George Eliot

Prompts: The Mill on the Floss (1860)
pagination from 2007 Broadview edition
edited by Oliver Lovesey

“The pride and obstinacy of millers and other insignificant people, whom you pass unnoticingly
on the road every day, have their tragedy too, but it is of that unswept, hidden sort,
that goes on from generation to generation and leaves no record . . .” (275).

Week One: chps 1-9 (Bk 1: chps 1-9)

1. the tone of George Eliot’s opening chapter suggests a romantic past far removed from the pragmatic present.  Do the chapters which follow retain this dream-like atmosphere, or do the characters and situations within our ken seem palpable and realistic?

2. does Mr. Tulliver promote Tom’s education for Tom’s benefit?

3. are Mr. and Mrs. Tullivers’ conversations comic or sobering?

4. do the Tullivers’ estimations of their daughter’s incorrigibility prove accurate?

5. in what ways does Maggie rebel against traditional prescriptions for female behavior?

6. does the narrator’s description of Riley’s mental operations (chp. 3) cast Mr. Tulliver’s gentleman friend as a knowledgeable, intelligent man?

7. does the narrator encourage the reader to judge harshly any of the characters we’ve seen in action thus far?

8. does the narrator promote character analysis by way of appearances?

9. George Eliot’s narrator plays child psychologist a few times. What does she reveal about the perspective of the young?

10. does the narrator’s assessment of Tom’s combative nature apply equally well to any other characters?  “[His] mind was prone to see an opposition between statements that were really quite accordant” (103).

11. are Tom and Maggie complete opposites?

12. do any of Bessie Tulliver’s sisters avoid the edge of the narrator’s subtle but sharp sarcasm (chp. 7)?

13. does Mr. Tulliver’s abrupt shift in chapter eight bespeak a wishy-washy or a sensitive man?

chps. 10-20 (Bk 1: chps 10-13 & Bk 2: chps 1-7)

1. why does Maggie push Lucy (into the muddy water)?

2. what commentary on female education does George Eliot provide during Maggie’s encounter with the gypsies?

3. how does the narrator go about demonstrating throughout chapter twelve her thesis that, in St. Ogg’s during the historical period in question, “ignorance was much more comfortable than at present, and was received with all the honours in very good society” (185)?

4. is Mrs. Glegg, as described by the narrator, a sympathetic character in any way (chp. 12)?

5. describe the way in which Mrs. Tulliver’s good intentions accelerate her husband’s rush towards a financially foolish course of behavior.

6. does the narrator extol or deprecate the system of education experienced by Tom Tulliver under the Rev. Mr. Stelling’s tutelage?

7. in what ways is Tom made to recognize his limitations in chapter fourteen?

8. under what particular sexist (but typical) notion of Mr. Stelling’s does Maggie sink while she is visiting Tom at school?

9. is Mr. Tulliver justified in his enmity towards Mr. Pivart and Mr. Wakem (chp. 15)?

10. why is Tom predisposed to dislike Philip Wakem, and why does he end up befriending him anyhow?

11. the narrator tells us that “perception predominates over thought and emotion” within Tom Tulliver (201).  What does this mean, and how does it manifest itself in his character & actions?

12. how has Philip Wakem’s disability shaped his character over time?

13. who is more responsible for the enmity that springs up between Philip and Tom?

14. what about Philip Wakem immediately attracts Maggie?

15. what about Maggie immediately attracts Philip?

16. why might George Eliot insert the painful incident with the sword into chps 19 and 20?  What does this event do for Philip?  What for Tom?

17. does the tragedy related at the end of Book Two seem likely to mature or defeat the two children victimized by it?

Week Three: chps 21-29 (Bk 3: chps 1-9)

1. what complex of fatal flaws leads to Mr. Tulliver’s financial troubles?

2. what does Eliot mean by “primitive love” as she describes Maggie’s affection for her ailing father (278)?  Why employ the word “primitive”?

3. how does the Tullivers’ situation illuminate the property laws which, in this period, sharply distinguished men from women?

4. the narrator tells us that Maggie hates “blame” in all shapes and sizes because she has been the target of it all her life and has seen it lead only to division (284).  How does Maggie’s notion fit neatly into George Eliot’s social ethos?

5. who is the most, and who the least, helpful in generating ideas that will help the Tullivers move forward out of their present situation?

6. does Tom Tulliver become a more sympathetic character in this week’s reading?

7. explain this distinction between “perception” and “comprehension” which Eliot reiterates with the reintroduction of Bob Jakin.

8. is the extreme nature of Mrs. Tulliver’s tendency to make situations worse at all implausible?  Focus on chapter twenty-seven (Book 3, chp 7) in your response.

9. does Mr. Wakem seem a mean-spirited, vengeful man?

10. why does Mr. Tulliver decide to work for a man he hates?

"Books Got Her" (1872)
Ivan Kramskoi

Dr. Paul Marchbanks
pmarchba@calpoly.edu