1. Silas Marner George Eliot
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Introduction
Background
Discussion Starters

2. Silas Marner George Eliot
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3. Silas Marner George Eliot

4. Silas Marner: Introduction
What would you do
if you suddenly lost everything
and everyone
that mattered to you?

5. Silas Marner: Introduction
The setting of this novel is rural England from the late 1700s to early 1800s.

6. Silas Marner: Introduction
A weaver named Silas Marner lives as a hermit in the village of Raveloe.
The villagers need Silas’s skills, but they keep their distance from him.

7. Silas Marner: Introduction
He had a best friend named William and a fiancée named Sarah.
Silas used to have a very different kind of life.
Years ago, Silas belonged to a small, close-knit religious community.

8. Silas Marner: Introduction
Then one day, everything changed.
Silas was framed for stealing.
Betrayed, misjudged, and rejected, he went to live alone in Raveloe.

9. Silas Marner: Introduction
Now, Silas has only his work
and the gold he has been hoarding from his weaver’s pay.

10. Silas Marner: Introduction
Soon Silas will lose his gold too.
But fate will bring an unexpected gift to his door:
a golden-haired child.

11. Silas Marner: Introduction
How can Silas, a bitter hermit, take care of a toddler?
How will the child change his life?

12. Silas Marner: Background
The fictional village of Raveloe is located in the Midlands, a part of central England.

13. Silas Marner: Background
George Eliot (whose real name was Mary Ann Evans) grew up in the Midlands.
She and her brother Isaac spent happy hours exploring the countryside.

14. Silas Marner: Background
Eliot came to know the landscape and its people well.
The village of Raveloe is drawn from her memories of her childhood home.

15. Silas Marner: Background
Raveloe is an idyllic country village not yet touched by the Industrial Revolution.

16. Silas Marner: Background
Before the days of textile factories and power looms, weavers such as Silas were essential.
They made all cloth laboriously by hand.

17. Silas Marner: Background
Thread was spun from natural substances such as cotton fiber and sheep’s wool.
Weavers then used hand looms to weave the thread into cloth.

18. Silas Marner: Background
By the 1820s, hand-loom weavers were losing their work to machines.
Power looms could turn out cloth faster and more cheaply than a weaver working by hand ever could.

19. Silas Marner: Discussion Starters
In general, which do you think makes people happier, love or money? Why?
Think about your family and other loved ones. What kinds of responsibilities does love bring?

20. Silas Marner: Discussion Starters
Based on what you’ve learned about Silas’s history, why do you think he lives as a hermit?
How do you think he will feel when a small child enters his life?