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ashleymae_ 's review for:
The Mill on the Floss
by George Eliot
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The ending left me with emotional scarring…
As far as my overall thoughts go:
* Eliot has done an excellent representation of how a troubled woman becomes ruined by a world that was never constructed for her to thrive in the first place, she is blamed for her lack of agency and for the advantages men take against her.
* I’m not sure Maggie truly loved either Phillip nor Stephen. What I mean is that she seems to have loved Phillip in a platonic, child-like way. She merely felt passion for Stephen, an infatuation. Maggie’s love and loyalty for her brother meant she could never share that unconditional love and loyalty with either of these men.
* Phillip and Stephen both projected their feelings onto Maggie, they would not have organically occurred without them showing Maggie the approval and attention her family never afforded her in childhood.
* Aunt Glegg offering her hospitality in the end to the outcast woman that was Maggie demonstrated further the bonds of family, which are stronger than anything else. Aunt Glegg was such a severe character throughout the novel and yet she showed her redeemable qualities when they were most important. Bob Jakin was kind too.
* The slow build of events was tiresome to me, however it was worth it in the end. I definitely prefer the pacing of the second half of the book but perhaps our attachments to Maggie and Tom could not have formed without the slow build.
* The heart-wrenching scene at the end, the life snuffed out like a candle light, on the raging waters of the Floss where they were raised, serves as a reminder that family feuds are trivial, be what they may.
* I am disappointed Phillip and Maggie could not be together, Phillip was a sweetheart, endlessly adoring and forgiving of Maggie, the only one who really SAW a crippled man like him. He risked so much to confront his father like a tell man, unlike the rash boyish immaturity displayed by Stephen in his design to elope.
* My final thought I will leave here is: I wonder if Eliot wrote this so that her brother would read it? I know the events are quite autobiographical and I also know that unfortunately the brother reached out to her not long before her death :((
As far as my overall thoughts go:
* Eliot has done an excellent representation of how a troubled woman becomes ruined by a world that was never constructed for her to thrive in the first place, she is blamed for her lack of agency and for the advantages men take against her.
* I’m not sure Maggie truly loved either Phillip nor Stephen. What I mean is that she seems to have loved Phillip in a platonic, child-like way. She merely felt passion for Stephen, an infatuation. Maggie’s love and loyalty for her brother meant she could never share that unconditional love and loyalty with either of these men.
* Phillip and Stephen both projected their feelings onto Maggie, they would not have organically occurred without them showing Maggie the approval and attention her family never afforded her in childhood.
* Aunt Glegg offering her hospitality in the end to the outcast woman that was Maggie demonstrated further the bonds of family, which are stronger than anything else. Aunt Glegg was such a severe character throughout the novel and yet she showed her redeemable qualities when they were most important. Bob Jakin was kind too.
* The slow build of events was tiresome to me, however it was worth it in the end. I definitely prefer the pacing of the second half of the book but perhaps our attachments to Maggie and Tom could not have formed without the slow build.
* The heart-wrenching scene at the end, the life snuffed out like a candle light, on the raging waters of the Floss where they were raised, serves as a reminder that family feuds are trivial, be what they may.
* I am disappointed Phillip and Maggie could not be together, Phillip was a sweetheart, endlessly adoring and forgiving of Maggie, the only one who really SAW a crippled man like him. He risked so much to confront his father like a tell man, unlike the rash boyish immaturity displayed by Stephen in his design to elope.
* My final thought I will leave here is: I wonder if Eliot wrote this so that her brother would read it? I know the events are quite autobiographical and I also know that unfortunately the brother reached out to her not long before her death :((
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Misogyny