DOCSLIB.ORG

Louisa May Alcott and George Eliot on Class, Gender, and Marriage

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Louisa May Alcott and George Eliot on Class, Gender, and Marriage LOUISA MAY ALCOTT AND GEORGE ELIOT ON CLASS, GENDER, AND MARRIAGE By ELIZABETH MICHELLE MYERS, A.A., B.B.A., M.A., M.Ed. DISSERTATION IN ENGLISH Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Texas Tech University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Approved Dr. Ann Daghistany Ransdell Chairperson of the Committee Dr. Mary Jane Hurst Dr. Wendell Aycock Fred Hartmeister Dean of the Graduate School December 2010 Copyright 2010, Elizabeth Michelle Myers Texas Tech University, Elizabeth M. Myers, December 2010 Acknowledgments I would especially like to thank my committee chair, Dr. Ann Daghistany Ransdell, and my committee members, Dr. Mary Jane Hurst and Dr. Wendell Aycock for all of their patience, guidance, and support throughout my tenure as a graduate student at Texas Tech. ii Texas Tech University, Elizabeth M. Myers, December 2010 Table of Contents Acknowledgments .................................................................................................... ii Introduction ............................................................................................................... iv Background .......................................................................................................... iv Organizational Structure ...................................................................................... x Theoretical and Critical Context .......................................................................... x Chapter 1: On Becoming Louisa May Alcott and George Eliot .............................. 1 Birth & Family Background ................................................................................ 1 Childhood & Education ....................................................................................... 4 Becoming George Eliot ....................................................................................... 12 Becoming Louisa May Alcott .............................................................................. 30 Chapter 2: Adam Bede and Moods (1864 Edition) ................................................... 46 Class ..................................................................................................................... 50 Gender .................................................................................................................. 57 Marriage ............................................................................................................... 69 Chapter 3: The Mill on the Floss and Little Women ................................................. 84 Class ..................................................................................................................... 93 Gender .................................................................................................................. 105 Marriage ............................................................................................................... 122 Chapter 4: Middlemarch, Work, Daniel Deronda, and Moods (1882 Edition) ........ 139 Class ..................................................................................................................... 147 Gender .................................................................................................................. 159 Marriage ............................................................................................................... 174 Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 188 Works Consulted ....................................................................................................... 195 Works Cited .............................................................................................................. 197 iii Texas Tech University, Elizabeth M. Myers, December 2010 Introduction This comparative dissertation will explore in-depth the categories of class, gender, and marriage in both the writings of the American Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888), and the British author, George Eliot (1819-1880). In addition, and when relevant, additional topics and categories are investigated, including, but not limited to: religion, morals, race, and education. The primary Alcott fictional works to be studied include Moods (1864 & 1882), Little Women (1868-69), and Work (1873). The primary Eliot fictional works to be studied include Adam Bede (1859), The Mill on the Floss (1861), Middlemarch (1871- 72), and Daniel Deronda (1876). Additional works mentioned include, but are certainly not limited to, Alcott’s Little Men (1871), “How I Went Out to Service” (1874), Jo’s Boys (1886), and Eliot’s Scenes of Clerical Life (1857) and Silas Marner (1859). Background This dissertation uses Alcott’s Little Women trilogy (Little Women, Little Men, and Jo’s Boys) and Eliot’s The Mill on the Floss as the starting point for the comparisons. In the Little Women trilogy, Alcott recreates her own family in the March family. The real-life Alcott family consisted of Bronson and Abba May Alcott and their four daughters, Anna, Louisa May, Elizabeth, and May. The fictional family consists of Mr. March and Marmee, as she is affectionately known, and their four daughters, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy. Louisa May, the real-life second daughter in the Alcott family, creates Jo, the second daughter in the March family as her own fictional persona. Like the real iv Texas Tech University, Elizabeth M. Myers, December 2010 Louisa May Alcott, Jo is also a tomboy and a writer who possesses many of the same