A Book review: Mill on the Floss

The Mill on the Floss is a timeless classic written by Mary Ann Evans (known by her pen name George Eliot). Let's unravel the essence of the beauty of this novel.

George Eliot has beautifully used time to give a pace and rhythm to her novel, making it feel biographical. The novel can be analyzed in four phases: Introduction and Childhood, Tom's Adolescence and Maggie's Passion, Stephen Guest and The Decision, and The Final Reconciliation.

Often, we find that there are times in our lives when everything feels absolutely slow-paced, quiet, and mundane. Ironically, it is these very "ordinary days" of our lives that get etched onto our hearts, shaping our memories and self-belief in ways we usually don’t realize. As we grow, our lives may bring sudden moments of decision where we need to discern between right and wrong, needs and desires, holding on or letting go, and many other "to do or not to do" situations. These moments may be successfully navigated using our inner compass, which has been tuned and adjusted by those quiet moments etched onto our hearts, rather than the jazzy, glamorous, and glorious moments of our lives that resemble colorful Polaroid pictures captured by our minds.

Introduction and Childhood

Maggie, a petite, dark girl with curly tresses, is nothing like the other girls of St. Ogg's; that is, she loves to read books on philosophy, etymology, and other high-grade subjects that girls of her age specifically neither understand nor are fond of. Her older brother, who is not as intelligent as Maggie, recklessly complains of her antics to his mother, Mrs. Tulliver, who is particularly and unreasonably proud of her older son, just as much as she is embarrassed and condescending toward her daughter. Maggie is intriguing and impressive to her father, who feels amazed to find her so intelligent and sharp; however, his singular opinion is foreshadowed by the general response of society and Mrs. Tulliver's relentless reprimanding of Maggie.

Thankfully, Maggie, being a free-spirited, independent, and lively creature, rarely gets dulled by this and tags alongside Tom—the only young lad she knows of. Tom and Maggie banter from morning to evening, with Tom being rather punitive toward Maggie, while Maggie creatively acts and does things in a manner seemingly aimed at seeking her due revenge from Tom. However, her pure, innocent, and passionate heart almost instantly regrets her doings and feels guilty when she finds Tom perturbed and irked by her very presence. Then, in her guilt trap, she compensates him by showing her deepest affection, which obviously goes unreciprocated by Tom, who finds her miserable.

Yet, owing to her vast pool of knowledge and superior set of skills, Maggie spends her days quenching her thirst by reading books and gaining worldly insights by listening to her father's daily affairs. Dampened by society's norms, Maggie is denied the higher, worthy schooling that her mother considers unreasonable and far too expensive for Maggie. Stripped of the opportunity for financial and literary independence, Maggie's days are more often spent in the few yards of the Mill (owned by her father), her house, and the meager stream (the Floss) that flows near it.

Tom's Adolescence and Maggie's Passion

As years pass by, Tom as an adolescent becomes further independent of Maggie and explicitly twitches whenever he chances upon meeting her. Like in his childhood, he maintains a superiority complex over Maggie owing to his close resemblance to his maternal family, while Maggie, who is perceived as relatively wild in her activities, finds herself even more lonesome as Tom begins lodging away from her place of residence. Nonetheless, her passion for life is unbridled and becomes stronger in force, akin to a stream of water obstructed by a stone wall.

Being emotionally intelligent, Maggie is compassionate toward the unfortunate Philip Wakem, who interprets it as love and finds himself lucky to have Maggie as his companion. Meanwhile, his presence benefits Maggie's quest for knowledge (since Philip is older than her, he studies interesting academic books)—much like a shrub benefits from the presence of a willow tree. Her gloomy, uncertain, and mundane days are deepened by her father's sudden demise. This news, more than any other, was a blow to Maggie, as her only benefactor and secret supporter was no longer by her side, which also meant an unleashed reign of Mrs. Tulliver and a show of shouldering "family responsibilities" by Tom. This was, needless to say, another "Oh, my darlin' Tom" moment for Mrs. Tulliver.

Stephen Guest and The Decision

The time post-Mr. Tulliver's demise seemed to have divided the household: Tom stayed with Bob (his business partner), while Maggie stayed at her aunt's place. However, before Mr. Tulliver passed away, he ensured his "wench" was safeguarded, and thus he made a last wish to Tom to always care for, look after, and love his sister dearly. This did have a profound impact on how Tom felt toward Maggie, especially owing to the somber promise he had made to his dad.

