Andrea opened up the floor for questions and discussion at a quarter past seven o’clock. Kaite asked who did George Eliot sympathize with, the Dodsons or the Tullivers. Andrea asked if anyone had studied Eliot’s life, and then when no one replied, launched into a brief summary of Mary Ann Evans’ education, which consisted of course in ‘How to Get In and Out of Marriage,’ ‘Conversational French’ (but not enough French to read the banned (for women) French novels), piano, dancing and drawing. Understandably resentful, Mary Ann fought against the constraints placed upon her by society solely based on her gender, not her formidable intelligence. Women were not allowed to learn Latin, Greek or Rhetoric, nor study Euclidean geometry. Here we see the similarity between Maggie and Mary Ann (an autobiographical reference), who years to learn all the Tom’s scorns in his studies.
Andrea turned us next to Question 1 of the Discussion Questions e-mailed earlier to the group readers (and available in my previous post):
Childhood and falling in love are two main themes of Mill on the Floss. How do the provincial values and customs of St. Ogg’s stunt the main characters’ growth and frustrate their romantic relationships?
Reader responses included a sense of doing one’s duty (Tom and Maggie). Where does it originate? The Bible, someone suggested, but the Dodsons are superficial Christians. Andrea reminded us of Eliot’s prose wherein she stated about the Dodsons as having “Christian values placed on top of pagan values” and an example of tribalism.
I asked if Victorian readers had any reaction to Tom’s avowing revenge and signing said vow on the flyleaf of the Tulliver family Bible, which just floored me. Here’s God’s gift of forgiveness in print and the Tullivers rape it with revenge, almost signed in blood. Andrea said the readers were more interested in Maggie’s story and the course of a woman’s life being thwarted.
Another reader sympathized with Tom, stating he was one of the saddest characters she’d ever read. His life was clear cut and he knew what he needed to do. Alternatively, Mrs. Tulliver and Maggie seemed helpless. Another reader remarked Tom was dutiful, but completely joyless and had no love in his life. The chasm between Tom and Maggie’s personalities. He seemed narrow of mind and purpose, lacking in imagination with no capactiy for understanding creativity.
Andrea spoke briefly on the Victorian dichotomy surrounding women as both virginal and temptress, the angel and the whore. A girl’s education was all about tamping down her sexuality. Maggie is more interesting because she has this potential for passion. Melissa stated she really related to Maggie.
Andrea next asked how much interference, or help, we received from the narrator? How much psychology is going on here? If you are a Freudian, you could have a hay day with The Mill on the Floss.
Andrea skipped the second question, moving on to the third Discussion question:
The word “respectable” comes up repeatedly in this novel. What does it mean, within the context of early Victorian society?
Reader responses included observations about men having less asked of them, than women, with respect to etiquette and respectability. Tom stood up for the family honor, protected the family virtues. Mention was made of the brocaded dress that stood on it’s own, like armor. Every effort was made to protect against attack by others, not of the physical kind (except perhaps in the case of Mr. Tulliver’s horse-whipping of Mr. Wakem), but of the psychological kind. There was an assumption that non-family people were constantly searching for chinks in your family armor. Any perceived impropriety would be used as ammunition against the fortress of family honor and respectability.
Andrea asked about the lack of Christian morality exhibited in the Final Rescue book, specifically the chapter “St. Ogg’s Passes Judgment.” George Eliot had a field day with the narrow minded pettiness against Christian values of the minister. She read from p. 510, starting with the sentence ‘But the results, we know, were not of a kind to warrant . . . ” Andrea then asked us who is ‘the world’s wife’ quoted repeatedly in that passage. Readers replied: the standard for all women; spitefulness of women; delight at the downfall of another woman; petty; mean spirited; harsh in their judgment; envious; Maggie is sexy without realizing it; gossip is the norm; and the proverbial double standard. Women will bear the punishment. Victorian society could not deal with the wanton woman, possibly due to the insecurity of men and the sanctity of the male line, not wanting to jeopardize their patrimony. Andrea compared Maggie with Bertha in Jane Eyre, who was presented with the same imagery (dark of hair, eye and skin) and was locked away. Was Bertha really mad? Or are dark women (sultry, passionate, sensual, sexual, wanton) to be tightly controlled and tamped down? This is a common theme in Victorian fiction.
Andrea again skipped to the last question, number seven:
What is the importance of family in this novel? In Victorian society at large?
Could Maggie have left, escaped? Several characters urged her to leave St. Ogg’s, but Maggie persisted in her desire to do penance, be punished, be forgiven and be redeemed. Yet she could not forgive herself. Is Maggie a victim or a martyr of society? Our only male reader observed that Bob’s friend took Maggie in. Andrea noted Eliot suggests middle class respectability is pain and humiliation and real Christian values are only found in the humble poorer working classes. Another reader noted the complete lack of charity found in the novel. Only Bob and Aunt Moss proved charitable. And strangely, Aunt Glegg in her repudiation of Tom’s turning out Maggie. There are few admirable characters.
George Eliot astutely comments on the narrow ideas of propriety and provides a lesson to be charitable and exhibit wider sympathies. She forces you to see the humanity in all her characters, things that make them worthy and redeem them.
Our male reader returned to the question of education, which he posited is the training of the mind to think. Tom didn’t have any choice, and resented he wasn’t given a choice. Tom felt responsible for the family and had to step up, even if it was not what he wanted to do, and took it out on Maggie.
Another reader thought the ending was extremely abrupt, which Andrea and I agreed with. In fact, Andrea went so far as to say she hated the ending. Eliot had a history of ‘bad endings’ almost as if she didn’t know how to end a story.
Andrea reminded us of the Victorian convention that if a woman ‘falls from grace’ she must die before the end of the story. Also, that The Mill on the Floss contains many elements of a Greek tragedy. A reader commented that Maggie was willing to die for her brother’s approval and the book ends (and opens) with Maggie’s need for Tom’s approval.
Our mail reader asked if there was any significance to chestnut trees in Victorian literature, but Andrea couldn’t remember any reasons. He also asked about the prevalence of travel books mentioned in the novels we’ve read thus far. Andrea felt that was rooted in the limited horizons available to most Victorians.
Next month we discuss The Rainbow by D.H. Lawrence on Wednesday, May 25, 2011 at 6:30 p.m. at the Plaza branch. Join us for the final taste of Victorian literature.
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