Community and Silas Marner

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by a strict religious sect. Silas was thought of as “a young man of exemplary life and ardent faith…” (6). Lantern Yard is the only community Silas knows. He is framed by his best friend, who stole some money and accused him of the theft. Painfully betrayed, Silas lost his faith not only in his fellow human beings but also in God. He expressed grievously to his hideous friend before he left his home town: “. . . . You stole the money, and you have woven a plot to lay the sin at my door. But you may prosper, for all that: there is no just in God that governs the earth righteously, but a God of lies, that bears witness against the innocent” (11). After being found guilty of a crime he did not commit he renounces his faith and is excommunicated from the community. With the renouncing of his faith Silas also lost his faith in mankind and became isolated from any sort of larger community. “Poor Marner went out with that despair in his soul- that shaken trust in God and man ...

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for other coins with unknown faces” (17). Marner returns from a trip to town to find gold missing. This loss is like his previous bout of desolation after the betrayal by William. Silas instinctively turns to his loom for meaning, solace and control, for his sense of reality is lost when his gold is taken.
Devastated that his “community” of family and friends are gone Silas rushes into Raveloe for assistance and ends up at the Rainbow tavern, where the locals have gathered for conversation and drink. Silas’ despair precipitates him into seeking help from the villagers. Silas receives kind treatment from the people of Raveloe, some of whom even call at his cottage to cheer him. At ...

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