thoughts, ideas, and experiences as the real-life Louisa May. Likewise, Eliot does the same when she creates Maggie Tulliver in The Mill on the Floss. Eliot, who was born Mary Anne Evans, but was known by numerous pen names throughout her life, was greatly influenced by her immediate family and had a particularly special bond with her brother, Isaac. Maggie also shares a similar special bond with her brother, Tom, in The Mill on the Floss. However, Isaac and Mary Anne had their differences, both in terms of opinion and opportunities available, and this too can be seen in their fictional counterparts. Thus, Louisa May Alcott in some ways represents the fictional Jo March and George Eliot in some ways represents the fictional Maggie Tulliver. By studying the characters of Jo March and Maggie Tulliver, we can begin to study the two authors as well. In addition to both writers incorporating themselves as the main characters in their most popular novels, it is interesting to note one particular event which occurs in each novel and which happens to be an almost identical occurrence for both and thus furthers the similarities between the authors, their characters, and their novels. Although for different reasons, both Jo and Maggie cut their hair. Jo cuts her hair in order to earn extra money to help the family when Mr. March is injured in the war. Maggie cuts her hair in a rebellious moment after tiring of the constant remarks about her unruly hair and dark complexion and the constant comparison of her to Lucy Deane, her perfectly feminine blond-haired doll-like cousin. Despite the abhorrence of family members regarding their v Texas Tech University, Elizabeth M. Myers, December 2010 actions, the haircuts are befitting to both Maggie and Jo because of their tomboyish natures and both are representative of the principles for which each character stands. There are many other similarities as well as differences between the lives of the real women and their fictional counterparts, Jo and Maggie. Just like Alcott, Jo pursues a writing career, and like Alcott, she succeeds to become a famous children’s author. However, unlike Alcott who never married or had children of her own and only raised her niece after her sister’s death, Jo comes to believe at the close of Little Women that she is lonely and desires marriage and a family. Jo does marry, has two children of her own, and along with her husband, runs a school where numerous children, including her nieces and nephews attend and live. Eliot also shares many similarities with the character of Maggie. Eliot and Maggie are both plagued by the restrictions placed on women in nineteenth-century Britain. In Maggie, Eliot creates a young woman who is frustrated with these limits and who, despite all her brilliance and potential, can never seem to convince anyone that she is worthy of a good education. Maggie’s brother Tom, however, is sent to schools because he is a boy, despite his dislike for school and studying and his poor intellectual skills. Maggie, for whom studying and book-style learning comes much easier and faster, is denied this same education simply because she is a girl. While Tom is asking to not have to endure any more formal education, Maggie is begging to be sent to school, but all to relatively no avail. Instead, she is expected to marry, have a family, and in the meantime depend entirely on her father and brother for her own well-being. Eliot, who faced many of these same struggles in her own life, albeit with greater successes than Maggie achieves, nevertheless creates a character through vi Texas Tech University, Elizabeth M. Myers, December 2010 whom she can express these frustrations and demonstrate to her audience the many problems of gender equity in nineteenth-century Britain. Both Alcott and Eliot, at least to some degree, seem to wish for different endings for themselves and other women of their time period. Both appear to have achieved their desired careers, but
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Tolle Lege 2014
    TOLLE LEGE TOLLE TAKE and READ TOLLE LEGE TOLLE LEGE TAKE and READ VILLANOVA UNIVERSITY TAKE and READ TOLLE LEGE TOLLE LEGE TAKE and READ VILLANOVA UNIVERSITY Take “up and Read” TOLLE LEGE Villanova University A University in the Catholic and Augustinian Tradition A publication of the Office for Mission & Ministry | 2014 TABLE of CONTENTS Introduction vii I. Who are we? Catholic and Augustinian 1 An Intellectual Tradition 2 Veritas, Unitas, Caritas 7 Our Inspiration: 11 St. Augustine; St. Thomas of Villanova; St. Monica; St. Rita; St. Clare of Montefalco; St. Nicholas of Tolentine; Gregor Mendel, OSA History of the Order of St. Augustine 17 History of Villanova University 45 II. How do we do it? Augustinian Spirituality 59 The Rule of St. Augustine 66 Teaching and Learning 83 Persistence in Prayer 90 III. What do we hope to achieve? Community 155 Common Good 156 Inspiring Hearts and Transforming Lives 159 IV. Resources Mission Statement 161 Seal of the University 166 Glossary 168 Annotated Bibliography 191 INTRODUCTION This small book is intended to provide a brief introduction to Villanova University, its spirit, its heritage and history. The title, Tolle Lege, comes from the conversion scene in St. Augustine’s masterpiece of literature, philosophy and theology, Confessions, written around 397. The phrase is Latin for “take up and read.” Augustine took up Paul’s letter to the Romans and read a passage which changed his life. Whether you are a graduate of Villanova, a friend of the University or a prospective new student, this small book will not change your life, but it is designed to help you get to know, understand or appreciate even more fully, the community that is Villanova.
