We are all familiar with literature. One of the genres in literature are books we call ‘Classics’. These books have been around for a while and have been popular for a long time. One of these books is Silas Marner. This book talks about a man named Silas Marner who loses everything when he was accused of stealing and was betrayed by his own best friend. He moves to a town called Raveloe to start fresh. The community was, overall, peaceful. In this community, there were two brothers who were very wealthy. Their names are Godfrey and Dunstan Cass. These brothers are complete opposites, and they get into arguments all the time. Silas Marner has once again become an outcast, but he earns a stable amount of money. One day, Godfrey fell sick. As Dunstan was passing by Silas’ house, he decided to steal some of his money for his benefit, since he is greedy. Silas Marner’s life was once again, terrible. But then, he met a young girl named Eppie. She was secretly the child of Godfrey Cass and Molly Farren, but Godfrey refuses to accept her as a child. Silas and Eppie became very close, and in the end, Godfrey lost his child, because Eppie decided she wanted to live with Silas.
Religious belief changes for people overtime, especially for Silas Marner. They all somehow relate to religion, god, or mythology. The first stage is believing faithfully, the second stage is to stop believing, and the last stage is regaining belief. For the first stage, Silas was happy because of his community, and he knew there was a god out there, making sure his life was stable. Then, there’s the second stage. Silas stopped believing in god because even though he has earned what he received, it was all taken away from him. This is known as the god of lies. His best friend betrayed him and that made him stop believing in religion and god altogether. The third and final stage of religious belief is believing again. This occurred for Silas when Eppie arrived. He slowly began to experience happiness again. Religious belief relates to the story because the story’s plot kind of revolves around it. I think this is a pertinent theme because it is very realistic and something that has been and is being talked about a lot these days, especially these three stages. And that is all for religious belief in the story.
Fate means the ending of someone and what was destined to happen for them. This actually relates to religious belief because in the bible, it says ‘People who are kind will be rewarded for their kindness, but cruel people will be rewarded with trouble.’ This means whatever people have done is whatever will be given back to them. Godfrey Cass’ fate was that he lost his child. This was because he refused to accept that Molly was his wife and Eppie was his child. Since he did a bad thing, he got a bad thing in return. The fate of Dunstan Cass is that he dies tragically. This is because he was greedy and wanted Silas Marner’s money, so he steals it, as well as threatening his brother. Since Dunstan did so many bad things, he got his worst nightmare in return: death.
Silas on the other hand has a very different fate. His fate is that he lives with Eppie happily for the rest of his life. This is basically a thanks from the universe for taking care of Eppie, who was someone in need. Since he was kind, he received a kind gesture back. Now we can see how different Silas Marner is from the Cass brothers, and how kindness overpowers greediness, abandonment, and refusal. That is all for the theme of fate.
In life, we will have losses and gains, because there has to be a balance of both luck and unluck. A loss is something bad that happened, basically a con, and a gain is something good that happened, which we can consider a pro. Godfrey Cass gained a loving wife, known as Nancy Lammenter, and money, lots of money. But apart from that, he loses his child. A human being that he should have cared for, and should have loved, to which he should have in return from his own child. But since he refused her, he will lose her. Dunstan Cass is a little more complicated. He gains money, which is basically what he lived for. But unfortunately for him, he loses his life. So what use is the money if he isn’t alive to use it? Apart from that, he was also forgotten, since he did so many bad things, nobody cared about him since he broke so many people’s trust. For him, all his gains become kind of a loss. Silas Marner has the most complicated story out of them all. He gains Eppie, someone he can love, live with, and care for, to which in return he will receive. But even though his life seems to be going on the right track, his past was really just tragic. He loses family, friends, home, reputation, and hope. This concludes the theme of loss and gain.
Silas Marner by George Eliot is from the genre of Victorian literature and talks about the journey of a man finding happiness, and losing many things. This story shows us that we should be kind, and in return, kindness will come to us. Also, the author portrayed many character traits through characters in Silas Marner. Dunstan Cass portrayed greed. He was basically the definition of greedy, which the author showed through everything he did. Godfrey Cass portrayed denial and refusal. We can see not to be like the Cass brothers because they were not good people and received bad karma. Silas Marner portrayed kindness. Even though he lost so much, he still had it in him to care for and to provide for a random child he didn’t even know. Silas received good things in return. Then, there is Eppie. She portrays hope. She gave Silas Marner a chance to become happy again. I guess we could say that she is, in some way, fate. Since Silas was so kind and became a parental figure to her when she was in need, she is repaying Silas for everything he did for her. This story is a classic and a book I believe should be read by students, because it provides a life lesson we all should know and that can benefit us in the future.
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