asks him to absolve her from her promise not to see Philip. Tom coldly agrees, and Maggie reassures him that she will only see Philip in the company of others— "There will never be anything secret between us again." Tom reminds her that his feelings about Philip remain the same and that if she means to make Philip a lover, she must give Tom up. Tom tells Maggie that he has "no confidence" in her, and Maggie begins to cry. Tom explains to Maggie that she is always acting in extremes and assuming she knows best. Maggie inwardly

critizes Tom for being "narrow and unjust." Tom brings up the scene between their father and Wakem just before Mr. Tulliver's death as a reason for Maggie to forget a relationship with Philip, and Maggie again reassures him that she has given up thinking of Philip as a lover.

The two reconcile before Tom must return to work.

Analysis

There are two tragedies in The Mill on the Floss. Mr. Tulliver's tragedy ended with his death at the end of Book Fifth. Maggie's tragedy takes over the novel beginning with Book Sixth. Several years have passed between the end of Book Fifth and the beginning of Book Sixth, and Maggie is now nearly a grown woman at nineteen. Descriptions in the opening of Book Sixth of the grown Maggie emphasize her newly sensuous body—she is tall and broad, with curvaceous arms and fleshy, red lips. Maggie has become a figure of longing—we learn that in the years between Book Fifth and Sixth, Maggie has given up her pious self-denial and has allowed herself to wish for things in her life. These physical and emotional markers of the young adult Maggie are integral to understanding her actions later in the novel.

Thus far in The Mill on the Floss, the novel has mainly been set at the mill or nearby, with the exception of Tom's school years at Lorton. With the opening of Book Sixth, however, the setting shifts to St. Ogg's, and with the setting change the novel's social background widens. The early dramas of Maggie's life played out only against the backdrop of her family, immediate and extended, but in St. Ogg's the presence of a whole community, and an accompanying set of social values and conventions is implicit. Just as Maggie seems to be more beautiful in her worn clothing, she also gains in appeal against the social backdrop of St. Ogg's. Because she is not studied in high societal conventions, her innocence and genuineness make her seem harmless (and therefore appealing) to competitive women and freshly attractive to men.

Book Sixth reintroduces Lucy Deane as a character. As children, Lucy stood for Maggie's opposite—light where she was dark, agreeable where she was contrary, docile where she was impetuous. In their maturity, the polarity between Lucy and Maggie still remains to some extent—Lucy enjoys leisure and money while Maggie works for a living. Lucy has remained petite where Maggie has grown tall. During their childhood, Maggie was never quite jealous of Lucy herself but often envied what Lucy had—the stature and features of a little queen or Tom's attention. Here again, Maggie has no direct enmity for Lucy, but Maggie is potentially put in a position of envy as regards her lifestyle and relationships.

Book Sixth introduces us to Stephen Guest. Stephen is depicted as overly self- assured and artificial, yet he is also shown to be perceptive. Stephen and Maggie's mutual interest seems a related to a sense of novelty on each side—Stephen has never met a woman as frank and earnest or from the same social background as Maggie, and Maggie has never enjoyed the close proximity of a strong male presence. Stephen's near obsession with her upon their first meetin is connected to the quality of Maggie's eyes. As they were in the descriptions of her as a child Maggie's eyes continue to be associated with some sort of witchcraft, or at least, power over others.

As becomes clear, Philip will also reappear in this book. Maggie's struggles remain mainly internal but also become externalized to some extent in Book Sixth, as embodied by three very different men—Stephen, Philip, and Tom.

Book Sixth, Chapters IV, V, VII, and VIII

SummaryChapter V

Mr. Deane gives Tom a speech about the changing world of business and compliments Tom's job performance at Guest & Co. He offers Tom a share in the business. Tom mentions his wish that Guest & Co. buy up Dorlcote Mill. Mr. Deane is skeptical that Wakem would sell the property. Tom reveals that Jetsome, the miller Wakem has installed, has taken to drinking. Mr. Deane promises to inquire into the matter. Mr. Deane invites Tom to breakfast with the Deane's the next morning.

Chapter VI

Maggie made quite a favorable impression on the young people of St. Ogg's at Lucy's evening party. Her beauty made her interesting and her lack of social convention made her seem innocent, even to Stephen's sisters, the Miss Guests. Maggie is enjoying the pleasant leisure of the lady's life—being admired, playing music. The narrator reminds us that we are familiar with Maggie's character but that this will not entirely dictate her history—outside events will form her future as much as her character.

Philip has not come to the Deane's because he had gone on a sketching expedition without telling anyone and won't arrive back for twelve days. During those twelve days, Maggie continues to spend time with Lucy and Stephen. Maggie and Stephen make lively conversation between them, and Lucy is happy for the entertainment. Stephen's affection toward Lucy has increased, a subconscious atonement for his mental attention to Maggie. Outwardly, Maggie and Stephen remain distant though attuned to each other. They do not communicate out of Lucy's company.

One day, when Lucy is out, Stephen stops in to drop off some music for Lucy. Stephen pets the dog, Minnie, who is sitting in Maggie's lap and hopes to receive one of Maggie's "long looks." They make conversation awkwardly. Stephen's mentioning of Philip causes Maggie to remember herself and move away from Stephen. Stephen immediately feels foolish for having come and assumes Maggie has guessed his reason for coming just to see her. He asks Maggie if she'd like to walk in the garden. In the garden, Stephen offers Maggie his arm, and they walk without talking. Soon, Maggie, wondering at her own motivations and actions, excuses herself and runs inside. Back inside, she cries, wishing for the peace of Philip's presence. Stephen wonders how he can think of Maggie constantly, though he is almost engaged to Lucy. He vows to control himself in the future.

Chapter VII

Philip comes to the Deane's the next morning, and Maggie greets him with tears—she has begun to view Philip as "a sanctuary where she could find refuge from an alluring influence." Philip still has their last private meeting and declarations of love fresh in mind and senses a change in Maggie. Lucy leaves them alone, and Maggie tells Philip that she must leave for another teaching job soon. She admits her motive of "trying to make herself a world outside [loving], as men do." Philip again chides her for her attempts to find "a mode of renunciation that will be an escape from pain." Maggie happily submits to Philip's chiding and hopes that he does not guess at her confusion over Stephen.

Stephen arrives for a visit, and he and Philip sing a duet. Then Philip sings a tenor song in which the singer tells "the heroine that he shall always love her though she may forsake him." Maggie knows that the song is for her but feels only "touched, not thrilled." Stephen denounces

the sentimental love of the song and saucily sings, "Shall I, wasting in despair, / Die because a woman's fair?" During the next song, Maggie rises to get herself a footstool, but Stephen anticipates her need and gets it for her. Philip notices the looks of pleasure in Maggie's and Stephen's faces. Mrs. Tulliver comes in to announce lunch.

At lunch Mr. Deane asks Philip questions about his father's ownings. Lucy later asks her father what the questions meant. Mr. Deane reveals to Lucy Tom's wish for Guest & Co. to reacquire Dorlcote Mill from Wakem. Lucy begs to be allowed to tell Philip of Tom's wish and have him bring it about. Mr. Deane is confused about this method but allows her to try.

