george eliot a review eva cavallari cl. 3als a.s. 2013-2014

George Eliot

A Review

Eva Cavallari cl. 3als a.s. 2013-2014


-AUTHOR: George Eliot (alias Mary Ann Evans)

-PUBLICATION DATE: 1860

-CONTENT

-CHARACTERS

-SETTING

-THEMES

-MESSAGE TO BE LEARNT

-NEW VOCABULARY LEARNTGeorge Eliot (Mary Ann Evans)


The Mill on the Floss deals with the story of

Maggie Tulliver and her older brother

Tom. They lived in Dorlcote Mill, with their

father, Mr. Tulliver, the owner of the mill

and their mother, Mrs. Bessy Tulliver.

>CHILDHOOD

>TOM

>PHILIP

>ECONIMIC RUIN

>FAMILY’S DECAY

>WOMENHOOD

>VENGEANCE and DEATH

> THE FLOOD


CHILDHOOD

The story begins when Maggie was 9 years old. Her childhood was

characterized by her relationship with Tom, and with his classmate Philip

Wakem.

TOM Maggie was fond of Tom but they had really different characters:

Maggie was clever and dreamer, on the contrary Tom was more pragmatic

and close-minded. These deep differences between them would be the cause

of their future breach and moving away.

PHILIP Maggie met Philip during a visit to her brother’s school. Philip was

deformed but he had got a brilliant and gentle mind. They immediately got on

well, but their relationship would be broken off by the economic ruin of Mr.

Tulliver, caused by Philip’s father, Mr. Wakem.


ECONOMIC RUIN After Mr. Tulliver had lost the economic cause

against Mr. Wakem, he fell in ruin, till he had to sell all his property,

including the mill, to Wakem. After the trial, Mr. Tulliver fell gravely ill

and as a result Tom, who was seventeen years old at this point, entered in

the world of business to pay his father’s debts and eventually to buy again

the mill.

FAMILY ‘S DECAY In the meanwhile Maggie took care of her weak father

and witnessed to her family’s decay: Tom was always longer away from

home for business, becoming more and more silent; Mr. Tulliver was only

interested in pay his debts; and poor Mrs. Tulliver never again worked

quietly and contentedly after losing her little treasures in the sell.


WOMENHOOD

In this agonizing period, Maggie, on the

edge of womanhood, when the mind is

ordinarily full of new hopes and new

dreams, secretly saw Philip during her

walks until Tom discovered them and she

had to renounce to her love for Philip.

VENGEANCE and DEATH An year later, Tom had earned enough to

pay all his father’s debts. But after the vengeful day a long time

desired, Mr. Tulliver died at night, next to his family.


THE FLOOD At this point, while Tom hadn’t forgiven her yet, Maggie moved to

a friend’s house. But her troubles hadn’t finished yet . After a week of pouring

rain, the river flooded, submerging the surrounding fields. In the midst of the

flood Maggie managed to reach the mill with a boat and to rescue her brother.

But they finished in a too violent current where a wide mass across the stream

was coming towards the boat. Conscious of their near death Tom finally forgave

his sister and took her in his arms. The huge mass sank the boat but brother

and sister had gone down locked together, never to be parted.

Maggie and Tom in the midst of

the flood.


MAIN CHARACTERS

- Maggie Tulliver: the young female protagonist

-Tom Tulliver: Maggie’s brother

-Mr. Tulliver: Tom and Maggie’s father and owner of the mill

-Mrs Bessy Tulliver: Tom and Maggie’s mother

-Philip Wakem: classmate of Tom and Maggie’s friend

MINOR CHARACTERS

-Mr. Wakem: Philip’s father, a lawyer enemy of Mr. Tulliver

-Aunts and uncles of Maggie and Tom (Mrs. Tulliver’s sisters and their

husbands : Mrs. and Mr. Glegg, Pullet, Deane and Mr. Tulliver’s sister and

husband : Mrs. and Mr. Moss)

-Lucy Dean : Mrs. Dean’s daughter

-Luke : the head miller

-Yap : the Tulliver’s dog


The novel is set in the English country, in the first nineteenth century.

The characters

move from Dorlcote

Mill to the small

town of St.Ogg, in

the wide plain

where the river

Floss hurries on.


SOCIAL CONTEXT

Mary Ann Evans wrote “The Mill on the Floss” during the Victorianism, a

period characterized by an economic prosperity and a colonial and

commercial expansion. On the contrary the society showed deep social

lacerations. Indeed, after the Industrial Revolution, the difference

between rich and poor social classes had increased: to somebody’s

accumulation of wealth stood opposite child and female mistreatment,

poverty and prostitution.Mary Ann Evans hid her name

under the alias George Eliot to

avoid the diffidence and the

prejudices of the hypocrite

bourgeoisie of the Victorian age.

Paesaggi Vittoriani (John Atkinson

Grimshow)


-The conflict between the individual and the

conformist society in which he or she lives. In

the novel , Maggie’s intelligence is defined by

her father as an inconvenient disadvantage,

something that won’t be useful in her life:

“Too clever for a woman […] it doesn’t add to

her value.” Such as her dark skin is

something to be ashamed of. The society

denies her intellectual and spiritual growth

and a kind of determinism rejects her

attempts to grow and to be true to herself.Maggie Tulliver


- The growth. That is the transition from childhood dreams to the hard

reality of life. Indeed Maggie, after her quite carefree youth, has to face

her family’s bankrupting, Tom’s abandonment, her father’s death and

has to give her love up.

The relationship between brother and sister, that is the background

throughout the whole novel.

- Independence and freedom, that is the importance of the right of

free choice. Indeed in the novel we can notice the succession of

Maggie’s conditioned choices, and as a result she dies without having

lived her life. She has renounced to everything and to herself.


In my opinion, the message to be

learnt is that in your life you must find

the strength and the determination to

assert yourself and to react against

what restricts you. Otherwise you will

be overcome by others’ wills and

controls, such as Maggie drowned

under the flood.


NOUNSMill: mulinoClergyman: uomo ecclesiasticoQuarrel: discussioneAim: scopo Whisper: bisbiglioShadow: ombraGathering: radunoTrouble: difficoltàDebt: debitoRascal: furfanteBeggar: mendicanteDespair: disperazioneVengeance: vendettaFlood: inondazioneAmend: riparazione

ADJECTIVESNaughty: cattivo, disubbidienteDull: monotono, tediosoEager: avido, impazienteGreedy: avidoTrembling: tremanteNodding: oscillanteQueer: bizzarro

VERBSTo threaten: minacciareTo rush: attraversare di corsaTo sob: singhiozzareTo whisper: bisbigliareTo lend: imprestareTo gaze: guardare fissoTo glance: dare un’occhiataTo despise: disprezzare

Thank you for the attention.


george eliot a review eva cavallari cl. 3als a.s. 2013-2014

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