    [Show full text]
  • Hermaphrodite Edited by Renée Bergland and Gary Williams
    Philosophies of Sex Etching of Julia Ward Howe. By permission of The Boston Athenaeum hilosophies of Sex PCritical Essays on The Hermaphrodite EDITED BY RENÉE BERGLAND and GARY WILLIAMS THE OHIO State UNIVERSITY PRESS • COLUMBUS Copyright © 2012 by The Ohio State University. All rights reserved. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Philosophies of sex : critical essays on The hermaphrodite / Edited by Renée Bergland and Gary Williams. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-8142-1189-2 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 0-8142-1189-5 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-8142-9290-7 (cd-rom) 1. Howe, Julia Ward, 1819–1910. Hermaphrodite. I. Bergland, Renée L., 1963– II. Williams, Gary, 1947 May 6– PS2018.P47 2012 818'.409—dc23 2011053530 Cover design by Laurence J. Nozik Type set in Adobe Minion Pro and Scala Printed by Thomson-Shore, Inc. The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American Na- tional Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials. ANSI Z39.48–1992. 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 CONTENTS Acknowledgments vii Introduction GARY Williams and RENÉE Bergland 1 Foreword Meeting the Hermaphrodite MARY H. Grant 15 Chapter One Indeterminate Sex and Text: The Manuscript Status of The Hermaphrodite KAREN SÁnchez-Eppler 23 Chapter Two From Self-Erasure to Self-Possession: The Development of Julia Ward Howe’s Feminist Consciousness Marianne Noble 47 Chapter Three “Rather Both Than Neither”: The Polarity of Gender in Howe’s Hermaphrodite Laura Saltz 72 Chapter Four “Never the Half of Another”: Figuring and Foreclosing Marriage in The Hermaphrodite BetsY Klimasmith 93 vi • Contents Chapter Five Howe’s Hermaphrodite and Alcott’s “Mephistopheles”: Unpublished Cross-Gender Thinking JOYCE W.
    [Show full text]
  • Information to Users
    INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand corner and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps. Each original is also photographed in one exposure and is included in reduced form at the back of the book. Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher quality 6" x 9" black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order. University M crct. rrs it'terrjt onai A Be" 4 Howe1 ir”?r'"a! Cor"ear-, J00 Norte CeeD Road App Artjor mi 4 6 ‘Og ' 346 USA 3 13 761-4’00 600 sC -0600 Order Number 9238197 Selected literary letters of Sophia Peabody Hawthorne, 1842-1853 Hurst, Nancy Luanne Jenkins, Ph.D.