Chapter VIII

Lucy has told Philip of Tom's desire to reclaim Dorlcote Mill, and Philip has come up with a plan to accomplish this and improve his chances with Maggie. Philip asks his father up to his studio to see his newly laid-out sketches, two of which are his portraits of Maggie. When Mr. Wakem asks about them, Philip explains that they are of Maggie Tulliver and tells his father of his love for Maggie, of their meetings in Red Deeps, and of his wish to marry her if she will have him. Wakem furiously disapproves of the match, but Philip remains rational. Wakem argues that the Tullivers are beneath them. Philip points out that Maggie takes no part in family quarrels and that all of St. Ogg's would consider Maggie well above Philip, with his deformity. Wakem leaves.

Philip goes out for a walk and a boat ride and returns in the evening. Wakem returns to Philip's studio later that evening and concedes that Maggie does seem to love him. Wakem reconciles with Philip affectionately and offers to visit Maggie. Philip then explains the issue of Dorlcote Mill to Wakem, who signals his willingness to give up the property.

Analysis

In Chapter VI of Book Sixth, Eliot outlines her particular brand of realism that incorporates the effects of both fate and personal psychology upon a character's particular destiny. Eliot concedes that personal psychology determines a large amount but points to the case of Hamlet to argue for the decisive influence of circumstance: "Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, was speculative and irresolute, and we have a great tragedy in consequence. But if his father had lived to a good old age, and his uncle had died an early death, we can conceive Hamlet's having married Ophelia, and got through life with a reputation of sanity…. " The Mill on the Floss has included large amounts of interior character analysis, yet the workings of circumstance and fate are also seen to effect the characters, as with the effect upon Maggie of Tom's childhood attitude toward her or with the long-reaching effects of Mrs. Tulliver's visit to Wakem. The example of Hamlet to illustrate the workings of her own novel also calls attention to Maggie's status as a tragic figure. The narrator of The Mill on the Floss is educated and bookish—allusions to tragedies of Greece, Shakespeare, and others fill the pages of the novel and work to place Eliot within a definite authorial position, as well as prepare the reader for Maggie's eventual fate.

River imagery arises in this section of Book Sixth, as it has for most of the novel. The Floss provides not only a part of the setting but also stands as a symbol associated with Maggie. We learn in Chapter VI, "Maggie's destiny, then, is at present hidden, and we must wait for it to reveal itself like the course of an unmapped river: we only know that the river is full and rapid, and that for all rivers there is the same final home." This imagery recalls the opening lines of the novel: "A wide plain, where the broadening Floss hurries on between its green banks to the sea, and the loving tide, rushing to meet it, checks its passage with an impetuous embrace." The movement of the river itself, then, stands for the movement of Maggie's life. The "same final home" that the

first quotation refers to is the sea, where all rivers are redeposited. The second quotation, from the opening page of the novel, gives a depiction of this eternal return using the language of both struggle and love. Both quotations foreshadow Maggie's eventual fate.

In this section of Book Sixth, Philip reappears as a character. His status in relation to Maggie has changed, however. During their year of meetings in Red Deeps, Maggie was practicing an ascetic lifestyle. Against this, Philip and his offering of intelligent, worldly conversation seemed exciting and fulfilling to Maggie. Now, however, Maggie seems to be in a period of longing for fullness and romance. In this setting, Philip seems to her more of a tranquil partner—the steadiness of the compassion and respect she feels for him are a break from the tumultuous and illicit passions that she has begun to feel toward Stephen. Philip foresees that Maggie will not keep him, though he does not yet fully know about her and Stephen when he sings his tenor song to her. But for Maggie, Philip's song brings only "quite regret in the place of excitement," next to the singing of Stephen, which seems to "make all the air in the room alive with a new influence."

Book Fifth, Chapters IX, X, and XISummaryChapter IX

It is the day of the St. Ogg's bazaar, and many men visit Maggie's stall to ask about her goods, a detail which will be remembered by the women of St. Ogg's unfavorably in the future. Stephen is paying much attention to Lucy in this public setting. Mr. Wakem visits Maggie's booth and pleasantly buys goods from her, speaking generally, but significantly, about Philip. Stephen comes to Maggie's booth late in the day, and Maggie appears agitated, looking up at Philip, who is sitting in the corner observing them. Stephen follows her look, seeing Philip, and realizes the attachment between Philip and Maggie.

Stephen approaches Philip and makes nervous talk about his own antipathy to Maggie, and Philip calls him a "hypocrite." The two part. Meanwhile, Maggie sits at her stall in despair at the thought that life was always "bringing some new source of inward strife." Dr. Kenn, seeing the pain on Maggie's face, visits her stall. Dr. Kenn's presence is soothing to Maggie, and she explains to him that she must soon leave St. Ogg's again. Dr. Kenn senses the urgency behind this need.

We learn that Lucy has reported to Maggie that the mill can be reclaimed by Tom, thanks to Philip. Maggie has not spent time with Philip lately, leaving her alone to struggle internally with her feelings for him. After the bazaar, Maggie tells Lucy that she is leaving in two days to see her aunt Moss and then is taking up a governess position at the end of the month. Lucy is hurt and confused about why Maggie would leave now that there are no obstacles between Maggie and Philip. Maggie explains that Tom still objects. Lucy offers to speak with Tom, but Maggie insists she must leave St. Ogg's and "leave some time to pass." Lucy asks Maggie if she does not love Philip enough to marry him, but Maggie responds that she would choose to marry Philip because it would be "the best and highest lot" for her.

Chapter X

The night before she leaves for Mrs. Moss's, Maggie attends a dance at Stephen's house. Stephen does not ask Maggie to dance as he cannot think of her without thinking of Philip, too, now that he senses the attachment between them. But as Maggie begins to dance a country-dance, Stephen begins to hunger for her closeness. After the dance, he approaches her and suggests they go for a walk. In the conservatory, looks and silences make up a "moment of mute confession" between them, and there is a sad resignation that they will soon part for good.

Maggie reaches to pick a rose, and Stephen impulsively kisses her arm. Maggie is instantly hurt and angry that he would think so lightly of her. Yet Maggie is also relieved that her prideful reaction to Stephen's insulting gesture will make it easier for her to renounce him and face her duty.

The next morning Philip visits Maggie before she leaves for the Mosses'. Maggie is affectionate to Philip like they had used to be, but she tells him that she must go away again. She explains that she cannot do anything against Tom's will. Philip, suspicious, asks her if this is the only reason they cannot be together, and Maggie answers affirmatively and believes it.

