"Mill on the Floss" part 2

"Mill on the Floss"

  This novel by George Eliot is also long.  It was first published in three volumes in 1860.  The end of the second volume was so powerful, that I wish it had ended there.  However, the book club was reading the whole novel, so I continued on to an ending that left me gasping!

  The protagonist of the novel is Maggie Tulliver, who is a fascinating character throughout the novel. She is "a girl marked by intellectual distinction, a generously ardent nature and a strong capacity for feeling".  However, Maggie goes from excess to privation- there is no middle ground with her and she gets into great difficulty.  There are moral dilemmas, such as:  Is it possible to please others AND yourself?  

  But the most interesting and entertaining parts for me involved Maggie's mother and three aunts- the 'Dodson sisters'.
Quote:  "There were particular ways of doing everything in that family, particular ways of bleaching the linen, of making the cowslip wine, curing hams, and keeping the bottled gooseberries; so that no daughter of the house could be indifferent to the privilege of having been born a Dodson".
  But when Maggie's father has a stroke, her aunts are no help to Maggie's poor mother.  Generosity is not part of the 'Dodson' family.
  The main theme of the novel is Maggie's relationship with her brother Tom.  He resembles the Dodsons- very judgemental.  Poor Maggie tries to please him throughout the whole novel.
   Marvellous writing in parts, but also long and boring on occasion.