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The Mill on the Floss (Oxford World's Classics)

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Powerful and moving, "The Mill on the Floss" is considered to be George Eliot's most autobiographical novel. Along with "Middlemarch" it is my favorite. Set in early 19th century England - St. Ogg's, Lincolnshire to be exact - this is the tale of gifted, free-spirited Maggie Tulliver and her selfish, spoiled brother, Tom, who were born and raised at Dorlcote Mill on the River Floss. Eliot's portrayal of sibling relationships is terribly poignant and plays a major part in the novel, as does the longstanding rivalry between two local families - the Tullivers and the Wakems.

From earliest childhood Maggie worships her brother Tom, and longs to win his approval, and that of her parents. However, her fierce intelligence and strong streak of independence bring her into constant conflict with her family. She finds, in literature, the kindness and love she longs for in life. "...everybody in the world seemed so hard and unkind to Maggie: there was no indulgence, no fondness, such as she imagined when she fashioned the world afresh in her own thoughts. In books there were people who were always agreeable or tender, and delighted to do things that made one happy, and who did not show their kindness by finding fault. The world outside the books was not a happy one Maggie felt. If life had no love in it, what else was there for Maggie?" Her nature, complex, passionate, sensuous, noble, intellectualized, and spiritualized, is of great importance to this novel, as is the pathos of her relationship with Tom.

Maggie's early years are brilliantly and unsentimentally portrayed from a child's perspective. The author structures a sequence of childhood's phases, which might appear, at first, to be random vignettes, but constitute an excellent psychological basis on which to build a character and motivation. Eliot once stated, "my stories always grow out of my psychological conception of the dramatis personae." Thus, the author chronicles Maggie's life as she grows from a precocious little girl to a strikingly attractive young woman, tall with full lips, and a "crown" of jet black hair. Her lack of social pretension makes her even more charming and likeable. As she matures, her conflicts with her brother, her family, even with her community, increase significantly. She, herself, feels torn between what is considered her "moral responsibility" and her search for self-fulfillment. Ultimately, she demonstrates honor and courage in the face of the disapproval of a narrow, tradition-bound society.

Parallel to, and intertwined with Maggie's story, is that of families Tullivur and Wakem. After Tullivur loses his mill and social respectability through bankruptcy, (a loss precipitated by a rash lawsuit he undertook), Wakem purchases it all. Mr. Tullivur agrees to stay on as manager. At first he seems resigned to his misfortune. However, within the space of a few pages he is swearing vengeance on the new owner and cursing him. He actually summons Tom to inscribe his curse on Wakem in the family Bible, and makes his son swear to uphold it. The feud becomes violent when Wakem, in the role of proprietor, appropriately corrects Tullivur's management of the mill. Of course the criticism is taken as an insult, and shortly afterward, upon meeting his boss on the road, Tullivur horsewhips him in "a frenzy of triumphant vengeance." Tom sees this uncontrolled outbreak of madness as the result of long repressed hatred. Mr. Tullivur never repents his beating of Wakem. His injured pride and sense of righteous indignation, justify him in his own mind. This lack of forgiveness is also demonstrated by Tom for his sister. In direct contrast, Maggie couples love with forgiveness.

As she reaches adulthood, Maggie finds herself torn between her relationships with three extremely different men: her proud, stubborn brother, Tom; Philip Wakem, a beloved friend who is also the son of her family's worst enemy; and a charismatic but unacceptable suitor. When Tom is thrown suddenly into the role of adult, after his father's death, he becomes obsessed with acquiring social status and power. He attempts to arrange a socially advantageous marriage for Maggie, and when she refuses, he severs ties with her.

I won't spoil your read with any further discussion of the novel's details, especially the dramatic conclusion. George Eliot writes with a keen sense of humor, especially when addressing the grotesque in the human character. Her narrative has great depth, as insight to character and social observations are more important to Eliot than pace and action. "The Mill On The Floss" is deeply romantic - a work of great beauty and a literary classic. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

"The Mill On The Floss" is based partially on Eliot's, (born Mary Ann Evans), own experiences with her family and her brother Isaac, who was three years older than she. Eliot's father, like Mr. Tulliver, was a businessman who had married a woman from a higher social class. His wife's sisters were rich, ultra-respectable, and self-satisfied. These maternal aunts provided the character models for the aunts in the novel. Like Maggie, Eliot was extremely intelligent, energetic, imaginative and unconventional. She did not fit traditional models of feminine beauty or behavior, causing her family a great deal of consternation. Eliot lived with a man who she had not married - a daring enterprise in Victorian England. By the time this novel was published, she had gained considerable notoriety as an "immoral woman."