Chapter XI

Maggie has been at her aunt Moss's for four days, when Stephen rides up to the house. Stephen claims to have a message for Maggie, and they walk out of the Mosses' yard together. Maggie angrily berates Stephen for pressing himself upon her. Philip, in turn, berates Maggie for her lack of feeling for the suffering he feels, "mad with love" for her and trying to resist, while she treats him as though he were a "coarse brute." He explains that he would give her his hand in marriage if he could and that he has repented his rash action in the conservatory, but it was committed because he "loves [her] with his whole soul." Maggie forgives him immediately but is reluctant to indulge him affection. They walk further, and Maggie urges him to think of Lucy and explains her own attachment to Philip. Stephen argues that if she loves him as much as he loves her, then it wouldn't be wrong for them to marry. He argues that they are neither formally bound to Lucy or Philip. Maggie agrees that their feelings for each other are strong but explains that when "such feelings continually come across the ties that all our former life has made for us" then they should be renounced. Maggie agrees to give him one kiss before they part, and then she hurries back to the Mosses' where she cries in her aunt's arms.

Analysis

Chapter IX, set at the St. Ogg's bazaar, opens with slight foreshadowing of the tenor of events to come. Maggie is depicted from the viewpoint of onlookers, especially female, and we are told that the evident attraction felt for her by many men will be remembered harshly after future events. The backdrop of St. Ogg's society has remained present for most of Book Sixth, but here it begins to seem hypocritical and menacing for the first time. The chapter's title, "Charity in Full Dress," satirically points to this hypocritical quality and alludes to the lack of generosity in a society that will only practice charity when it is convenient and colorful to do so. This same lack of generosity, and its accompanying unwillingness to put oneself in the place of others, will be turned against Maggie in the chapters to come, we are told.

Chapter IX practices a novelistic convention—bringing all of the characters together in a public arena. The publicness of the space, of course, affects their behavior and sometimes puts it in relief. Thus Maggie's inner troubled state becomes outwardly apparent at the bazaar, and Philip's inner neediness toward Maggie becomes physically apparent as we find that he has been sitting in a position to watch her all day. Finally, the public space makes Stephen and Maggie's interactions seem all the more conspiratory and illicit. Through these heightened emotions, as experienced in front of crowds of people, revelations are made—Philip guesses Stephen's attraction to Maggie, (though he is still unsure of her response) and Stephen guesses Philip's attachment to Maggie.

This section of Book Sixth also marks the first tacit acknowledgment between Stephen and Maggie of their mutual attraction. On the one hand, Maggie's intentions seem pure—she has

arranged for another job to take her away from her temptation quickly—she tells Dr. Kenn in Chapter IX, "Oh, I must go." On the other hand, Maggie is depicted as inviting a certain level of attachment with Stephen. When Stephen kisses her arm in the conservatory, Maggie is not angry because he has betrayed Lucy, but because he has thought her less honorable, more available, than Lucy. It is her pride that is gratified by Stephen's announcement to her of his love at the Mosses'.

In the chapter at the Mosses', Stephen is subtly depicted as self-centered and unaware of his elitism. We are told that "[h]e spoke almost abruptly, as if his errand were too pressing for him to trouble himself about what would be though by Mrs. Moss of his visit and request." Stephen does not address Willy Moss by name but merely orders him to hold his horse. Maggie might miss this attitude, but we certainly do not. It is a foreshadowing of the differences between Maggie and Stephen—Maggie will feel more strongly the feelings of others.

The extremely linear narrative of The Mill on the Floss insures that causes and effects can be seen through and related to each other. This mode of narrative is appropriate to the moral concerns of Eliot's novel. Thus, when Maggie has a meeting with Philip after she has renounced Stephen for the first time, and before he comes to see her at the Mosses', Maggie can tell Philip in all honesty that no one has claims on her but Tom.

Book Sixth, Chapters XII, XIII, and XIVSummaryChapter XII

Maggie travels to her aunt, Mrs. Pullet's, where the Dodson family is having a party to celebrate Tom's reacquisition of the mill. The family chatters about who will donate what to Tom for his house and about the unsatisfactoriness of Maggie's returning to a governess job, when she might stay at one of her aunts' houses instead. When the party is over, Lucy has convinced Tom to drive her and Mrs. Tulliver home. Lucy sits up front with Tom and tells him about Philip's use of his influence to get Wakem to sell the mill. Lucy hopes that Tom will reverse his feelings toward Philip, but Tom refuses. All Lucy has accomplished is making Tom suspicious that Maggie will marry Philip.

Chapter XIII

Maggie returns for a final visit to the Deanes' before leaving for her new job. Stephen has felt compelled to dine at the Deane's to see Maggie as much as possible before she leaves. He takes interest in little else besides watching Maggie and singing. Maggie, too, is beginning to feel slightly selfish and allows for their nightly glances to each other.

One afternoon when Philip is visiting, Lucy invites him on a boatride with them the next day. Stephen bows out, claiming not to like such a large number of people in a boat, but Philip senses that Maggie is his reason for not coming. Philip agrees to row Maggie and Lucy the following morning. Later that evening, Philip observes a glance between Maggie and Stephen and sees Maggie quickly look guiltily to himself. Philip goes home feeling and stays awake feeling almost certain that Maggie and Stephen have feelings for each other.

In the morning, Philip has made himself too ill with jealousy to keep his date to row with Lucy and Maggie. He sends a note to Stephen saying he cannot go and asking Stephen to take his place. Meanwhile, Lucy has schemed to ride ahead to Lindum with her father to leave Philip and Maggie alone on the boatride. Maggie looks forward to a day spent with Philip's calmness.

When Stephen arrives, Maggie is flustered and explains that they cannot go. Stephen entreats Maggie to go, and Maggie submits. Stephen rows Maggie downriver, and Maggie feels she is in an "enchanted haze." Suddenly, Maggie realizes they have passed the meeting point with Lucy by a long way. Maggie begins to sob in fear, but Stephen calms her and asks her to run away with him to be married. He argues that they are passive actors in their own fate—despite all their avoidance, they have been thrust together today and the fate has pulled them away from St. Ogg's and Lucy. Maggie resists Stephen—he has put her in a difficult position on purpose. Stephen contends that he didn't notice how far they'd come until they passed Luckreth. He is hurt and offers to stop the boat and take the blame. Maggie is affected by this image of Stephen suffering. He moves next to her, and they float on in silence. Stephen takes her silence for yielding and rows on toward Torby.

A trading boat nears them, and Stephen suggests they get on it and ride to Mudport before it begins raining. Maggie is exhausted and feels that no decisions can be made today. Stephen feels he has triumphed and murmurs words of love to Maggie, about their life together. Maggie goes to sleep for the night on deck with Stephen watching over her.

Chapter XIV

At 3:00 a.m., near dawn, Maggie has a dream that St. Ogg's boat is coming at them across the water, and the Virgin is Lucy and first Philip, then Tom, is St. Ogg. They row right past Maggie though she calls out to them and leans toward them. Her leaning capsizes her own boat in the dream, and she "awakes" to find herself a child again the parlor at Dorlcote Mill with Tom not angry with her.