Maggie, dispirited by her meager surroundings and her aunt's condescending behavior, was warmly invited to stay by her fair-skinned, gentle cousin, Lucy Deane. Lucy was at that time courting the tall, affluent, respectable Mr. Stephen Guest, who found her to be absolutely tameable and pretty, possessing the ordinary and benevolent traits toward relatives that he sought in a decent wife. While Lucy was fond of Maggie, she held an inadvertent childhood perception of Maggie as being "dark-skinned," passionate, and not like "other" girls. Furthermore, when she discussed Maggie's stay with Stephen and received a pessimistic image he held for the "daughter of Mrs. Tulliver," Lucy personally sought no threat from her cousin.

On the contrary, Stephen and Maggie's first meeting was anything but ordinary, as Stephen at once was beholden by the extraordinary, unique beauty of Lucy's "tall cousin," which was further enhanced by Maggie's well-spoken, intelligent, and fiery traits. Stephen found himself involuntarily bound in raptures of love toward Maggie, but was conflicted in outward mannerisms so as to feign connection with Lucy, with whom his engagement was not yet confirmed. Interestingly, Lucy, in her airs of superior living and being compared to Maggie, remained rest assured of no amiable feelings from Stephen toward Maggie, choosing to rely on Stephen's prima facie display of verbal and physical affection. However, Stephen's unspoken attraction to Maggie did not escape the perceptive eyes of Philip Wakem.

Maggie, following a series of past occurrences and events, found herself no longer in "love" with Wakem and rather regretful of displaying compassion to him—which he had misinterpreted. Meanwhile, Maggie too had felt the kind of love she had always desired through Stephen's presence and his unmistakable tactics to display longing toward her. Ironically, Lucy, unaware of Stephen's real love interest and Maggie's love triangle, found it convenient to set up Philip Wakem with Maggie on account of their childhood acquaintance. Curiously, when Stephen found out about Philip's interest in Maggie at the primordial setting of the bazaar, he was beside himself with a desire to passionately pursue his love for Maggie and thus safeguard her from the malicious clutches of Philip.

Maggie, who was the epicenter of most of St. Ogg's high-society bachelors, found herself off and on dwelling on the deficiencies of her past and reliving those molasses-like memories that were etched on her heart as a child—moments with Tom around the mill, time spent with Philip in the Red Deeps, and Lucy's benevolence in changing Maggie's situation by inviting her to stay. Thus, despite her beauty, Maggie remained self-critical. As she spent more time all by herself, reveling in the quiet moments unlike her recent past where she struggled to become financially independent, she learned to relish her own beauty and pursued her hobbies and interests. Her most cherished moments were indeed those where Stephen conversed with her, silently dedicated his songs to her, or created situations while in the company of Philip and Lucy to excuse himself and spend time with Maggie.

Stephen's propensity of love for Maggie mounted paramountly when he rode down to visit Maggie at her aunt's place and confessed his love explicitly to her, marking it as the primary discussion they had regarding the morality of their mutual love and feelings, and resolving to be conscientiously parted from each other. This point commemorated the time in their relationship after which nature herself set up both of them to be wedded—much the opposite of Lucy's detailed futuristic planning for Maggie. Standing in solidarity with their resolution, Maggie and Stephen, though in the presence of each other, continued to make resistance toward their mutual feelings up until nature unraveled her play through Philip's last-minute withdrawal from his proposal to take Lucy and Maggie boating (thereby requesting Stephen to replace him) combined with Lucy's emergency visit to Mrs. Kenn, thus leaving Stephen and Maggie alone in each other's company.

Despite attempts to ignore each other, they finally agreed to go boating, where nature, by means of the Floss's current, propelled both of them further away from civilization and the company of villagers, with only each other to rely on. Stephen in solemn silence comprehended the play of nature and destiny, while Maggie too on her part surrendered to the rare, revered, and rejoicing company of Stephen—his tough, protective, and soft presence assured her. Stephen triumphantly devised plan after plan to finally have Maggie to himself as his wife. While nature was instrumental in bringing them together, it spoiled Stephen's primary plan, which was to go to Torquay, set off to York, and then go abroad. Alternatively, perceiving the stormy weather, Stephen decided to immediately get aboard a vessel headed to Mudport, where they would get married and then decide where to go. As he sought Maggie's consent, both of them boarded the vessel, followed by a delightful and peaceful night.

