Silas Marner Reader Responses
by Marilyn Green Faulkner
It has been six months since we started the Best Books Club at Meridian Magazine, and many people have written to ask what is involved in joining the club. We simply read a great book together each month and share comments about it via email. A few hundred of you have signed up for the club, and many of you have written to say how much you enjoy reading together. If you would like to participate in the discussion, join us by clicking on be*******@me**************.com, then read along with us and watch for articles on the book of the month in Meridian. Share your comments via email and I’ll publish them in the final article each month.
Here is the reading list for May through September:
May: The Chosen, by Chaim Potok
June: A Room with a View, by E.M. Forster
July: The Keys of the Kingdom, by A.J. Cronin
August: Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain
September: Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen
Write and share your wish list with me for books to read later in the year.
Here are some of the comments I have received about Silas Marner:
I read Silas Marner last year and LOVED it! I love the author’s style; choice of words, story line, characters, everything. I’ve been meaning to read Mill on the Floss and Middlemarch so I guess I will have to read those this month also. -Stephanie
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I could hardly put Silas Marner down once I started it. Once I started reading it, there almost seemed to be a rhythm within the story. I have seen a lot of weaving of the Navajo people here. (They do not have looms like Silas had.) They still make the special sound when they weave. This has been my favorite book that we have read. I liked it so much that I looked the author up at home and found out a little bit about her. I thought it interesting that she took her husband’s name (George) for writing. -Donna
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I really enjoyed your article, and the idea that miracles, though sometimes natural in their coming, the change of heart they bring is very unnatural for the person involved — and that is the miracle! -Vic
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I enjoyed reading Silas Marner. I assume your question: “Is it a Christian book?” means do Christian actions take place. There are many, most clearly Silas taking in the little girl and treating her with a tenderness I have never seen expressed from a male figure, unable to spank or put her in the coal bin. The godmother seems to have been his liaison back into contact with the outside world, teaching not only about taking care of the child, but how God works with her simple faith. When bad things happen to us, it is not because we are forsaken, but because there is a greater purpose than we can see at the time taking place. She was the epitome of “Charity Never Faileth.”
I found the issues to be very current, even though the setting is so long ago. One example I will mention is Priscilla’s comment about never marrying: “Mr. Have-your-own-way is the best husband as long as you have a good father and home. …and the only one I’d ever promise to obey.”
A style that I didn’t enjoy about the book was the obvious foreshadowing of every event that took place. I knew that Silas’s money would be stolen, that the horse would be killed, that chance would help Godfrey out of his loveless marriage. It seemed like being spoon-fed the story. -Judy
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It is a mini masterpiece – it has a happy ending, and I like happy endings. -Phil
I asked if others had experienced a “Silas Marner Miracle.” Here are some beautiful responses:
I love the miracle metaphor and the miracle of life and of service, and of baby curls versus gold coin. Or AS gold coin, more appropriately. I think “as I have loved you, love one another” is the germ of the gospel, and looking back at the luscious, wonderful times of the past 52 years, or maybe the past 45 that are logged into conscious memory, it would be accurate to say that I am the total of the kindnesses shown me. Some were spectacular and truly saintly, others were just little bursts of joy in the course of a routine activity…but each one made a non-event into a little rush of sweetness. What is life if not that? And isn’t George Eliot right-on when she frames that pivotal event as an innocent occurrence that slips in when our attention is suspended? I would say we almost never watch the mother faint to free the curious child. She just gets worn out and plops over offstage. The old falls away unnoticed so that the new can steal in wherever there is fire. The miracle is not that the child appears, but that the flame burns. This is to set aside the miracle of life and try to acknowledge the vast miracle of its creator. My mom cherished me and thought I was clever. My friends laughed at my jokes and invited me to their parties, noticed my new outfits and paid attention to me. My teachers praised me. Sometimes peers elected me. Sometimes I received recognition. Each was a lovely, formative miracle. I hope I can contribute similar life-builders as often as possible, and pay particular attention if the Holy Ghost is depending on me. I’d have to be frozen by a grand mal seizure not to notice how good my fellow pilgrims have been to me. -Kathy
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I have read Middlemarch a couple of times and enjoyed (but not always agreed with) George Eliot’s philosophies, but had never read Silas Marner. I don’t know why, I found a copy of it on my bookshelf. The theme of Love and how it changes a person, blended so well with the other book selections–Celestial Navigation (I found it sad that Jeremy’s love was not enough to change Mary. I do love happy endings!–Jane Austen is my favorite author, by the way) and Jane Eyre. I have two adopted children–eight and three–so the story was very poignant to me. You have to experience the miracle of adoption to really understand the powerful experience of seeing the Lord’s hand in your life. I’m sure anyone who has gone through that experience can say with conviction that God is in the details of our lives. Silas could see it too, but could George Elliot? -Elizabeth
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Nearly 30 years ago, after many rough experiences in life, I went to a singles club social meeting where I had found pleasant people to visit with on the weekends. I had a long conversation with a man whose outlook on life I admired and so when he asked for my phone number and the privilege of calling me the next Friday I gave it to him.
On Friday the phone rang and when the voice on the other phone said, “Would you like me to come by and pick you up to go to the singles meeting? ” I consented. Imagine my surprise when it was not the man I expected! He was shy and, not wanting to hurt his feelings, I did not mention the error and went with him. One thing led to another and two years later we were married. What followed were the most rewarding years of my life, really the only time in my life that I have felt loved, secure and cared for.
Four years ago he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and had a stroke as well. Now I am caring for him. It is very hard, but perhaps there is a real meaning in all this for me. Life is very strange, but I have met few people who have had the joy and satisfaction that he and I shared all those years. -Lindy
May’s Best Book: The Chosen, by Chaim Potok
It’s time for all of you goyim to brush up on your Yiddish and get into the lives of New York Jews during the Second World War. Chaim Potok’s wonderful story of a modern-day David and Jonathan will touch your heart and give you some insight into a world usually closed to Gentiles. (I know you don’t think you are a Gentile, but Jewish people think you are!) Potok is a great scholar of Judaic history, and has a deep understanding of his own people. I think you will enjoy The Chosen. If you love it, there is a sequel, titled The Promise. We’ll talk more about it next week in Meridian.
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