In this edition writer and critic A. S. Byatt provides full explanatory notes and an Introduction further relating "Mill On The Floss" to George Eliot's own life and times.
JANA

George Eliot's works are varied and wonderful, and although this is not the book that she's most noted for, it is one that she held most dear. It is a "no-holds barred" autobiographical account of her own life. George Eliot's real name was Mary Anne Evans, but she used the pen name of George Eliot because society at that time thought it was not correct for women to be authors, and she wanted her books read on their own merits. In this book we read of Maggie Tulliver who was intelligent, imaginative, idealistic and ambitious like George (Mary Anne) herself. The book goes into the continuous conflict between Maggie and her environment, and the frustrations that she encounters in her search for fulfillment and love. George Eliot bared her soul in this novel, but it also contains her trademark wonderful dialogue and characterizations. I have read all George Eliot's works, and found them all richly and disturbingly illuminating. They certainly do make you think about her and the struggles that she encountered within the moral and religious strictures of her society.

The Mill on the Floss, by George Eliot, stands among the greatest nineteenth century British novels. As engaging and readable as anything by Austen or Dickens, this novel adds a degree of psychological and emotional complexity that few novels, of any period, can match.

The novel seems to have the breath of life in it, so that the characters and circumstances seem true and real, even to the modern reader so far removed from the pastoral life of two hundred years ago.

To those who may feel intimidated by the book, don't be. The writing is accessible to any 21st century literate and the controversies of Victorian-era farm life are far more compelling than they may appear at first blush. Give it a try; you won't be disappointed.

This was my first (of four, so far) George Eliot novel. It's also my favorite. Unlike Adam Bede or Silas Marner, I found the characters to be interesting and enjoyable. No, it's not a finely-crafted piece of literature like Middlemarch. And it might be a bit on the melodramatic side. But for some odd reason I found the story to be ultimately quite moving.

Other folks who I gave the book to gave it mixed results. No one disliked it, but most found the "brother-sister" element to be a bit corny. And pardon my sexism, but I thought the book would appeal more to women than men (since the main character is a teenage girl). Not so. This book is definitely "not for women only".

I imagine if you have a sentimental streak through your bones you will probably love this book.

Allowing myself the use of a preciously rare adjective, I will call George Eliot's "The Mill on the Floss" a Wordsworthian novel in the sense that it is a deeply personal work to the point of being semi-autobiographical, adores nature with imaginative poeticality, and shows a great affection towards a sibling. Like all of Eliot's major novels, it is a masterpiece of form, developing from a pastoral about childhood into a brooding love story concerning five young people who are motivated by a complex web of emotions involving pity, loyalty, and spite.

The two protagonists are Maggie Tulliver and her older brother Tom, whose father owns Dorlcote Mill on the river Floss near a town called St. Ogg's. Maggie, Eliot's presumable alter ego, is a normal little girl in most respects but extremely bright and quite mischievous, cutting off her hair to rebel against her remonstrative mother and nattering aunts and uncles and pushing her pretty cousin Lucy Deane into a puddle of mud in a fit of jealousy. Tom, on the other hand, is a pragmatist rather than a Fury; he lives strictly according to the principles set forth by their father and believes people should be held accountable for their actions. While Maggie enriches her mind through her own reading, her father, who believes girls have no need for education, sends the much less bookish Tom to a prosaic tutor named Stelling to fathom the mysteries of Virgil and Euclid.

While visiting Tom at Stelling's, Maggie meets the only other person in the novel whose intellect matches her own--Philip Wakem, a sensitively artistic but deformed boy whose father, a lawyer, is the sworn enemy of Mr. Tulliver. Philip, painfully aware of his unattractiveness, falls in love with Maggie because she is the only girl who has ever shown any interest in him; but Tom, loyal to his father and mindful of the harm Mr. Wakem has done to their family, warns her not to socialize with him. The trysts of Philip and Maggie--the hunchback and the tall, gawky girl--may seem like a grotesque parody of Romeo and Juliet, but there is touching sincerity and truthfulness in their scenes together.