Maggie soon truly awakes and feels an immediate sense of resolve to resist Stephen. Stephen awakes, and they walk around the boat together waiting for the 5:00 a.m. docking at Mudport. Stephen senses a change in Maggie's attitude, but Maggie is unwilling to tell him she will leave him until the last minute. When Maggie does tell him, Stephen becomes angry but escorts her off the boat to look for an inn. Maggie senses that someone in the crowd is approaching her, but she does not see who it is. At the inn, Maggie asks for a room for them to sit down. Maggie tells Stephen that she cannot believe in their love because it would mean causing pain to others that rely on them. Stephen argues that is too late—the damage has been done. He insists that they have "both been rescued from a mistake" and that Maggie must not love him as much as he loves her if she can consider leaving. He warns her about what St. Ogg's will say of her, even now, if she returns immediately. Stephen, pained, tells her to leave him at once, and she does. She gets mechanically into a coach without speaking and doesn't realize until late that night that the coach has brought her to York, farther from her home. She gets a room in an inn and thinks of Stephen.

Analysis

The events leading up to the boat ride in Chapter XIII were alluded to earlier in Chapter VI of Book Sixth, in which the narrator points to the decisive effect of outside events on a character's fate, as well as the character's psychology. We have seen this action already in The Mill on the Floss, when Mr. Tulliver's tragic fate is inadvertently helped along by the good intentions of Mrs. Tulliver in going to plead with Wakem. Here, Maggie and Stephen are thrust back together by a twist of circumstance. However, character is still seen to figure largely in some cases. Stephen may allow the circumstances to favorably dictate his future, but Maggie will eventually struggle to resist the circumstance, as it acts against her character.

Stephen and Maggie's boat ride is the first time that they have let their emotions truly reign for an extended period of time. The atmosphere is one of intoxication ("haze") and unconsciously pleasant distraction ("the delicious rhythmic dip of the oars"). Instead of rigorously exercising their ethical minds in restriction of their attraction, for once they each enjoy the release of a united, undivided minds: "the sweet solitude of a twofold consciousness that was mingled into one by that grave untiring gaze which need not be averted." They are living in an absolute present, without the accountabilities of "the past and the future that lay outside the haze." Maggie becomes enticed into this feeling of passivity and blamelessness for the day. Though of different form, Maggie's submission to Stephen produces the same effect of tranquility as her submission to Philip and his wise advice.

The arguments between Stephen and Maggie in these final chapters of Book Sixth comprise the only real discussion we've seen between them. When they are not arguing, they are silent, or Stephen murmurs expressions of love. In these discussions, Stephen's argument is essentially circular and egotistical and calls on them to be passive figures. He continually contends that they must be together because of their love, while Maggie feels the pull of others' feelings more. The only complexity of their argument, the complexity that keeps Maggie puzzled, is Stephen's depiction of himself as suffering. This pulls on Maggie's compassion, in the same way that Philip's and Lucy's claims do. Ultimately, Maggie's decision is depicted as a choice between two modes of suffering, suffering the loss of her connections, or suffering the loss of Stephen's passionate regard. Maggie's choice—to leave Stephen—speaks to the importance of her past to her. Maggie's past is full of nostalgic memories of Dorlcote Mill, memories of difficult choices made and trials overcome, and full of the shared history between herself and Lucy, and Philip, as well as Tom and the rest of her family. In comparison, Stephen's passion is something newer to her and therefore not to be as sorely missed as an integral part of her being. Maggie refuses to live perpetually in the moment—she longs for the claims her past makes on her and believes that they make her a nobler person.

Stephen tries to warn Maggie of the outside opposition from St. Ogg society that will counter her sense of herself as noble, but Maggie, as usual, has no mind for social understanding. Fate again acts against Maggie when her stagecoach carries her in the opposite direction from home, assuring that her time away will be that much longer, and she will seem that much less respectable.

Book Seventh, Chapters I, II, and IIISummaryChapter I

Tom stands outside Dorlcote Mill. Maggie has been gone for five days, and Bob Jakin has reported seeing her with Stephen at Mudport. Maggie arrives at the mill, looking worn and tired from her journey from York and the headache that kept her in bed there for over a day. Maggie approaches Tom to tell him everything, but Tom, looking at her face, knows that the worst has happened—his sister has returned unmarried and disgraced. He rejects her, "I wash my hands of you forever. You don't belong to me." He will not listen to Maggie's explanations. Maggie turns away to leave, and Mrs. Tulliver reaches out to her and offers to go with her. Tom gives his mother money, and Mrs. Tulliver gets her things.

Maggie takes them to Bob Jakin's. Bob takes them in with no questions, though he know has heard all the town rumors about Maggie and Stephen after he saw them at Mudport, and is perplexed at seeing Maggie now alone. Several days later, Bob comes into the sitting room where

Maggie is and gives her to hold his new baby, who they have named after Maggie. Maggie asks Bob to go to Dr. Kenn's and ask him to come to Maggie while Mrs. Tulliver is out. Bob reports that Mrs. Kenn has just died and that he wouldn't like to approach Dr. Kenn so soon. Maggie agrees to wait several days. Bob finally gets the courage to ask Maggie if she has been wronged (by Stephen) in any way. Maggie, surprised, says no and smiles at Bob's vehement wish to "leather him till I couldn't see" in the event of Stephen's misconduct. Bob gets up with the baby but offers to leave Mumps the dog for company.Chapter II

Soon all of St. Ogg's knows that Maggie has returned, without Stephen. If she had returned married, public opinion would have been sympathetic and welcoming. But, having returned unmarried, Maggie's conduct is seen in the worst light and even her very physical appearance is interpreted ungenerously. Stephen, however, is seen in a positive light—as having been under Maggie's spell, but now having got rid of her as soon as possible. The town knows of Stephen's letter, sent from Holland a week after Maggie's return, taking all the blame on himself, but the town interprets this as false but gallant on Stephen's part.

Maggie, meanwhile, takes little notice of the town gossip, being too occupied with anxiety about Stephen, Lucy, and Philip. Her "life stretched before her as one act of penitence."

Maggie has decided to eventually persuade Mrs. Tulliver to go back to live with Tom at the mill, while Maggie finds some way to earn a living. Mrs. Tulliver visits the Deanes' every day to check on Lucy, who has been feeble and bedridden since the news. Mrs. Tulliver can get no news of Philip. In desperate hopes of more news, Mrs. Tulliver visits Mrs. Glegg.

While Mrs. Tulliver visits Mrs. Glegg, Maggie leaves Bob's to walk to Dr. Kenn's. It is Maggie's first time out of doors, and she is met by nasty looks and insolent treatment. Maggie's pride is hurt, and it occurs to her for the first time that people may think she's done worse than just violate Lucy's confidence—they make think she's been compromised sexually.

Maggie reaches Dr. Kenn's and tells him everything. Dr. Kenn is receptive—he has read Stephen's letter and believes Maggie. He congratulates her on the "true prompting" of her instinct to return to her past and her friends. Dr. Kenn urges Maggie to find work in another town and offers to help. But Maggie explains that she has already written to excuse herself from her summer work, as she desires to stay in St. Ogg's. Dr. Kenn agrees to try to help her find work in St. Ogg's.

