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The Mill on the Floss<-George Eliot<-novels<-chapter 7<-contents<-position

The Mill on the Floss
   The Mill on the Floss is the earlier work of Eliot, which was mainly a description of provincial life and Eliot’s autobiographical novel with tragic ending. The Mill on the Floss is largely autobiographical, for many episodes--the dead rabbit, the battered doll, the jam puffs, and running away to the gypsies are deriving from author’s early memories. The setting of the story is near the bank of Floss, where lived a well-to-do millers, Mr Tulliver whose children are Tom and Maggie, Mrs Tulliver and her three married sisters from the narrow-minded philistine surroundings. Tom is narrow-minded and practical while Maggie is smart, beautiful, lively and full of emotions and aspirations. However, the people around her suppress her independent minds and rebellious actions. She loves her brother, but her brother, Tom scoffs at her poetical nature and does not understand her. Philip, the deformed son of Mr.Wakem who is a lawyer living neighborhood, understands Maggie and approaches her and finally, becomes friends with her. Then in a law-suit, Mr.Tulliver is defeated by Mr. Waken and went bankrupt. Soon, Mr Tulliver dies. From then on, the two family become enemies. Several years go by, Maggie is grown into a beautiful girl, more intelligent and emotional, when Philip comes from abroad. Maggie feels unhappy owing to the dullness of her surroundings and the incomprehension her people. She finds Philip and they are attracted to each other, for they found they have a lot in common. Tom knows this matter and forces Maggie to break up with Philip. Then Maggie goes out to work as a teacher and during the vacation, she visits her cousin Lucy. Stephen, Lucy’s boyfriend, attracted by Maggie’s beauty, decides to propose to Maggie. Though she likes Stephen, she refuses his proposal for she does not want to hurt Lucy and Philip. Tom is displeased with this affair. Maggie implores to meet Philip only gets a flat refusal from her brother and then is turned out of the family. Philip proposes to Maggie and is rejected by Maggie who loves her brother and obeys her brother. Maggie does not complain about all this, only struggling in the misery life. Then one day, arranged by Stephen intentionally, Maggie and Stephen row the boat in the Floss. It is too late to go back, so they have to stay in a merchant boat for the night, when the news spread, people scoff at her and she is completely isolated. A sudden great flood sweeps the town. At the critical moment, Maggie starts a boat to save her brother who is struck in the Mill. Tom, moved, reconciled with Maggie. Unfortunately, the boat is overturned and Tom and Maggie both are drowned.
    Eliot’s works belongs to realism. She gives a true reflection of the real life and therefore her works lacks of features of Romanticism. In The Mill on the Floss, the provincial life with a gloomy atmosphere is described. This novel speaks to readers different attitudes toward the interaction of characters in dealing with their love and marriage. In Eliot’s opinion, Philip and Stephen can not match Maggie, so from this point, Eliot intended to avoid romantic plots and stress on the importance of moral principles and responsibilities for family. Therefore, the tragic ending of this novel—drowning of the Tom and Maggie –arranged by the author reflects the disorder and uncertainty of social reality which worries novelists
    This work is a tragedy, because it can arouse reader’s emotion of pity and fear for the tragic fate of Maggie. Maggie is torn by the conflict between personal freedom and her love and loyalty towards the family. She is the woman of the 19th century to pursue happiness according to her own will, but men and social conventions Mid-Victoria Age, do not accept the woman with independent mind full of ideas. The drowning in the end symbolizes that an independent woman would not find her social space in the 19th century. In the novel, Maggie is the heart of the story. Usually George Eliot referred to the Mill as Maggie in the novel. At the beginning of the novel, her father warns her “You will tumble in and be drowned someday, and then you will be sorry you didn’t do as mother told you.”

    Although Eliot’s works belongs to realism, her works is not like the fiction of Charles Dickens who depict caricature picture in his novel. Eliot adopted the genre of psychological realism. Eliot believed that the novel should be true reflection of life and valued observed truths, arousing readers’ sympathy for the small, common people in low position of society by giving a fine analysis of the psychological motives of characters. Thus in The Mill on the Floss, the financial decline of Mr. Tulliver’s is described in contrast with the background of the increased materialism of the British midlands in the first half of the nineteenth century and the result of minute social and psychological actions and reactions of Mr. Tulliver, and Maggie and the characters that affect him, such as Mrs. Tulliver and Mr. Wakem.

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