Years pass, and a new man enters the story--Stephen Guest, the handsome heir to a shipping business which is co-owned by Maggie's uncle Deane (Lucy's father) and employs Tom, who is trying to make enough money to buy back Dorlcote Mill, swindled away by Mr. Wakem. Stephen is ostensibly Lucy's boyfriend, but he soon becomes attracted to Maggie, who has turned into a graceful young lady. He also happens to be Philip's friend, and this can lead to nothing good. Maggie is thrust into a gnawing dilemma--she loves Stephen but feels too much pity for Philip to abandon him; her love for Stephen is consumed by guilt. And on top of this, Stephen reveals himself to be remorselessly selfish, concerned only for his own happiness.

The ending, it must be said, is tragic, but not in the classical sense of being a consequence of the characters' flaws. It is more dramatic than it needed to be, but it may just be Eliot's expression of the eternal unity she felt with her brother, a fate not to be shared by any traditional romantic partner, and the novel could hardly have concluded with greater force and pathos. I praise many writers for a variety of skills, but Eliot stands high above the rest in her creation of these literary worlds of such extraordinary fineness and delicacy and in her exalted level of communication. In my opinion, the art of the novel has no greater practitioner.

Having read most of George Eliot's novels, I can say without reservation that I believe this one to be her finest. It's also likely her most accessible, and the pacing of it is superb. THE MILL ON THE FLOSS is a very autobiographical novel, to a heartbreaking extent. I highly recommend reading this one alongside a bio of Eliot as it really highlights the aspects of Maggie Tolliver that come directly from Eliot herself. A brilliant, brilliant read, and one of my favorite Victorian novels.

_The Mill on the Floss_ (1860) was George Eliot's third published book (after Scenes from Clerical Life and Adam Bede)and tells the story of Maggie and Tom Tulliver, two children who grow up in the middle-class rural community of St. Ogg's.

It has been a while since I last read Mill on the Floss, I think that the last time I did I was in my early 20s, just graduated from school. I got a lot more out of the book this time. I think it profits both with re-reading and age. The first time I read it I identified so strongly with Maggie that I practically skipped over everything dealing with the other characters. I found Tom loathesome and the ending of the book appalling.

As a slightly more adult human, I was able to read it for more than just Maggie's story and enjoy it even more. I was surprised by how compulsively I read it. I had every intention of stretching it out over several days, but I literally found that I could not stop reading it and carried it with me from room to room in the house. I laughed at Eliot's sly humor and this time around saw people like the Gleggs as people and not simply stock appendages of the story.

I think what makes Mill On the Floss such a powerful book (aside from the writing style, which is excellent) is this notion of the divided self which is being worked out both through Tom and Maggie. Tom has a firm clear sense of right and wrong and is always being forced to question or do injury to that sense because of his very difficult sister. On the other hand, Maggie cannot seem to find the right balance between self-indulgence and renunciation. She never manages a way to negotiate between the sharp emotions that she feels and her desire not to inflict the consequences of those emotions on her family and friends. It is a tragedy that neither of them ever really manage to understand each other and are constantly hurting and being hurt in their drive to do the right thing and be who they really are.

Interesting how Eliot plays with the tropes from all the popular weepy sentimental novels of the time. A young unattractive girl (unattractive because she has dark hair) overcomes poverty and goes on to attract the eye of the most fastidious and eligible man in town... However, in the world of St. Ogg's (unlike the novels of the sentimental sisters like Mary Jane Holmes) Maggie is unable to overcome her obstacles to happiness and is as trapped by her beauty and popularity as she was her unattractive hoyden girlhood. Given the position of women at the time and the strength of the social norms, it is unfortunately a much more believable view of the outcomes of things.

If you have not read Eliot, I would agree that it is not her best book (still Middlemarch, for me, and I would begin there first) but it is hugely thought-provoking and honest. It should make many a young woman of today count their blessings and thank the stars that the world has changed since the time Maggie Tulliver was a girl.

There were certain passages of The Mill on the Floss, Proust once told a friend, that never failed to move him to tears. No wonder: In its exact and evocative attention to detail, vivid characterizations and profound understanding of human thought and motive, The Mill on the Floss had an obvious and startling influence on A' La Recherche du Temps Perdu. The Mill on the Floss is melodramatic, sure, but melodrama was the bread and butter of Victorian English novelists; compared with David Copperfield, for example, The Mill on the Floss is a model of restraint. George Eliot creates here an indelible portrait of St. Ogg's, an English provincial town whose residents lead lives "irradiated by no sublime principles, no romantic visions, no active, self-renouncing faith." In particular, she creates Maggie Tulliver, one of the most memorable characters in all literature, whose quest for sublime principles and romantic visions puts her into direct conflict with her neighbors and with Tom, her stubborn, unimaginative brother. The book's tragic ending is superbly haunting, and has helped to make it a deserved favorite of readers for nearly 150 years.