However, the dawn of the next day brought its own challenges, especially for Stephen, who had figured out the quizzical expression on Maggie's face and grew fearful: if Maggie denied marrying him, what would befall him? Upon arriving at Mudport, Stephen elaborated to Maggie on how their current situation and position were altered compared to where they were, logically justifying how their marriage would be in favor of all those they were previously concerned about, and most of all, beneficial to them both. Conditioned by a childhood where affection was strictly conditional, Maggie interprets her intense romantic happiness with Stephen not as a rightful gift, but as a moral transgression against her past. She mistakes self-destruction for righteousness.

Her obstinacy broke Stephen, as she was resolute to maintain "faithfulness and constancy" to all her past connections except toward Stephen, whom she perceived as "temptation." In other words, her self-critical being denied her own self a better and deserving situation—a life full of luxuries and true love, all that she yearned and had earned for herself, but threw under the bus in her self-atrocious behavior. Stephen was crestfallen beyond words, as he could see clearly before his eyes what Maggie's decision to part at such a fatal and fragile point in time would bring to her and him: devastation! However, a prejudiced opinion is still easy to alter, but childhood guilt and validation are not easy to undo as they are "etched" in the heart and have hardened over the years; hence, only a softening of the heart toward one's own being is the way out of such misery.

Final Reconciliation

Exactly as Stephen had explained to her regarding the consequences of her return and their parting, Maggie felt lonesome at St. Ogg's. Ironically, Maggie, who longed for financial independence and endeavored toward it, abandoned it when it finally knocked at her doorway for a path of dependence and misery. Mrs. Tulliver, for the first time, felt proud of Maggie's decision and comforted her daughter for all the agony she faced from the society of St. Ogg's. Mrs. Tulliver believed Maggie had chosen the right path, thereby reinforcing that Maggie's decision was nonetheless a consequence of her childhood beliefs.

Here, "character is destiny" holds true as a phrase: nature herself paved the path to a joyous union with Stephen and a fresh beginning in Maggie's life, but owing to her beliefs and childhood prejudices, Maggie's character is unable to acknowledge and accept the bounties her life offers her. On one hand, Maggie in her past accepted all kinds of turmoil, chalking it up to her destiny; on the other hand, when destiny landed her with Stephen, she took monumental effort to return back to square one and ensure that she disposed of destiny's opportunity.

While back at St. Ogg's, Maggie reconciled gradually with Lucy—thanks to the detailed letter Stephen addressed to his father regarding the incident; with Philip—who wrote back to Maggie explaining his faith in her and acknowledging his overbearing presence in her and Stephen's relationship; and finally with Stephen through his letter to Maggie. In it, he expressed his longing and unquenched love for her, asking her to merely write back the words "Come" to him, and that he would hasten back to her now that he knew she had cleared her image in St. Ogg's with those she cared about.

However, even at this second chance from destiny, Maggie refused to see and accept her heart's longing and the essence of love that she always yearned for—having previously misinterpreted compassion for love (especially with Philip). She determined to reject his proposal by burning away the "temptation," aka his letter.

As she pondered the misery her life would have to bear owing to her vow to remain parted from Stephen, considering her young age, she felt the cold waters of the Floss. Noticeably, here too nature guides her by means of the Floss: just as the current of the Floss had guided her away from St. Ogg's and toward Stephen, the Floss now guided her to her fate, which was the alternative outcome of her vow to never marry Stephen—death.

Finally, she makes the ultimate reconciliation with Tom, who realizes Maggie's extraordinary courage, zeal for life, and passion as she alone rows to Tom's residence near the mill to rescue him. Thereby, she accomplishes her childhood dream of winning Tom's affection before they close their eyes forever.

Eliot beautifully emphasizes how Maggie was disillusioned into believing that she had chosen the truth and stood by it by refusing Stephen. After her death, when Philip and Stephen revisit her grave, it reflects how her presence and joy were integral to their lives—contrary to what she perceived. This pierced the veil Maggie wore all her life that renouncing her pleasure would yield pleasure to those she had known. Though after the heavy flood all was restored, those in the grave—and the chances that destiny gave them—were permanently lost.