Chapter III

Mrs. Tulliver reports to Maggie the unexpected news that Mrs. Glegg is standing by Maggie. Mrs. Glegg apparently had gone to Tom to reprove him for rejecting his sister before knowing the whole truth: "If you were not to stand by your 'kin' as long as there was a shred of honour attributable to them, pray what were you to stand by?" Mrs. Glegg has been standing strong on Maggie's behalf against many others. Tom, at least, however, remains unmoved in his refusal of Maggie. Mrs. Glegg has offered to take in Maggie and not reproach her.

Mrs. Tulliver reports that Lucy has begun to sit up in bed and take notice of people, though there is still no word for Maggie of Philip. Mrs. Tulliver laments, for the first time, the turn of family luck for the worse, and Maggie sadly repents.

Maggie finally asks Dr. Kenn about Philip, but no one has any word of him, since Wakem refuses to answer questions about his son. Finally, though, Maggie receives a letter from Philip expressing his forgiveness and understanding and a promise to wait for her and not press his continuing love for her. He credits Maggie's conduct in leaving Stephen and his love for her with having brought him out of egoistic jealousy to a state of "caring for [her] joy and sorros more than for what is directly [his] own." Maggie collapses in tears upon reading the letter at the thought of Philip and Lucy's pain.

Analysis

The first trial that Maggie must face upon returning to St. Ogg's is a meeting with Tom. We have seen Maggie be hard on herself for virtually the entire novel, but Tom here is harder on her. His method of argument is reminiscent of Stephen's. There is a proliferation of accusatory first-person and the effect is to sound egoistic: "I have had feelings to struggle with; but I conquered them. I have had a harder life than you have had: but I have found my comfort in doing my duty. But I will sanction no such character as yours: the world shall know that I feel the difference between right and wrong." (The emphasis here is Eliot's). Tom's strict adherence to justice and fairness is revealed in the end to include an underlying vein of self-righteousness. Even Mrs. Tulliver, who has always privileged Tom over Maggie, now feels his lack of compassion and makes up for it herself.

The inclusion of the final scene in Chapter I between Bob and Maggie also serves to underline Tom's cruelty. Far from pre-judging Maggie, Bob's only thought is that Maggie may have been somehow wronged. Tom's formal ejection of Maggie from the Tulliver household and family is mirrored in reverse by Bob's taking Maggie into his house and choosing to name his daughter after Maggie.

In Chapter II of Book Seventh, Eliot is quite specific that the women of St. Ogg's and, indeed, any community, are responsible for the hypocritical judgments of morality. Far from being an accurate assessment of personal morality, in the opening paragraphs these judgments are shown to rest upon egotistical impulses and extraneous details of social convention. Indeed, egoism seems to be the common evil of the end of The Mill on the Floss. Not only do Stephen and Tom suffer from egoism, but the malicious gossip of the town is also the result of egoism. We will hear in Chapter IV of Book Seventh that "Society," is an abstraction created by the "ladies of St. Ogg's which served to make their consciences perfectly easy in doing what satisfied their own egoism." In contrast, Philip's letter explicitly outlines his recent shift from egoism to sympathy that has allowed him to think of Maggie and forgive her: "The new life I have found in caring for your joy and sorrow more than for what is directly my own, has transformed the spirit of rebellious murmuring into willing endurance which is the birth of strong sympathy."

Besides Philip, Bob Jakin, and Mrs. Tulliver, characters who counteract the egoism of the town ladies include Dr. Kenn and Mrs. Glegg. Dr. Kenn is a singular model of morality in The Mill on the Floss. His ethics and standards are put forth as the measure against Maggie is to be harshly judged, yet, in the end, vindicated in the novel. The support of Mrs. Glegg seems somewhat surprising in view of her contrary personal character, yet it is not at all surprising in relation to her strict code of family behavior. In this depiction of Mrs. Glegg, Eliot favorably contrasts the Dodson sisters with the rest of female society in St. Ogg's.

Book Seventh, Chapters IV, V, and VISummaryChapter IV

Dr. Kenn becomes more and more frustrated at the unwillingness of the women of St. Ogg's to employ Maggie. He decides to offer her a job as governess for his children. The town soon begins to talk of Maggie's power over Dr. Kenn and the horrid possibility of their marrying. The Miss Guests report the connection between Maggie and Dr. Kenn in a letter to Stephen. They also ask Stephen to join them on the coast, where they will be taking Lucy to rest.

Lucy has been gradually recovering. Maggie longs to see her but knows it would cause Lucy too much agitation, even if she were allowed. Maggie despairs upon hearing that Lucy will soon leave for the coast.

One evening, Maggie hears someone come in the house. She feels a hand on her shoulder and hears Lucy's voice call her name. Lucy has snuck away from her home to see Maggie and forgive her. Maggie repents and explains that she never meant to deceive Lucy. Lucy comforts Maggie, acknowledging that they have all suffered. Maggie asks Lucy to forgive Stephen as well, but Lucy trembles and is silent. Lucy's maid, Alice, interrupts, to urge Lucy to hurry. Lucy hugs Maggie and tells Maggie, "you are better than I am," before leaving.

Chapter V

The day after Lucy's visit the weather changed in St. Ogg's and rain has fallen continuously, making the Floss dangerous, especially for nearby houses such as the Jakins'.

It is September, and Maggie sits, the last one still awake in the house, with a letter from Stephen in front of her. Two days prior, Dr. Kenn, finally overcome by the slanderous gossip about him and Maggie, asked Maggie to leave St. Ogg's for a while. Maggie trembles at the thought of the loneliness she will face, having left St. Ogg's.

Stephen's letter reports that he is back from Holland and is in Mudport, unbeknownst to anyone else. He reproaches her for her cruelty to him. He stresses the severity of his suffering since their parting and begs her to ask him to come to her. Maggie is tempted to accept this escape from her loneliness and exile. But soon she remembers her feelings upon having read Philip's letter and upon having met with Lucy and begins to pray. She cries out for Stephen to forgive her, saying of his suffering, "It will pass away. You will come back to her." She then burns the letter and resolves to write him a letter of final parting tomorrow.

Maggie resolves to herself, "I will bear it, and bear it till death … But how long it will be before death comes!" Maggie falls on her knees and suddenly feels cold river water flowing under her. The Floss has begun to flood. Maggie wakes up Bob and his wife. The first floor is being inundated, and Maggie wades through the water to get Bob's two boats outside of the house. She gets one of the boats to Bob, before she and the other boat are carried out onto the open water. Maggie begins to paddle towards the mill in the dangerous current of the Floss. Maggie rides the current downriver, then paddles the boat out of the current and over toward the Mill in a feat of strength. Maggie reaches the mill. Tom is at the attic window. Mrs. Tulliver had gone to the Pullets' the previous day. Tom gets in the boat and takes the oars. When they reach the current again, he finally realizes what a miraculous effort Maggie has made to save him. He speaks only his name for her, "Magsie!" They row on towards the Deanes' and Lucy, but before they can get there a piece of wooden machinery capsizes their boat, and they drown together embracing each other.

Conclusion

It is five years later, and all of the characters of the novel are still living except Tom and Maggie. Philip and Stephen visit Maggie's grave. Years later than this, Stephen and Lucy visit Maggie's grave together, and Philip visits alone. Maggie and Tom's tomb reads, "In their death they were not divided."

