Spiders and Webs
It seems Raveloe is out of fly swatters, since the village is infested with bugs. In Silas Marner, insects, particularly spiders, appear all the time. Okay, not literal insects, but metaphorical on...
The Loom
Silas is an artisan. Rather than a farmer like the villagers or a hunched-over factory worker, he works with his own loom in his own house. He's what English historian E.P. Thompson calls a "custom...
Bread
Lardy-cake—okay, so it's not technically bread—is a traditional (and delicious-sounding) concoction of animal fat, flour, sugar, and spices. So basically it's like a donut. Dolly Winthrop bring...
Gold
Silas runs to The Rainbow after he discovers that his pot of gold has been stolen. Yes, Eliot goes there.To give her some credit, it's a little more complicated than that. For Silas, gold at first...
The Hearth
When little Eppie toddles up to Silas's hearth, you know that something important is about to happen. The hearth (the area in front of a fireplace) is central to Eliot's vision of idyllic country l...
Allegory
Silas's rebirth doesn't take place on Christmas.See, that's actually important. The main story of Silas's redemption—betrayal, the arrival of a child, and then the reintegration into the communit...