From a technical point of view, I think that the writing is superb: the description are vivid (I particularly loved the description of Maggie as a little Medusa with her snakes shorn. The book is a mixture of the earnest and the farcical, and at points is extremely funny. The structure is carefully built, with the different metaphors of the river reflecting the state of mind of the characters. I found the end very unsatisfying, I was close to the end of the book before I found Maggie sympathetic, and I thought it failed the chief standard of a novel: to be an involving narrative.

I don't mind that the author speaks to the reader per se, but every time I got caught up in the narrative, it wasn't long before the story ground to a halt while Eliot delivered herself of a short essay. The nearly three pages asking the reader to think of villages on the Rhone and castles on the Rhine (neither of which I have ever seen), wore out my patience--it almost seemed like a joke. Both the critics that I read thought that modern readers were put off by the length of the book, but I can think of a lot of long modern novels. It's not so much the number of pages as the way they are filled.

Maggie Tulliver is apparently a seriously disturbed child, surrounded by insensitive adults who certainly can't help her. I feel sorry for her, but I don't like her. Wanting to be loved isn't the same as being lovable. For most of the book, Maggie is pretty self-absorbed. I pity her for her unpleasant relatives, but that doesn't mean that I find her sympathetic by contrast.

Maggie is destructively impulsive, probably hurting herself more than anyone else, but Eliot lost a great deal of my sympathy early on when Maggie allows her brother's rabbits to die of neglect. It is hard to understand how someone who is supposed to be devoted to him could have so completely forgotten his request to take care of them. The critics that I read pointed out that Maggie is always very sorry for what she does, but it seems to me that she is only sorry for how other people's annoyance will affect her. She never, until the end of the book, is remorseful at causing someone else pain. If she were, she would understand that her brother is reasonably angry, and not complain that he is cruel for not instantly forgiving her. Not to mention what the rabbits went through!

Eliot's view of Maggie and her father is that they are as they are, they cannot help themselves, but everyone else is responsible for their own conduct and for accommodating the Tullivers. I find it hard to be sympathetic to them when Eliot was so scathing about everyone else. I am probably projecting 21st century standards back on a 19th century book, but Tulliver acts against the advice of his wife and goes bankrupt in a law suit, which is rather self-centered and bullying. Maggie (and I suppose Eliot) feel that he should not be blamed for this. Certainly there is no point at railing at a person who is nearly comatose with distress, but he is in fact seriously at fault. [added later: I am reminded a bit of Mrs. Bennet in Pride and Prejudice. Both wives are presented in a very unflattering light as weak and trivial, but in fact they may be said to have a better grasp of reality than their more sympathetically portrayed but somewhat irresponsible spouses. One has to wonder what the authors were thinking in describing these women.]

I found Maggie much more sympathetic in Book 6 and after, but it and her romantic problems seemed a little contrived. The change in her from Book 5 is only partially accounted for; a lot of it is obviously just a set up for the Dramatic Ending.

I would like the book better if Eliot featured some intelligent resolution to Maggie's problems: she could have learned not to be so emotionally dependent upon her brother, she could have made another life for herself. The problems of her love life are indeed a dilemma and not easily solved, but the ending really seems like a cheat. I hope Eliot didn't mean this as encouragement for woman who found themselves at odds with social expectations. Even the reconciliation between Maggie and her brother makes me scoff. They had a big reconciliation scene earlier in the book and it didn't last, so this one doesn't seem meaningful. It is like the end of a television drama where decades of misunderstanding are permanently resolved in the last 60 seconds.

This is certainly a piece of literary history, and there are some great examples of writing in it, but I don't think it has held up as a novel.

And if you don't like this review, and even if you do, James M. Rawley has appended some very interesting comments, as well as writing an excellent review of his own.

Powerful and moving, "The Mill on the Floss" is considered to be George Eliot's most autobiographical novel. Along with "Middlemarch" it is my favorite. Set in early 19th century England - St. Ogg's, Lincolnshire to be exact - this is the tale of gifted, free-spirited Maggie Tulliver and her selfish, spoiled brother, Tom, who were born and raised at Dorlcote Mill on the River Floss. Eliot's portrayal of sibling relationships is terribly poignant and plays a major part in the novel, as does the longstanding rivalry between two local families - the Tullivers and the Wakems.

