Eppie And Silas Marner example essay topic

A study of 'community' as highlighted by characters who could be considered as standing outside the relevant community. Close reference to be made to George Eliot's, 'Silas Marner' and William Golding's 'Lord of the Flies. ' Silas is a linen-weaver; he has accumulated a goodly sum of gold. He was falsely judged guilty of theft fifteen years before and left his community. Squire Cass's on Dunstan steals Marner's gold and disappears. Marner takes care of an orphaned little girl, Eppie, and she becomes for him more precious than the lost property.

Sixteen years later the skeleton of Dunstan and Marner's gold is found. Godfrey Cass, Dunstan's brother, admits that he is the father of Eppie. He married the girl's mother, opium-ridden Molly Far ren, secretly before her death. Eppie and Silas Marner don't wish to separate when Godfrey tries to adopt the girl. In the end Eppie marries Aaron Winthrop, who accepts Silas Marner as part of the household. 'Lord of the Flies's tarts when an aeroplane crashes on an uninhabited island.

The plane is full of English school boys. The boys inhabit the island and wait to be rescued. They all work together and make a fire on top of the mountain as more chance to be rescued. The 'big " uns and litl " uns' have their own groups and the 'big " uns's pl it into two groups in the end with Jack's 'tribe' having a party and accidentally killing Simon, who is mistaken for 'the beast. ' Later on in the book Piggy also dies, he is an outsider in the group. Eventually, after many wars between the two 'big " un' groups they end up accidentally setting the island on fire, which leads to them being rescued.

'Silas Marner' is set in about 1761, and 'Lord of the Flies' is set during an unspecified time. 'Silas Marner' is set in a small village called Raveloe and 'Lord of the Flies' is set on an uninhabited desert island. I think Eliot and Golding have chosen these settings as they are most appropriate for each storyline. Having 'Lord of the Flies's et on an uninhabited desert island with no adults makes the book more exciting. It deals with the dark side of humanity. With 'Silas Marner' being set in a small village I think this reflects the mood of the story more, so you are left wondering who did what and whether the thief is still in Raveloe or not, whereas in 'Lord of the Flies' you cannot exit the island easily and hide or run away from your problems; "undergrowth, trees, mountains and sea surrounding the island".

The protagonist in 'Lord of the Flies is Ralph. At the beginning of the story he is described as being a playful child, but towards the end he matures significantly. He is one of the few boys who realises the only way to survive is through peace and order. He summons the boys at the beginning of the novel with the conch he and Piggy find, and they look upon him as the most responsible of the boys and elect him chief over the humiliated Jack.

Jack Merri dew, Ralph's main antagonist, is older than most of the other boys. He is the leader of a group of choir boys and is dubbed chief of the hunters by Ralph. He and his hunters become sadistic from the world of peace Ralph creates. Jack is the prime reason why the island becomes full of chaos and corruption"; 'Grab them!' No one moved. Jack shouted angrily". By focusing on Silas' work and the translation of Lantern Yard from a rural depot to manufacturing town, but also with the attention Eliot gives to Silas' very preoccupation with gold itself, you can see that it is very representative of larger questions about how people and things should be evaluated.

The degree to which Silas' obsession with his gold is or can be considered as 'unhealthy'. When Silas first meets Eppie, he mistakes her golden curls for his lost gold. Almost immediately, however, he begins to value her more than he ever valued his gold. Here you can see where Eliot draws out some differences between love and money". 'You " re a deep little puss, you are,' said Silas, with the mild passive happiness of love-crowned age in his face". Loving Eppie integrates Silas more firmly within the community of Raveloe.

All around Silas and Raveloe are signs of industry (thinking of his old, transformed town of Lantern Yard) and manufacture. In 'Lord of the Flies,' Piggy seems to be the outsider, the fat little boy who remains close to Ralph's side throughout the story. Although he is intellectually insightful, Piggy is weak and endlessly complains about their troubles. Most of the other boys bully him even though his glasses are their only hope of rescue (for starting the fire, for smoke signals). Roger, comes on the island with a hint of evil about him, 'Roger stooped, picked up a stone, aimed, and threw it at Henry - threw it to miss. The stone that token of preposterous time bounced five yards to Henry's right and fell in the water.

Roger gathered a handful of stones and began to throw them. Yet there was a space round Harry, perhaps six yards in diameter, into which he dare not throw. ' This shows us that the old rules are in Roger's mind. He is constantly bullying Piggy and other small children.

Roger follows Jack, who exploits his dark side, and by the end of their adventures has committed murder as well as many other sadistic acts. Simon, on the other hand, is like no other boy on the island. His goodness and caring are shown by the way he takes care of the 'litl " uns. ' He is the only boy who discovers the beast on the island that everybody fears. Simon's symbolism in this story offers a meaning of deeper than just a young, bashful boy. The outsider in 'Silas Marner' is most definitely Silas himself, He is very religious at the beginning of the story and he loses his faith in religion and, in his fellow man which is only gained later.

The fit Silas has also made him more of an outsider, most of the community in his old town, Lantern Yard, took his fit as a sign of piety, his friend William Dane suggested that lapsing into unconsciousness might be the sign of something satanic within Silas as it is what people thought in those days that it was the devil's influence. Soon after this incident, Silas is accused of stealing money from a dying deacon, and he is found guilty, even though it turns out William has framed Silas. This supposed friend then steals Silas' fianc " ee, Sarah, and Silas leaves town in disgrace. 'In a little more than a month from that time, Sarah was married to William Dane; and not long afterwards it was known to the brethren in Lantern Yard that Silas Marner had departed from the town. ' In order to try and change his lifestyle in a new town called, Raveloe in central England he sets up there, weaving for the community. He's self-employed and soon begins making quite a bit of money.

He's not particularly well-liked because he keeps to himself and is a notorious miser. His stash of gold is his life, and each evening he takes it out of his hiding spot and gazes at it lovingly. 'He loved the guineas beast, but he would not change the silver - the crowns and half - crowns that were his own earnings, begotten by his labour; he loved them all. He spread them out in heaps and bathed his hands in them; then he counted them and set up regular piles, and felt their rounded outline between his thumb and fingers, and thought fondly of the guineas that were only half-earned by the work in his loom, as if they had been unborn children - thought of the guineas that were coming slowly through the coming years, through all his life, which spread far away before him, the end quite hidden by endless days of weaving.

' Piggy in 'Lord of the Flies,' is in constant conflict with the other boys who mock and bully him. Jack is the instigator in this struggle, belittling Piggy at every chance. The main conflict in this book is between Ralph and Jack: the beginning of their struggle stems from the very start of the novel when Ralph is elected chief over Jack. Jack and his hunters eventually form their own group apart from the others.

Jack's savages are totally stripped of what society has impressed upon them. Ralph demands peace on the island but to no avail. Their struggle symbolizes that of good and evil. William Golding has written 'Lord of the Flies' attempting to trace the defects of society back to the defects of human nature. He presents some serious warnings about humanity and what is needed to mature the human race into that of a better civilisation. In conclusion, this book is an excellent portrayal of human nature that will make an impression on the reader.

Eliot aims to produce emotions which put other emotions into good moral use. Her novel leaves an excess of feeling with the reader wondering about whether money or love is most important in ones life.