The Mill on the Floss - George Eliot

I remember once reading a comment written by George Eliot, in which she said that she always hoped for books in which the less pretty, dark haired girl triumphed rather than the elfin blondes. The Mill on The Floss is the tale of the dark girl triumphant - for the man prefers her to her pretty blond cousin. It is also a tale of homour and courage in the face of social disapproval, and finally the fate of the heroine is not a happy one. The plot then - the section of the book deals with the heroine's early life - her adoration for her older brother, her parent's pretentions and errors. Her father's foolishness leads the family into abject poeverty. We ...

As one of my set texts for a degree unit in Victorian Literature, I was meant to read The Mill On The Floss. I like to keep up with my reading and I like to do well with my work. I didn't enjoy the novel at all, although I had enjoyed previous Victorain Literature I had read. It's very much about the oppression of Maggie as a female and her eventual death...it is considered to be the first true realist novel. It did not appeal to me at all though. Some elements were far too serious and much of the story felt far too miserable for my liking....it's nice to have a _little_ humour, even if it is only comic relief. ...

The Mill on the Floss is a great read by George Eliot. Written in the nineteenth century, it nevertheless has many useful parallels to twenty-first century life. Basically it is a novel about a girl called Maggie, who, impulsive even as a child, elopes with her cousin's fiance. The story is based very much around Maggie's thoughts and feelings and she is a heroine who you really begin to care for, unlike her narrow-minded brother Tom. The Mill on the Floss is a well-written and paced story which moves the reader through a variety of emotions, ranging from amusement, which then culminates in the poignanncy of the tragic ending. George ...