    [Show full text]
  • Anna Bronson Alcott Pratt
    ANNA BRONSON ALCOTT PRATT • Mr. Amos Bronson Alcott born November 29, 1799 as Amos Bronson Alcox in Wolcott, Connecticut married May 23, 1830 in Boston to Abigail May, daughter of Colonel Joseph May died March 4, 1888 in Boston • Mrs. Abigail (May) “Abba” Alcott born October 8, 1800 in Boston, Massachusetts died November 25, 1877 in Concord, Massachusetts • Miss Anna Bronson Alcott born March 16, 1831 in Germantown, Pennsylvania married May 23, 1860 in Concord to John Bridge Pratt of Concord, Massachusetts died July 17, 1893 in Concord • Miss Louisa May Alcott born November 29, 1832 in Germantown, Pennsylvania died March 6, 1888 in Roxbury, Massachusetts • Miss Elizabeth Sewall Alcott born June 24, 1835 in Boston, Massachusetts died March 14, 1858 in Concord, Massachusetts • Abby May Alcott (Mrs. Ernest Niericker), born July 26, 1840 in Concord, married March 22, 1878 in London, England to Ernest Niericker, died December 29, 1879 in Paris “NARRATIVE HISTORY” AMOUNTS TO FABULATION, THE REAL STUFF BEING MERE CHRONOLOGY “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project Anna Bronson Alcott HDT WHAT? INDEX ANNA BRONSON ALCOTT ANNA BRONSON ALCOTT 1829 By this point Minot Pratt was at work as a printer in Boston. He and his bride were married by the Reverend Waldo Emerson at his 2d Unitarian Church on Hanover Street in the North End — quite possibly this was the first couple which Emerson united in matrimony.1 NOBODY COULD GUESS WHAT WOULD HAPPEN NEXT 1. They would have three sons, one of whom, John Bridge Pratt, would become an insurance man and marry an Alcott daughter, Anna Bronson Alcott.
    [Show full text]
  • George Eliot (1819-1880)
    GEORGE ELIOT (1819-1880) Chronology 1819 Mary Anne Evans born at at Arbury Farm in Warwickshire. Her father, Robert Evans, was an overseer at the Arbury Hall estate, and Eliot kept house for him after her mother died in 1836. Her father remarried and Mary Ann had a good relationship with her two stepbrothers, particularly with Isaac, who played marbles with her and took her fishing. 1824-35 At the age of five she was sent to a local boarding school while Isaac was sent to school in Coventry. She became sternly Christian after her strict religious schooling. 1836 Her mother died and her elder sister married the following year so Mary Ann became her father´s housekeeper and companion. She continue to learn languages and in her own words: "used to go about like an owl, to the great disgust of my brother". 1841 Her father moved to Coventry hoping her daughter would meet a potential husband there. Their next- door neighbour, Mrs Abijah Pears, was the sister of Charles Bray, an enthusiastic social reformer and freethinker. Eliot made friends with the members of the Bray family, and began reading such works as An Enquiry into the Origins of Christianity. Mary Ann soon informed her father that she had lost her faith in Church doctrine. She soon gave up her Evangelicism in favor of a non-sectarian spirituality based on a sense of common humanity. She refused to attend church with her father and began work on a translation from German of Life of Jesus, a rationalist reexamination of some Bible sections.
    [Show full text]
  • The History of the First Presbyterian Church Charlottesville, Virginia
    The History of the First Presbyterian Church Charlottesville, Virginia “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” Luke 10:27 Robert E. Simpson Introduction Like many organizations with a time-honored history, the church documents its past in the tangibility of faces, official papers, portraits, material objects, and buildings. Expressed algebraically, history is the evidence of people added to places divided by time, a formula consciously present here. History, says the philosopher, counts Time not by the Hours but by the Ages. Time therefore is a vehicle by which each of us has traveled, history is knowing where that vehicle has been. The story of the First Presbyterian Church finds its beginnings back into the 18th century. This history will introduce you to many past and present citizens of Charlottesville and Albemarle County, and is but a speck in the story of the Church. To many we have not known, yet we have a sense of companionship. And, then there are those who we have known, and loved, and shared in Christian fellowship. For this history, I have relied heavily on primary sources: minutes of the various church courts; minutes of organizations of the church; letters; personal and written interview. In selecting items to be included, I have tried to make them representative of the life of the whole church. I realize that voices from the grave are mute, however, and items from the past which should have been included are known only to that great “cloud of witnesses” and to the Sovereign God.
