The Mill on the Floss Summary Book II Chapter I to VII

The Mill on the Floss
Book II Chapter I to VII
MANSUR SALEEM
MA ENGLISH
1

About the Author
 Mary Anne Evans, English novelist and leading writers of the Victorian age. She used a male pen
name George Eliot, to ensure her works to be taken seriously. Born in 1819 on a farm in Warwick-
shire a beautiful countryside that she later described in her novels.
 In 1840 she moved to cooventry and met with intellectuals end free-thinkers. These contacts, her
own studies in religion and philosophy, caused her to abandon her evangelical beliefs in 1841 she
read rationalist works, which influenced her to rebel against dogmatic religion, and she remained
a rationalist throughout her life.
 In 1851 she moved to London and fell in love with George Henry Lewes, a philosopher, scientist,
and critic. Lewes, though, was married with three children and couldn’t get a divorce. Openly
defying convention and public opinion the two went to live together and they always regarded
themselves as married. When George Lewes died, she married a man some twenty years younger
that she was. These two events were the great scandals for the society where she lived in. She
died eighth months after her marriage, in December 1880.
 In terms of general popularity George Eliot was regarded by her contemporaries as inferior to
dickens, she was also considered something more then a “mere novelist”. she was considered as a
great teacher of moral law similar only Wordsworth. she now occupies a central position with
dickens and she was compared to her great European contemporaries Gustave Flaubert and Lev
Tolstoj.
2

Key Facts about the Novel – 1/2
 Genre · Victorian Novel, Tragedy
 Time And Place Written · England, 1859–1860
 Narrator · Unnamed, alive for Maggie Tulliver's Life and narrating The Events many years
later.
 Setting: Time 1829–1839 Place St. Ogg's In English midlands
 Major Conflict · Maggie must choose between her inner desire toward passion and sensuous
life and her impulse towards moral responsibility and the need for her brother's approval and
love.
 Rising action Incurious Tom is sent to school, while Maggie is held "uncanny" for her
intelligence. Mr. Tulliver's pride and inability to adapt to the changing economic world causes
him to lose his property in a lawsuit against Lawyer Wakem and eventually die as the result
of his fury toward Wakem. To Tom's dismay, Maggie becomes secretly close to Wakem's
sensitive crippled son, Philip.
3

Key Facts about the Novel – 2/2
 Climax At the age of nineteen, Maggie visits her cousin Lucy and becomes hopelessly
attracted to Lucy's wealthy and polished suitor, Stephen Guest, and he to her. Stephen
and Maggie are inadvertently left to themselves for a boatride. Stephen rows them
further down river than planned and tries to convince Maggie to elope with him.
 Falling action Maggie parts with Stephen, arguing that they each cannot ignore the
claims that Lucy and Philip have on them. Maggie returns to St. Ogg's several days later
and is met with repudiation from the entire town and from Tom. Philip and Lucy
contact Maggie and forgive her. The Floss floods, and Maggie seizes a boat and rows to
the Mill to save Tom. Their boat is capsized by floating machinery, Tom and Maggie
drown in each other's arms.
 Themes The claim of the past upon present identity; The effect of society upon the
individual; The importance of sympathy; Practical knowledge versus bookish knowledge
 Motifs The disparity between the Dodsons and the Tullivers; Music; Animal
 Imagery; Dark and light women
 Symbols · The Floss; St. Ogg; Maggie's eyes
4

