Teachers Outlines for Studies in English | Page 7

plot, to stop long enough
to grasp all the essential features. So many important lessons for the
beginner may be drawn from the structure of this book, from its
teaching, and from its representation of life, that it especially repays
thorough study.
III. Study of the Book as a Whole
SETTING AND SITUATION.--What means does the author take in
Chapters I and III to acquaint us with the time of the story? How
definitely can you fix it? (See p. 47, l. 22.)
What sort of place was Lantern Yard? Describe the people who
worshiped there. What was their social life? Why was their church
called a chapel?
Compare this place, where Silas first lived, with Raveloe in respect to
location, people, religious beliefs, wealth, social life, etc.
Although Raveloe is not on the map, in what part of England is it
supposed to be?
Do the descriptions, for example, of the company at the Rainbow or of
the party at the Red House, seem like caricatures or like pictures from
real life? Give reasons.
Has the author been true to the life of a certain place and time? (See
Introduction, p. 34.) Is the setting closely interwoven with the story, or
could the scene have been changed without loss of interest to New
England, or to some other place, fifty or a hundred years later? Give
reasons.
PLOT.--Make a list of the most important scenes (seven or eight in all),
note the train of incidents that leads to each, and the suggestions in
each that prepare us for the further development of the story. Show that

there are two distinct stories separately introduced, but finally woven
together.
Note in what places these distinct stories touch each other and how they
are knitted together. In the arrangement of the scenes is there any
attempt at contrast? (See Introduction, p. 40.) Are any of them merely
episodes that might be omitted without loss to the story? Most of the
scenes mark a climax. Is there any one scene so interesting and
important by reason of the characters brought together and the facts
unfolded that we may call it the climax of the story?
Is there unity in the plot?
What use is made of Marner's cataleptic fits in the development of the
plot?
How are we prepared for the explanation of the mystery of the lost gold?
(See p. 94, ll. 24-29; p. 97, ll. 17-20; p. 241, l. 29; p. 242, l. 3; p. 268, ll.
3-21.)
Why does the author cause Marner to go back to Lantern Yard and fail
to learn anything of his former friends and the results of their injustice?
How many of the principal characters are brought into the last chapter?
Is what is said of them, and what they say themselves, characteristic?
Has the scene any beauty in itself?
Sum up the features that make it a fitting conclusion.
CHARACTERS.--From what classes of society does the author take
her characters? Is she equally successful in dealing with the different
classes?
Contrast Nancy and Priscilla. Which is the more interesting? Why?
Trace the changes that take place in the characters of Silas Marner and
Godfrey Cass.

Do the other characters change too, or are they essentially the same
throughout the story?
Do you think Marner's sudden loss of faith seems probable in view of
his religious devotion?
What is the significance of the Sally Oates incident (p. 65) in Marner's
life?
What effect did the gold have upon him? Contrast this with the
influence of Eppie.
In the development of Marner's character, what is the significance of
the scene at the Rainbow when Marner tells his neighbors of the loss of
his gold?
What sort of man was Godfrey at the beginning of the story? Was there
any excuse for him in his lack of manliness? State the struggle going on
within him the night before he told his father about taking Fowler's
money. What was the effect on him of telling only a little of his secret?
Why did he at last tell Nancy all? What was his punishment?
INTERPRETATION.--What idea does the development of Silas
Marner's character illustrate?
Does the author's devotion to this idea mar at all your interest in the
book as a story?
What truth does Godfrey Cass's life illustrate?
What satire do you find on people or customs?
METHOD OF NARRATION.--Who tells the story?
Could the author have made one of the characters tell the story just as
well? Give reasons.
Does the narrator write as though in some mysterious way she knew all
about the characters, or does she write only what she might have seen

and heard?
To what extent does she use dialogue?
How do we become acquainted with the characters?
Find several passages where the author interrupts the