    [Show full text]
  • Louisa May Alcott - Realistic Child
    133 Louisa May Alcott - Realistic Child of the Concord Renaissance Karen Ann Takizawa ルイザ ・メイ ・オルコット― コンコー ド・ルネッサンスの現実主義的落し子 カ レ ン ・ア ン ・滝 沢 1994年 、 清 泉 女 学 院 短 期 大 学 の ドラ マ セ ミナ ー の 学 生 達 が ル イ ザ ・メ イ ・オ ル コ ッ トの 代表作7若 草物語」を脚色し、上演することなった。 このことが、彼女の作品 と時代 につ い て 調 べ 、 マ サ チ ュ ー セ ッ ツ 州 コ ン コ ー ド(当 時 の 超 絶 主 義 の 中 心 地)に あ る 彼 女 の 故 郷 へ文学巡礼の旅 をするきっかけ となった。ルイザ ・メイ ・オルコッ トは、今は少女小説の 作 家 で あ る と思 わ れ て い る が 、 純 文 学 を 書 く作 家 で も あ り、 ま た 収 入 を 得 る た め の 作 品 も 書いた現実主義的作家でもあった。 Introduction In 1994, the students in my Drama Seminar at Seisen Jogakuin College chose to write and perform a play based on Louisa May Alcott's most famous work, Little Women. This project led to an investigation into her life and times and a literary pilgrimage to her former home in Concord, Massachusetts, both of which will be discussed in this report. The Place of Louisa May Alcott in American Literature Louisa May Alcott lived for much of her life in Concord, Massachusetts, where her father, Bronson Alcott, was active as one of the leaders of the nineteenth century Transcendentalist movement. Among his friends were three of the major American writers of the day, Ralph Waldo Emerson, author of Nature, Henry David Thoreau, 134 Bu!.
    [Show full text]
  • Coversheet for Thesis in Sussex Research Online
    A University of Sussex DPhil thesis Available online via Sussex Research Online: http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/ This thesis is protected by copyright which belongs to the author. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the Author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the Author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Please visit Sussex Research Online for more information and further details Elkington & Co. and the Art of Electro-Metallurgy, circa 1840-1900. Alistair Grant. A Thesis Submitted to the University of Sussex for Examination for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. September 2014. 2 I hereby declare that this thesis is solely my own work, and has not been, and will not be submitted in whole, or in part, to another University for the award of any other degree. Signature:……………………………………… 3 This PhD thesis is dedicated to my wife Lucy and my daughter Agnes. I would like to thank my wife, Dr. Lucy Grant, without whose love, encouragement, and financial support my doctoral studies could not have happened. Her fortitude, especially during the difficult early months of 2013 when our daughter Agnes was ill, anchored our family and home, and enabled me to continue my research and complete this PhD thesis. 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to thank my supervisor Professor Maurice Howard. Having nurtured my enthusiasm for Art History as an undergraduate at the University of Sussex from 1983-1986, when I approached him, 23 years later, about pursuing PhD research into Elkington & Co.
    [Show full text]
  • Charles Ives and Musical Borrowing
    Western University Scholarship@Western Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository 4-2-2012 12:00 AM Charles Ives and Musical Borrowing Allison C. Luff The University of Western Ontario Supervisor Dr. Emily Abrams Ansari The University of Western Ontario Graduate Program in Music A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree in Master of Music © Allison C. Luff 2012 Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd Part of the Musicology Commons Recommended Citation Luff, Allison C., "Charles Ives and Musical Borrowing" (2012). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 492. https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/492 This Dissertation/Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarship@Western. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository by an authorized administrator of Scholarship@Western. For more information, please contact [email protected]. CHARLES IVES AND MUSICAL BORROWING IN PIANO SONATA NO. 2 “CONCORD, MASS., 1840–1860”: SYMBOLISM, PROGRAM, AND CULTURAL CONTEXT (Spine title: Charles Ives and Musical Borrowing) (Thesis format: Monograph) by Allison C. Luff Graduate Program in Music A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Music in Literature and Performance The School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies Western University London, Ontario, Canada © Allison C. Luff 2012 WESTERN UNIVERSITY School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies CERTIFICATE OF EXAMINATION Supervisor Examiners ______________________________ ______________________________ Dr. Emily Abrams Ansari Dr. Jeffrey Stokes ______________________________ Dr. Edmund Goehring ______________________________ Dr. Bryce Traister The thesis by Allison Christine Luff entitled: Charles Ives and Musical Borrowing in Piano Sonata No.
