This novel starts out by telling the story of Silas Marner, a linen-weaver who moved to Raveloe after being wrongfully accused of stealing money from his church in Lantern Yard. Marner is so deeply hurt and offended by this incident that he becomes a recluse who only leaves his remote cottage to go draw water and very rarely talks to his neighbors in Raveloe. The one thing that Silas Marner looks forward to doing is sitting down every night to count his gold, which he has accumulated from weaving various things for neighbors. Marner's gold is the only thing that he cherishes, and he even starts to become obsessed with this gold. In fact, he describes his guineas like they are his children. There is a prominent, well-known man in Raveloe named Squire Cass. Cass has two sons, one named Godfrey and the other named Dunstan, who is known for his bad sense of judgment and conning schemes. Godfrey Cass lends his fathers rent money to his brother Dunsta

In Ralph Stewart's article, "Eliot's Silas Marner", he compares the novel Silas Marner to the fairy tale of Rumpelstiltskin. Although Rumpelstiltskin is a villain in a fairy tale, there are many similarities in the plots of each story and in both main characters. In the fairy tale Rumpelstiltskin, he turns straw into gold in order to save a miller's daughter from being executed by the king. In return, though, for saving her life, he demands the girl's first born child to keep as

all his money. After finding out that he has been robbed, Silas Marner walks downtown to the Rainbow Inn, and tells the town what has happened. This becomes the talk of the town. Many men pitch in to help him figure out who could be the theft. Meanwhile, Dunstan does not return home and no one knows where he is. On a snowy New Years Eve, a little toddler wonders into Silas Marner's cottage and falls asleep by the fire. Marner is very nearsighted, so when he sees the little girl's blonde curls, he mistakes it for his stolen gold. When he realizes that it is a little girl, he walks outside, follows her footsteps in the snow, and comes upon a dead woman on the ground. Marner carries the little girl down to Squire Cases house where the town is having a big New Year's Eve party. He tells them what has happened, and when Godfrey looks up, he recognizes the little girl, because she is his daughter. To no surprise, when Godfrey gets to Marner's cottage, he sees that the dead woman is his secret wife. The men of the town agree to let Silas Marner keep the little girl. Marner names her Eppie after his late sister. He raises her, takes her to church, and comes to love her as his very own daughter. The people of Raveloe start talking to Marner and even help him out with raising Eppie. Dolly Winthrop, in particular, gives Marner advice about how to raise Eppie and frequently comes over with her little boy named Aaron. After sixteen years have passed, Eppie is eighteen years old. She is very fond of Aaron Winthrop and even talks of marriage with him. Godfrey and Nancy are married, but are childless. One day, when Marner is working in his yard, he starts pulling out stones from the stone-pit beside his cottage and finds Dunstan's skeleton and the bag of gold laying beside him. He had drowned the night he stole Marner's money. When Godfrey tells Nancy of the news, he also decides to tell her his dreaded secret. When he tells her that Eppie is his daughter and that he had a secret wife, Nancy agrees that they should try and get Marner to let them take his daughter to come and live with them. When they come to Marner and Eppie to tell them about it, Eppie simply says that she will not come and live with them, and that Marner has always been her

Even though the story of Silas Marner is not a true story, the main reason I really enjoyed the novel was because of the realistic issues and conflicts in the story. Three main issues in the novel are Godfrey's lack of responsibility towards Eppie, Silas Marner's "redemption" through Eppie's coming, and Godfrey and Dunstan's true similarities. First of all, Godfrey hiding that he was Eppie's father is a major issue. When Eppie first comes to Silas Marner's cottage, the main reason Godfrey does not claim her as his daughter is because he does not want Nancy and his father to know. Even though Nancy really does not show too much interest in Godfrey at first, he does not want her to look down on him, because he wants to marry her. Godfrey knows that if Nancy finds out that he has been married and has a child that he will never have any hope of marrying her. So instead of claiming Eppie and taking care of her as a father should do, he lets Marner raise her and only gives Marner money every once in a while to help out. This just shows Godfrey's selfishness. Instead of raising his own daughter, he would rather save his reputation. Later on, towards the end of the novel, Nancy and Godfrey have

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Approximate Word count = 3220
Approximate Pages = 13 (250 words per page double spaced)