Analysis

In the final chapters of the novel, Lucy's visit, along with Philip and Stephen's letters, provide a somewhat constructed means by which Maggie has interviews with all of the characters close to her and is forgiven before her death (which they could not have predicted). Yet the total effect of these final interviews is not one of tranquility. Philip's and Lucy's words bring Maggie happiness and also added grief over the inherent goodness of the very people she has betrayed. Stephen's letter arrives as another trial. Even after her reconciliation with Lucy and Philip, Maggie feels the temptation of the life that Stephen offers. The effect of the letter on her is shown in the face that she "hears" the letter rather than reads it, much in the same way she heard a voice speaking the text of Thomas a Kempis rather than reading it silently.

The ending scenes, and especially the flood, of The Mill on the Floss have been criticized for their unrealistic quality. Maggie's plea to know how much longer her painful life will last is met almost supernaturally by the immediate onset of the flood. Yet we know that George Eliot had planned on the flood from the beginning and meant for it to seem a realistic occurrence. Her first work on the novel consisted of research in London into the Annual Register for cases of flooding from earlier in the century. The flood, like Wakem's purchase of the mill, provides a tragic circumstance in which the tragedy of Maggie's character becomes clear. The flood also provides the heightened atmosphere of danger and sense of the power of Nature that is needed to properly put Maggie and Tom's differences into perspective. Maggie's heroic feat of strength and selflessness in her rescue of Tom reveals her true character to the stubborn, narrow-minded Tom. Tom has been insisting through the novel that Maggie recognize his right to care for her and dictate her actions, but in the end, it is Maggie who cares for both of them and shows herself capable. The depiction of Maggie's rescue of Tom recalls the story of St. Ogg's and evokes the trait of sympathy that lies at the heart of the St. Ogg parable. Maggie's extreme capacity of feeling for the plight of others is what overcomes Tom's bitter sense of justice and reunites them. The end of The Mill on the Floss signifies a return to the beginning of the novel, to Maggie's nostalgia for their childhood days when she and Tom were united. In the boat, Tom calls Maggie by her childhood name, "Magsie." They are drowned in each other's arms, and the final imagery of the scene directly evokes their childhood and reinterprets that time as idyllic, saying, "brother and sister had gone down in an embrace never to be parted: living through again in one supreme moment the days when they had clasped their little hands in love, and roamed the daisy fields together." This dramatized return to beginnings affirms Maggie's impulses to abandon Stephen and return to her origins, vindicating her at the same moment that she becomes a tragic hero.

The postscript "Conclusion" serves to place Maggie (and Tom) in the larger context of their landscape and society. The same flood that took their lives has left its mark on the countryside, implying that Maggie and Tom's deaths left a mark on the community. The "Conclusion" also assures us that Stephen and Lucy have begun a new relationship and that Philip remains faithful to Maggie's memory through a lifetime.

Important Quotations Explained

It is a wonderful subduer, this need of love—this hunger of the heart—as peremptory as that other hunger by which Nature forces us to submit to the yoke, and change the face of the world.

Explanation for Quotation 1

This quotation, from Chapter V of Book First, introduces an important element in Maggie's character—her extreme need for love and affection. The use of the word "hunger" stresses the overwhelming power of Maggie's need. This need can sometimes seem self-centered, yet by related her need to a body's hunger, this quotation naturalizes and normalizes it. Love here is shown to be something humbling, something with power over characters ("submit to the yoke"), instead of a force that characters use. Finally, just as hunger makes humans adapt their behavior and environment ("change the face of the world" could mean planting crops), Maggie's need for love will be seen to be a formative force on her.

Nevertheless, there was a visible improvement in Tom under this training; perhaps because he was not a boy in the abstract, existing solely to illustrate the evils of a mistaken education, but a boy made of flesh and blood, with dispositions not entirely at the mercy of circumstances.

Explanation for Quotation 2

This quotation occurs as narrative commentary within Chapter IV of Book Second, and it points to George Eliot's preoccupation with realism. Eliot scorned so- called "realistic" novels that were written in her day in which characters were idealistically simple or stereotypical, and motives were depicted as straightforward. Eliot proposed to concentrate on psychological realism, depicting in detail the variety of forces at work within one character, to create a sense of authenticity and believability. At moments such as this, Eliot calls attention to this method by pointing to how a character would be treated in another novel. Though Eliot has a point to make about the evils of a miseducation, she will not make it bluntly or at the expense of the veracity of a main character. A similar comment occurs in Chapter III of Book First, when the narrator discusses the motivation behind Mr. Riley's recommendation of Mr. Stelling.

I share with you this sense of oppressive narrowness [of the Tullivers and Dodsons]; but it is necessary that we should feel it, if we care to understand how it acted on the lives of Tom and Maggie—how it has acted on young natures in many generations, that in the onward tendency of human things have risen above the mental level of the generation before them, to which they have been nevertheless tied by the strongest fibres of their hearts.

Explanation for Quotation 3

This quotation, from Chapter I of Book Fourth, illustrates George Eliot's conception of human progress as a struggle of individuals against formative forces, yet also remaining faithful to

those formative forces. In order for humanity to progress, each generation must move beyond the generation before it. Here the influence of George Eliot's knowledge of natural history and Darwinism can be detected. Yet, Eliot adds a stipulation of her own—without continued connection to those outgrown generations, something spiritual is lost in the onward progression. Maggie suffers at the hands of her family's expectations in childhood, yet does not abandon these expectations or family members in her adulthood, instead heeding their call to duty, with an added capacity of feeling on her part.

The happiest women, like the happiest nations, have no history.

Explanation for Quotation 4

This sentiment, (the quotation occurs within Chapter III of Book Sixth), was first articulated by Montesquieu in neutral gender as "the People." Eliot's gendering of the comment as female perhaps gestures to the fact women, more than men, are conspicuously absent from history. Yet, more specifically, the quotation gestures toward Maggie's status as a tragic character. The quotation also subtly points to Eliot's conception of progressive life as a struggle—to progress beyond previous generations is to meet difficulty, yet this progression is necessary and noble, worthy of recording and recounting, as she does with the story of Maggie Tulliver.

Was it possible to quarrel with a creature who had such eyes—defying and deprecating, contradicting and clinging, imperious and beseeching—full of delicious opposites? To see such a creature subdued by love for one would be a lot worth having.

Explanation for Quotation 5

This quotation occurs as a thought of Stephen Guest's at the end of Chapter VI in Book Sixth. It participates in the symbolism of Maggie's eyes, referred to throughout the novel, as expressive of her particularly deep character. The quotation, occurring as it does before Stephen and Maggie have voiced their mutual attraction, also foreshadows the dangerous instability that Stephen offers Maggie. Maggie has been wracked by competing impulses within her throughout the novel. This is part of her tragic character, yet here, Stephen finds this opposition "delicious." We also see that Stephen's love for Maggie is based on unsound principles: egoism, attraction to her novelty, and an impulse to dominate her.

