Brother Jacob

"[I]t is a dreadful thing to make an idiot fond of you, when you
yourself are not of an affectionate disposition" (56).
George Eliot's "Brother Jacob" (1864)

Points for Reflection

G. Eliot's "Brother Jacob" (1864)

1. what are some of the more direct ways that George Eliot criticizes her anti-hero, David Faux?
2. not all of the narrator's criticisms of David involve overt and detached identification of his faults. What are some of the more understated, sometimes comical criticisms of David which are leveled at his personality and goals by Eliot's storyteller?
3. what are the most quantifiable, distinctive traits assigned Jacob Faux by Eliot's narrator?
4. does Eliot question the prevailing, proto-eugenicist assumption of her contemporaries that individuals with intellectual disabilities are less than human? Does she instead feed popular stereotypes?
5. does David's appraisal of his intellectually disabled brother Jacob echo that of the narrator himself? Does the narrator join in the denigration of this "idiot"?
6. do the other characters who encounter Jacob react to him in the same way as his brother David?
7. what roles does Jacob serve in this plot? Is he a moral yardstick by which the other characters' actions are measured? A plot catalyst? A wise fool like that we might find in Shakespeare's tragedies? An unnecessary, expendable accessory?
8. George Eliot is a self-proclaimed realist when it comes to characterization. Do the personalities encountered in this short story ring true?
9. what strategies does Eliot employ to bring about comic effects in "Brother Jacob"?
   
   
   
   illustration for "Brother Jacob"
   Cornhill edition
   

Dr. Paul Marchbanks
pmarchba@calpoly.edu