When A Man Turns A Blessing From His Door, It Falls To Them As Take It In

Alrighty, folks! Are you ready for another book review? Today's book of choice is Silas Marner by George Eliot.

I read this book back in high school, and I remember really enjoying it. So, when it was next book on my bookshelf, I started reading with great excitement and high expectations...both of which were put out fairly quickly. Okay, that might seem a bit harsh. I'm not saying that Silas Marner is a bad book. It is, in fact, a great book, but it's written in a certain kind of way that is not my personal preference.

George Eliot's writing style involves lengthy and wordy sentences, and lengthy descriptions of things that do not quite seem as pertinent to the story or characters. In all honesty, reading this book took me quite a bit longer than I thought it would because I had to read slower in order to catch all of Eliot's sentences within sentences (thoughts breaking up other thoughts and then returning to the original thought, etc.). It felt like Eliot was using 100 words to describe something that only needed 20. Plus, the story felt really slow to me. Really slow. To me, it seems like there were several sections of content that didn't add anything to the story or characters. Perhaps they did in some way, but they didn't feel particularly necessary for me.

This was especially the case in the first part of the book. In part two, things seemed to move a little faster, and the content seemed more relevant. To me, the second half was much more enjoyable, and the book ended on a good note.

Summary

The story behind Silas Marner is actually a good story. It is focused on the main character, a man named Silas Marner. Once a devoted a highly religious man from a different town, Silas was not a quiet, solitary man who everyone is slightly wary of. He no longer believes in God or goes to church; he left that life behind when he was wrongfully accused of and framed for a crime he didn't commit...and framed by his good friend and colleague.

Since moving to his new town, Silas has become a weaver, and a good one. Over the years, he has collected a stash of gold from his work, and his money soon becomes his most prized possession...that is, until it's stolen. Suddenly, his life is dark, joyless, and empty. Then, one night, a lost girl wanders into his home, being drawn in by the warm fire. He adopts the girl, and she fills the holes in his heart with more than the gold did when he had it.

There are some additional side stories of other characters who are involved in this book, but that will get very detailed, and I don't want to give away anything. So, I'm just going to leave the summary like this.

Love Brings The Greatest Joy

To me, there are two main messages from this book. First: the truth of how having someone to love, or family, can fill your heart with all of the joy and purpose you need or want in life, more than any worldly possession can give. Before Silas adopted the young girl, his gold was his single most prized possession, and it meant the world to him. Every night, he would pull out his money bag, which he kept hidden from others, and count the coins, watching them glisten in the firelight. In short, he was obsessed. But material things don't last, as Silas eventually finds out. His gold is stolen, and he suddenly has nothing.

But the girl he adopts not only fills his heart with the joy he had with his gold, but even more so. His daughter becomes his most precious possession, and he does everything to make her happy. She means so much to him, in fact, that when his gold is discovered some 20-ish years later, he is practically un-phased by it.

I think in this book, Silas demonstrates just how we need to let people we love be the most important things in our lives. Truly, family and love will fill our hearts with more joy than anything we could ever purchase or acquire. And Silas isn't the only example of this. Just take a look at the world around us, and you'll see that true happiness lies in relationships, in having people who love us and whom we can love in return.

Don't Let Your Situation Define You

The second lesson I pulled from this book is to not let your situation define who you are or how you act. There are two instances in Silas' life where he is dealt some extreme misfortune: first, when he is framed by his friend for a crime he didn't commit, and secondly when his hold is stolen. In both situations, Silas retreated into a world of darkness, bitterness, and despair. "[Any] kindness fell on him as sunshine falls on the wretched - he had no heart to taste it, and felt that it was very far off him."

Because Silas was so wrapped up and focused on what wrong had come to him, any effort made to cheer him up or console him sort of dripped right off. In short, he focused only on the bad that happened and let that affect how he interacted with others (he didn't interact with them), and how he felt about himself.

Life is full of hardships (shocker, I know). We are going to face unfortunate events caused by our won doing or that of others. I'm not trying to downplay how difficult some of life's challenges can be; I completely understand and empathize that many of us experience things that we never thought we would, or things we feel we just can't get through. And I'm not saying you should never be sad or frustrated or discouraged by the things that happen. You are going to experience those feelings, and that's okay.

However, Silas let those feelings rule his life, which resulted in him having sufficient joy or no joy at all. That's no way to live. It's okay to feel cheated, angry, or disappointed at times, but we shouldn't let our situations control how we live out our life. Instead, we can mope for a bit, but we need to soon push that aside and focus on the good things that are still around us. I'm not saying that will make challenges go away or make things better right away, but it can definitely be happening in your life. And I'm confident that by not letting the negative control your life, you will be able to face your challenges with greater strength, hope, and success.

Final Thoughts 

This is just one other thought I had and wanted to share. There's this quote from the book: "When we are treated well, we naturally being to think that we are not altogether unmeritorious, and that it is only just we should treat ourselves well, and not mar our own good fortune."

Read that again. Isn't it powerful?! Really quickly, unmeritorious means "unworthy, lacking value," etc. So, essentially, this quote is saying that as we are treated well, we start thinking that we, ourselves, are not unworthy, that we have value. And as a result, we should treat ourselves well! Have you ever had an experience like that? I know I have. There have been many times in my life where I'm sort of beating myself up, putting myself down, when someone says something nice to me or about me. Almost instantly, I feel better about myself, and I'm reassured in the thought of "Maybe I'm not as bad as I thought."

I'm positive all of us have experienced something like this before...which means everyone you meet has, too. In fact, they may be feeling a little low about themselves when you talk with them. You never know when someone is feeling a bit down -- let's be honest, we're all pretty good at hiding how we actually feel. So, treat them well! Always! Doing so can be just what they need to feel better about themselves and realize that they are worth and they do have value.

And when someone treats you well, especially when you are down, believe the good things they say, and take it to heart! Let those things rebuild your soul and your self-esteem because YOU DO HAVE WORTH. YOU DO HAVE VALUE! :)