Key Facts

full title · The Mill on the Floss

author · George Eliot (pseudonym for Marian Evans)

type of work · Novel

genre · Victorian novel, tragedy

language · English

time and place written · Richmond and Wandsworth in England, 1859–1860

date of first publication · 1860

publisher · Blackwood and Sons

narrator · The unnamed narrator was alive for Maggie Tulliver's life and is narrating the events many years later.

point of view · The narrator speaks in the first person at selective points of narration but for all else, narrates as though third-person omniscient.

tone · The tone can vary from lightly satiric when dealing with lesser characters, to elegiac or only slightly ironic when dealing with main characters.

tense · Past

setting (time) · 1829–1839

setting (place) · St. Ogg's in English midlands (real life model for the Floss was the Trent in Lincolnshire)

protagonist · Maggie Tulliver

major conflict · Maggie must choose between her inner desire toward passion and sensuous life and her impulse towards moral responsibility and the need for her brother's approval and love.

rising action · Incurious Tom is sent to school, while Maggie is held "uncanny" for her intelligence. Mr. Tulliver's pride and inability to adapt to the changing economic world causes him to lose his property in a lawsuit against Lawyer Wakem and eventually die as the result of his fury toward Wakem. To Tom's dismay, Maggie becomes secretly close to Wakem's sensitive crippled son, Philip.

climax · At the age of nineteen, Maggie visits her cousin Lucy and becomes hopelessly attracted to Lucy's wealthy and polished suitor, Stephen Guest, and he to her. Stephen and Maggie are inadvertently left to themselves for a boatride. Stephen rows them further down river than planned and tries to convince Maggie to elope with him.

falling action · Maggie parts with Stephen, arguing that they each cannot ignore the claims that Lucy and Philip have on them. Maggie returns to St. Ogg's several days later and is met with repudiation from the entire town and from Tom. Philip and Lucy contact Maggie and forgive her. The Floss floods, and Maggie seizes a boat and rows to the Mill to save Tom. Their boat is capsized by floating machinery, Tom and Maggie drown in each other's arms.

themes · The claim of the past upon present identity; The effect of society upon the individual; The importance of sympathy; Practical knowledge versus bookish knowledge

motifs · The disparity between the Dodsons and the Tullivers; Music; Animal imagery; Dark and light women

symbols · The Floss; St. Ogg; Maggie's eyes

foreshadowing · As the story is being told in the past tense, the narrator often alludes to future circumstances when describing the present moment. An example of this is the narration of the figure of Maggie at the St. Ogg's bazaar in Chapter IX of Book Sixth, when the narrator alludes to the future attitudes of the women of St. Ogg's toward Maggie in light of her "subsequent conduct." The use of the Floss to symbolize Maggie's destiny throughout the novel also foreshadows her eventual drowning.

Study Questions and Essay Topics

Study Questions

Is The Mill on the Floss a feminist novel?Answer for Study Question 1

The Mill on the Floss is a feminist novel in the sense that it reveals the difficulty of Maggie's coming of age, and that difficulty is shown to be made harder by her society's narrow views about women. Especially during Maggie's childhood, we are constantly confronted with older characters ignoring or devaluing Maggie's obvious intelligence because she is a girl. Even Tom is shown to participate in this narrowness—he considers it his right to keep Maggie in her place, as well as care for her. In scenes such as the one in which Mr. Stelling pronounces the cleverness of women to be shallow, we are clearly meant to become angry at this pronunciation and know automatically that the pronunciation is wrong. Significantly, society's mistaken views about the shallowness of women are shown to adversely effect men as well—it is Tom who suffers just as much as Maggie, through his miseducation. The structure of the novel itself presents Maggie as constrained and unable to move outside of her family circle. We are significantly not shown the chapters in which she is on her own, teaching, and are made to focus, instead, on scenes with Maggie and her family and friends, in which Maggie's subjection, or non- subjection, to their will is at issue. The passages dealing with the hypocritical morality of St. Ogg's society are unsparing in relation to women—the town's females are revealed as the most self-serving and shallow of the population—yet, this harsh realism does not change the basic feminist tenor of the novel.

Do the concerns of The Mill on the Floss relate to 1830s England?

Answer for Study Question 2

The Mill on the Floss mainly deals with the troubled childhood and young adulthood of Maggie Tulliver, but a variety of background details reveal the changing community of the time and so relate to the actual sociological and economic shifts in 1830s England. The novel situates itslef on the cusp of a new economic order. The old ways of local provincial relations, illustrated through Mr. Tulliver, as well as the old ways of slow saving, as illustrated by the Gleggs and the Pullets, as shown to be giving way to a new order of speculation capitalism. The Tulliver family has owned Dorlcote Mill for years, but suddenly, new families like the Pivarts are advancing in the world and becoming moneyed and propertied. Over the course of the novel, we are shown how Mr. Deane advances in the world, making Mrs. Deane the most successful Dodson sister, when Mrs. Pullet had claimed that honor for years prior. Mr. Deane himself points to one of the agents of this change, in the steam engine. Mr. Deane also explains that the age of farming is being succeeded by the age of trade: "Somebody has said it's a fine thing to make two ears of corn grow where only one grew before; but, sir it's a fine thing, too, to further the exchange of commodities,

and bring the grains of corn to the mouths that are hungry." Buying goods cheaply and selling them for a profit is the exact way that Tom made enough money to cancel the family debts. Finally, these economic forces are shown to effect the sociology of the society in that fortunes are won and lost more swiftly, and the hierarchies of the community are not as stable. Thus the young people of St. Ogg's are not as restricted in their choices of marriage partner as they may once have been—Stephen can marry down to Lucy Deane, and even to Maggie Tulliver, and Lawyer Wakem can agree to a match between his son and Maggie.

Make a case for either Philip, Tom, Stephen, or another character as the character who is depicted as having the most influence on Maggie's character.

Answer for Study Question 3

Though Philip Wakem is shown to teach Maggie a great deal and to be the single force which leads her away from her path of self-abnegation, Tom still remains the character with the most formative power over Maggie. Tom's influence upon Maggie is hard to track for the same reason it is the most powerful: Tom has a negative influence upon Maggie's sensibility. As children, it is Tom that is set up as increasing Maggie's need for love and approval by his very denial of that love and approval. As they grow older, it is Tom who enables the shift in Maggie's inner struggle. When Tom finds out about Maggie's clandestine meetings with Philip Wakem, Tom, for the first time, articulates Maggie's failures in terms of a failure to fulfill her duty (up until then, Maggie's failures had been seen as the result merely of her impetuousity). This classification of Maggie's failures under the rubric of duty to close family affects Maggie's inner struggle throughout the rest of the novel, which will be understood by her in terms of duty versus love. Additionally, it is for her childhood with Tom that Maggie longs throughout her adult years—this pull to the past is entirely due to Tom's childhood effect on her. Finally, the structure of the novel itself invites us to recognize the supreme formative power Tom has over Maggie. Toward the end of the novel, it is in scenes with the unforgiving Tom which call for the most reader sympathy and allow us to classify Maggie Tulliver as a tragic figure. The final scene, in which the brother and sister drown together, cancels out the potential importance of figures such as Philip or Stephen, affirming the centrality of Tom to Maggie's character development.