    [Show full text]
  • The Role of George Henry Lewes in George Eliot's Career
    University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Faculty Publications -- Department of English English, Department of 2017 The Role of George Henry Lewes in George Eliot’s Career: A Reconsideration Beverley Rilett University of Nebraska-Lincoln, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/englishfacpubs Part of the Comparative Literature Commons, English Language and Literature Commons, Modern Literature Commons, Reading and Language Commons, and the Women's Studies Commons Rilett, Beverley, "The Role of George Henry Lewes in George Eliot’s Career: A Reconsideration" (2017). Faculty Publications -- Department of English. 186. http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/englishfacpubs/186 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the English, Department of at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Publications -- Department of English by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. Published in George Eliot—George Henry Lewes Studies, Vol. 69, No. 1, (2017), pp. 2-34. doi:10.5325/georelioghlstud.69.1.0002 Copyright © 2017 The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA. Used by permission. digitalcommons.unl.edudigitalcommons.unl.edu The Role of George Henry Lewes in George Eliot’s Career: A Reconsideration Beverley Park Rilett University of Nebraska–Lincoln Abstract This article examines the “protection” and “encouragement” George Henry Lewes provided to Eliot throughout her fiction-writing career. According to biographers, Lewes showed his selfless devotion to Eliot by encouraging her to begin and continue writing fiction; by foster- ing the mystery of her authorship; by managing her finances; by negotiating her publishing con- tracts; by managing her schedule; by hosting a salon to promote her books; and by staying close by her side for twenty-four years until death parted them.
    [Show full text]
  • The Hand of Humanity : Eliot's Religious Reformation in Middlemarch
    AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF Natasha C. Peake for the degree of Master of Arts in English presented on May 6, 1996. Title: The Hand of Humanity: Eliot's Religious Reformation in Middlemarch. Abstract approved: Redacted for Privacy ell As the embodiment of the religiously unsettled Victorian Era in which she lived, George Eliot sought to discover a system of belief that would allow her to reaffirm and maintain her feelings of faith and morality. She believed that the subjective nature of traditional Christianity needed to be replaced with a more objective belief system, one centered on humanity--the Religion of Humanity. The purpose of this thesis is to examine the means in which Eliot discovers and establishes this new sense of religious order in Middlemarch by reforming and incorporating traditional religious images and rituals. Specifically, by drawingupon the practice of the laying on of hands found in all of the predominant Church rituals--the sacraments, Eliot demonstrates the major turning points in the life and faith of her main character, Dorothea Brooke. With the employment of this religiously suggestive gesture, the ability to successfully combine the traditional religious rituals and sense of order with a secular belief system is actualized. Thus, by examining how Eliot relies on the laying on of hands to signify key moments in human existence, in much the same manner that Christianity does with the sacraments such as confirmation and ordination, we can attain a clearer understanding and appreciation of George Eliot's religious reformation in Middlemarch. ©Copyright by Natasha C. Peake May 6, 1996 All Rights Reserved The Hand of Humanity: Eliot's Religious Reformation in Middlemarch by Natasha C.
    [Show full text]
  • In Janet Dempster's Footsteps: Reminiscence
    University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln The George Eliot Review English, Department of 2016 In Janet Dempster's Footsteps: Reminiscence David Harper Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/ger Part of the Comparative Literature Commons, Literature in English, British Isles Commons, and the Women's Studies Commons Harper, David, "In Janet Dempster's Footsteps: Reminiscence" (2016). The George Eliot Review. 382. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/ger/382 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the English, Department of at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in The George Eliot Review by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. IN JANET DEMPSTER'S FOOTSTEPS: A REMINISCENCE By David Harper The road from Trent Valley Station down towards the town centre curves gently past the row of horse-chestnuts in Bond Gate with their white candles. To the young boy arriving to take up residence in Nuneaton it promised something new, always interesting, always just out of reach. From my earliest years I was a keen reader and felt the privilege of our local author's being one of the unquestioned greats; but it was George Eliot's north Warwickshire that initially attracted me, with The Mill on the Floss and Si/as Marner my favourites. This was reinforced by cycling the lanes for miles around, admiring the cottages and farmhouses, absorbing the atmosphere of the churches and, though much less consciously than she expressed it in a letter, 'being made happier by seeing well-cultivated land'.
    [Show full text]