From earliest childhood Maggie worships her brother Tom, and longs to win his approval, and that of her parents. However, her fierce intelligence and strong streak of independence bring her into constant conflict with her family. She finds, in literature, the kindness and love she longs for in life. "...everybody in the world seemed so hard and unkind to Maggie: there was no indulgence, no fondness, such as she imagined when she fashioned the world afresh in her own thoughts. In books there were people who were always agreeable or tender, and delighted to do things that made one happy, and who did not show their kindness by finding fault. The world outside the books was not a happy one Maggie felt. If life had no love in it, what else was there for Maggie?" Her nature, complex, passionate, sensuous, noble, intellectualized, and spiritualized, is of great importance to this novel, as is the pathos of her relationship with Tom.

Maggie's early years are brilliantly and unsentimentally portrayed from a child's perspective. The author structures a sequence of childhood's phases, which might appear, at first, to be random vignettes, but constitute an excellent psychological basis on which to build a character and motivation. Eliot once stated, "my stories always grow out of my psychological conception of the dramatis personae." Thus, the author chronicles Maggie's life as she grows from a precocious little girl to a strikingly attractive young woman, tall with full lips, and a "crown" of jet black hair. Her lack of social pretension makes her even more charming and likeable. As she matures, her conflicts with her brother, her family, even with her community, increase significantly. She, herself, feels torn between what is considered her "moral responsibility" and her search for self-fulfillment. Ultimately, she demonstrates honor and courage in the face of the disapproval of a narrow, tradition-bound society.

Parallel to, and intertwined with Maggie's story, is that of families Tullivur and Wakem. After Tullivur loses his mill and social respectability through bankruptcy, (a loss precipitated by a rash lawsuit he undertook), Wakem purchases it all. Mr. Tullivur agrees to stay on as manager. At first he seems resigned to his misfortune. However, within the space of a few pages he is swearing vengeance on the new owner and cursing him. He actually summons Tom to inscribe his curse on Wakem in the family Bible, and makes his son swear to uphold it. The feud becomes violent when Wakem, in the role of proprietor, appropriately corrects Tullivur's management of the mill. Of course the criticism is taken as an insult, and shortly afterward, upon meeting his boss on the road, Tullivur horsewhips him in "a frenzy of triumphant vengeance." Tom sees this uncontrolled outbreak of madness as the result of long repressed hatred. Mr. Tullivur never repents his beating of Wakem. His injured pride and sense of righteous indignation, justify him in his own mind. This lack of forgiveness is also demonstrated by Tom for his sister. In direct contrast, Maggie couples love with forgiveness.

As she reaches adulthood, Maggie finds herself torn between her relationships with three extremely different men: her proud, stubborn brother, Tom; Philip Wakem, a beloved friend who is also the son of her family's worst enemy; and a charismatic but unacceptable suitor. When Tom is thrown suddenly into the role of adult, after his father's death, he becomes obsessed with acquiring social status and power. He attempts to arrange a socially advantageous marriage for Maggie, and when she refuses, he severs ties with her.

I won't spoil your read with any further discussion of the novel's details, especially the dramatic conclusion. George Eliot writes with a keen sense of humor, especially when addressing the grotesque in the human character. Her narrative has great depth, as insight to character and social observations are more important to Eliot than pace and action. "The Mill On The Floss" is deeply romantic - a work of great beauty and a literary classic. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

"The Mill On The Floss" is based partially on Eliot's, (born Mary Ann Evans), own experiences with her family and her brother Isaac, who was three years older than she. Eliot's father, like Mr. Tulliver, was a businessman who had married a woman from a higher social class. His wife's sisters were rich, ultra-respectable, and self-satisfied. These maternal aunts provided the character models for the aunts in the novel. Like Maggie, Eliot was extremely intelligent, energetic, imaginative and unconventional. She did not fit traditional models of feminine beauty or behavior, causing her family a great deal of consternation. Eliot lived with a man who she had not married - a daring enterprise in Victorian England. By the time this novel was published, she had gained considerable notoriety as an "immoral woman."

This edition has been edited by Gordon S. Haight, with an Introduction by Dinah Birch further relating "Mill On The Floss" to George Eliot's own life and times.
JANA