The Garden of Eden and the Fall
Can you really have a book called Adam Bede and not have Eden imagery poking around somewhere? Our hero's name is Adam, for Pete's sake (or maybe for Adam's sake?).Eliot's narrator is charmed by th...
Water Imagery
For a land-locked book like Adam Bede, the wet stuff sure is mentioned a lot. Here's what Dinah says to Mr. Irwine about her intellectual life:"Thoughts are so great—aren't they, sir? T...
Carpentry
They say you are what you eat… but what about "You are what you work?" We tend to be obsessed with literature (and puns). Our friends in the restaurant world are obsessed with food (and knives, c...
Sorcery and Superstition
Major Biblical symbolism and sorcery? In the same book? A book that isn't The Crucible? Yup. First of all, Eliot's narrator begins the whole book—the whole darn book, people—like this:...