Suggested Essay Topics

Discuss the role of the narrator. What is the purpose of having a narrator tell the story in the past tense? With whom does the narrator sympathize? What values does the narrator uphold? What does the narrator ask for from the reader?

In what sense is The Mill on the Floss a spiritual novel?

How does Eliot use water imagery? Does this imagery relate to the Floss? What does the Floss symbolize?

Is Mr. Tulliver a tragic character? Is he a tragic hero?

Discuss the Dodsons as a group. Are their values upheld?

Quiz

Which of these reasons is not one of Mr. Tulliver's reasons for sending Tom on for more education?

(A) So that Tom can teach Maggie(B) So that Tom can learn to write well(C) So that Tom will have something else to do besides take over the mill from Mr. Tulliver(D) So that Tom can help Mr. Tulliver with law documents and arbitrations

What does Mr. Tulliver seek Mr. Riley's advice about?(A) Maggie's uncanny intelligence(B) Tulliver's dispute with Mr. Pivart over the Floss water(C) Tom's education(D) Tulliver's disputes with his wife's family, the Dodsons

What book does Maggie show Mr. Riley that she is reading?(A) Aesop's Fables(B) The Christian Year(C) Pilgrim's Progress(D) The History of the Devil

Why does Tom first get angry at Maggie when he comes home from school in Book First?(A) Because she won't curl her hair(B) Because she doesn't play fair at Heads or Tails(C) Because she has forgotten to feed his rabbits and they've died(D) Because she speaks badly of Lucy

Why does Tom break off his friendship with Bob Jakin?(A) Because Bob is better at trapping rabbits than Tom(B) Because Bob is not intelligent(C) Because Bob does not play fairly(D) Because Bob has stolen Tom's pocketknife

What impulsive action does Maggie take during the visit of her aunts and uncles in Book First?

(A) She falls in the mud(B) She eats Tom's dessert(C) She steps on a cake(D) She cuts her own hair

What do Mrs. Glegg and Mr. Tulliver have a disagreement over?(A) Table linens(B) Tom's education(C) The 500 pounds Mrs. Glegg has lent Mr. Tulliver(D) Maggie's behavior

Why does Mr. Tulliver ultimately decide not to press his sister for the money she owes him?

(A) Because he thinks of Maggie dependent upon Tom after his own death(B) Because he sees her eight children(C) Because Mr. Moss convinces him to lay off

(D) Because another investment of his makes good

What are Maggie's intentions towards the gypsies?(A) To use them to make her family pity her(B) To learn their language(C) To teach them and be their queen(D) To teach them how to cook

What was St. Ogg's profession?(A) A farmer(B) A miller(C) A priest(D) A ferryman

Who insists upon the repayment of the 500 pounds between Mr. Tulliver and Mrs. Glegg?(A) Mrs. Glegg(B) Mr. Tulliver(C) Mrs. Tulliver(D) Mr. Glegg

Who is Tom's only playmate during his first term with Mr. Stelling?(A) Poulter(B) Bob Jakin(C) Laura Stelling(D) Yap

Why is Christmas dreary after Tom's first term with Mr. Stelling?(A) Because Maggie has become religiously ascetic(B) Because Tom hates school(C) Because the Dodsons refuse to visit(D) Because Mr. Tulliver is preoccupied with litigation over the river water

How does Philip Wakem first win Tom's respect?(A) His singing(B) His drawing skills(C) His intelligence(D) His self-assured demeanor

What feature of Maggie's draws Philip to her?(A) Her eyes(B) Her hair(C) Her linguistic prowess(D) Her impetuousness

What is Philip's first thought when Tom drops a sword on his own foot?(A) That Tom deserved it(B) That Tom might fear he will be lame for life(C) That Tom is headstrong and stupid(D) That warfare is wrong

With whom does Maggie go to boarding school?

(A) Her mother(B) Miss Guest(C) Tom(D) Lucy Deane

What is Mr. Tulliver reading when he has a stroke?(A) A decision against him in the court case over the water power(B) A notice from his lawyer, Mr. Gore, that he is bankrupted(C) A letter stating that the mortgage of the mill has been transferred to Wakem(D) A letter from Maggie saying she will be home soon

Why does Maggie become angry at her aunts and uncles during her father's illness?(A) Because they are insulting Tom about the benefits of his education(B) Because they will not offer to buy any of the family's furniture(C) Because they are insulting to Mrs. Moss(D) Because they have befriended Lawyer Wakem

What causes Lawyer Wakem to buy the mill?(A) The transference of Tulliver's mortgage to him(B) Mrs. Tulliver's visit to him(C) Mr. Riley's recommendation(D) Tom's proud behavior

What does Mr. Tulliver make Tom write in the family Bible?(A) A notice that Maggie will never marry(B) A notice that Wakem is not forgiven(C) The occasion of Tom's repayment of the family debts(D) The formal transference of power from Tulliver to Tom

How does Tom manage to pay off the family debt?(A) By saving his wages at Guest & Co.(B) Through an entrepreneurial scheme with Bob Jakin(C) By appealing to Mr. Glegg for money(D) By selling his own goods

What is Stephen Guest's relationship to Lucy Deane?(A) They are engaged(B) They are married(C) They are courting(D) They are friends

What is the significance of Maggie's sewing?(A) It shows that she is accomplished in female arts(B) It shows her love of handicraft(C) It signifies nothing(D) It shows that she has been in financial difficulty

Why does Maggie become angry when Stephen kisses her arm at the dance?(A) Because Lucy might have seen(B) Because Maggie is engaged to Philip(C) Because he is drunk

(D) Because it shows that Stephen thinks lightly of her

Which of the following is not a reason that Maggie decides to leave Stephen in Mudport and return to St. Ogg's?

(A) Because she feels her life with Stephen wouldn't be noble(B) Because she feels the pull of the past on her(C) Because she knows that St. Ogg's will never accept her as Stephen's wife(D) Because she sympathizes with Lucy's and Philip's positions

Suggestions for Further Reading

McSweeney, Kerry. George Eliot (Marian Evans): A Literary Life. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1991.

Haight, Gordon S. George Eliot: A Biography. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1968.

Haight, Gordon S. Selections from George Eliot's Letters. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1985.

Beer, Gillian. George Eliot. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1986.

Pinney, Thomas. Essays of George Eliot. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1963.

Christ, Carol T., ed. The Mill on the Floss: Authoritative Text, Backgrounds, Contemporary Reactions Criticism. New York: W.W. Norton, 1994.

Rignall, John, ed. Oxford Reader's Companion to George Eliot. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.

Bloom, Harold, ed. Modern Critical Interpretations: George Eliot's The Mill on the Floss. New York: Chelsea House, 1988.

Hardy, Barbara. The Novels of George Eliot: A Study in Form. London: Athlone Press, 1985.

Draper, R. P., ed. George Eliot's The Mill on the Floss and Silas Marner: A Casebook. London: Macmillan, 1977.