Q.1
"'At first, I'd a sort o' feeling come across me now and then,' he was saying in a subdued tone, 'as if you might be changed into the gold again.'"
  • By using the word "again", Silas expresses his semi-magical belief that his stolen "gold" was somehow transformed into a living treasure
  • By using the word again, Silas expresses his semi-magical belief that his stolen gold was somehow transformed into a living treasure
  • By using the word "again", Silas expresses his semi-magical belief that his stolen gold was somehow transformed into a living treasure
  • By using the word "again", Silas expresses his semi-magical belief that his stolen "gold" was somehow "transformed" into a living treasure
Q.2
"He was so undivided in his aims that he seemed like a man of firmness."
  • Godfrey's firmness is only a matter of outward appearance, as Eliot's use of the word seemed implies
  • Eliot's use of the word seemed implies that Godfrey has only taken on the appearance of being a man of firmness
  • Godfrey's firmness is only a matter of outward appearance, as Eliot's use of the word "seemed" implies
  • Eliot's use of the word "seemed" implies that Godfrey has only taken on the "appearance" of being a "man of firmness"
Q.3
"Aaron was not indisposed to display his talents, even to an ogre, under protecting circumstances."
  • Protecting circumstances refers to the presence of Aaron's mother in Silas's cottage
  • The use of the phrase protective circumstances undermines Silas's "ogre-like" qualities
  • Although Aaron views Silas Marner as an ogre, he is persuaded by protecting circumstances to sing a Christmas carol in the cottage
  • By referring to Silas Marner as an "ogre" in the eyes of the young Aaron, Eliot reinforces the fairy-tale elements of the novel
Q.4
"Dunstan's own recent difficulty in making his way suggested to him that the weaver had perhaps gone outside his cottage to fetch in fuel, or for some such brief purpose, and had slipped into the Stone-pit."
  • In almost hoping for ill to have befallen Silas, Dunstan has morally "slipped" into evil thought which will be followed by evil actions
  • Dunstan's wishful thinking about the missing weaver appears to be punished when he falls into the Stone-pit himself
  • By imagining that the weaver had "slipped into the Stone-pit", Dunstan unknowingly predicts his own demise
  • All of the above
Q.5
"Was there not a drawer filled with the neat work of her hands, all unworn and untouched, just as she had arranged it fourteen years ago — just, but for one little dress, which had been made the burial-dress?"
  • The "little burial-dress" shows that Nancy and Godfrey had a child, but that it had died very young
  • "Little" and "dress" and "fourteen years ago" tell the reader that Nancy's and Godfrey's baby died
  • Eliot uses the "burial" "dress" to indicate that Nancy's one baby died
  • Eliot quietly uses the one missing dress to indicate the death of Nancy's and Godfrey's baby
Q.6
"Instead of a man who had more cunning than honest folks could come by, and, what was worse, had not the inclination to use that cunning in a neighborly way, it was now apparent that Silas had not cunning enough to keep his own."
  • The repetition of the word "cunning" emphasizes the ambiguous attitude the inhabitants of Raveloe have towards knowledge and skill
  • The villagers of Raveloe would approve of Silas's cunning if he used his skills in a neighborly way
  • At first, the villagers of Raveloe are distrustful of Silas because his "cunning" is not "neighborly", but they lose their "distrust" when he loses his gold
  • It is "apparent" that the theft suffered by Silas makes his neighbors more "neighborly"
Q.7
"Such colloquies have occupied many a pair of pale-faced weavers, whose unnurtured souls have been like young winged things, fluttering forsaken in the twilight."
  • Eliot uses the phrase young winged things to hint at the vulnerability of the young weavers
  • Eliot uses the phrase "young winged things" to hint at the vulnerability of the young weavers
  • Eliot uses the phrases young winged things and flutters to imply that the pale-faced weavers are creatures of twilight
  • Eliot uses the phrases "young winged things" and "flutters" to imply that the "pale-faced weavers" are creatures of "twilight"
Q.8
"But about the Christmas of that fifteenth year, a second great change came over Marner's life, and his history became blent in a singular manner with that of his neighbors"
  • By using the passive phrase "became blent", Eliot implies that Silas has little control over the direction of his life
  • By referring to the "changes" that happen to him, Eliot implies that Silas has little control over the direction of his life
  • Eliot uses the metaphor of lives being "blended" together in a village when Silas's life "changes"
  • Eliot shows that communities thrive when they become blent
Q.9
"The heap of gold seemed to glow and get larger beneath his agitated gaze."
  • In an almost magical transformation, Silas's gold seems to "get larger" and come to life
  • Silas is "agitated" because his gold is "glowing" and "getting larger"
  • The heap of gold only "seemed" to get larger and come to life
  • The "heap of gold" "gets larger" and makes Silas "agitated"
Q.10
"At first there was a little peevish cry of 'mammy', and an effort to regain the pillowing arm and bosom; but mammy's ear was deaf, and the pillow seemed to be slipping away backwards."
  • "Slipping away backwards" means that Eppie loses her mother
  • Death removes Eppie's safety and comfort when her mother physically and metaphorically slips "away" backwards
  • Death removes Eppie's safety by her mother's physical and metaphorical "slipping away backwards"
  • Eppie's mother slips away backwards when she dies
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