Main Characters – 1/3
 Maggie Tulliver - The protagonist of The Mill on the Floss. The novel tracks Maggie as she grows
from an impetuous, clever child into a striking, unconventional young woman. Maggie's closest
tie is to her brother Tom, and she seeks—and constantly feels denied—his approval and
acceptance. Maggie is clever and enjoys books, the richness of intelligent conversation, and
music, but her family's downfall lends her a quieter, troubled side that tends toward self-
abnegation. With her dark skin, dark hair, and dark eyes, Maggie is often associated with the
Tulliver side of the family, and, specifically her father's sister, Mrs. Moss.
 Tom Tulliver - The Tullivers' older son. Tom has his own clear sense of duty, justice, and fairness,
and these standards affect his action more so than emotion. Tom has affection for Maggie, but he
dislikes her impetuous way of doing what she wants, assuming that she knows better than Tom.
When Mr. Tulliver goes bankrupt, Tom must go to work at a young age and with little experience
other than the Latin and Euclid he has learned in school. Tom brings the family out of debt and
becomes a promising young worker at his uncle Deane's company, Guest & Co. Tom may be in
love with Lucy Deane, but he focuses only on his work.
5

 Jeremy Tulliver - Maggie’s and Tom’s father, works the mill on the Floss river. He is fond of
Maggie, especially her cleverness, and often takes her side in family quarrels. Tulliver is an
affectionate man, who is soft with his daughter, wife, and sister, yet his bitterness toward Mr.
Wakem consumes and changes.
 Elizabeth Tulliver - Maggie's mother. She is a dull-witted, stout, blond woman. Her husband's
bankruptcy makes her confused and all she can do is wonder what she has done to receive such
bad luck. She likes Tom more than Maggie as children, but she grows prouder of Maggie as
Maggie grows tall, striking, and more demure.
 Phillip Wakem - The sensitive and intelligent son of Lawyer Wakem, hunchbacked classmate of
Tom, and friend to Maggie. Of small stature and with a pale face, Philip is often described as
"womanly." Philip's love of art, music, and knowledge go some way toward counteracting the
severe sadness he feels about his deformity. He falls in love with Maggie the year they meet in
secret during Maggie's father's bankruptcy.
6

 Stephen Guest - Stephen Guest is courting Lucy Deane but has not yet proposed
marriage. He is the son of the senior partner of Guest & Co., where both Tom and Mr.
Deane work. Stephen is handsome and self-assured. Though he cares for Lucy, and for
the life they would have together, he falls unexpectedly in love with Maggie, drawn to
her strikingly different qualities.
 Lawyer Wakem - Lawyer Wakem is a powerful, and increasingly wealthy member of St.
Ogg's society. He remembers his late wife lovingly and is very indulgent but close to his
deformed son, Philip. Wakem holds strict ideas about class and money. He is scornful of
the vindictive Mr. Tulliver.
7

Historical Context – 1/2
Education
 Schools run by the state did not exist in England until 1870. Before that time, parents could send
their children to any of four different types of school: private, endowed, church, and ragged.
Anyone could open a private school, and no particular qualifications were required, so these
schools varied greatly depending on the skill of the teachers. In The Mill on the Floss, the
Reverend Stelling's school is a private arrangement, and as Eliot shows, Stelling is obviously not a
very gifted teacher.. The Church of England, as well as other religious groups, also ran schools.
Ragged schools were established by the Ragged School Union, founded in 1844, to educate the
poor.
 Women often did not attend school, but those in the wealthier classes had private governesses
who schooled them in ladylike "accomplishments" such as painting, drawing, and music.
8

Historical Context – 2/2
Role of Women
 In the mid-nineteenth century, women were expected to marry and have children. Because they were not allowed
to enter any jobs. In addition, because money and property were inherited only through males, it was almost
impossible for a woman to be single and financially independent even if she had wealthy parents, because her
brothers or male cousins would inherit everything from them, leaving her without an income. Those who, like
Maggie, did not have wealthy parents and were not married had to find work, but their need to work was
regarded as somewhat shameful, both for them and for their families. Maggie planned to become a governess;
other work available to women included washing clothes, factory work, farm labor, domestic service, sewing and
prostitution.
 Women were considered the property of men; a girl belonged to her father until she married, after which she
belonged to her husband. A woman had no legal rights; even if someone committed a crime against her, she could
not prosecute. If a woman entered the marriage with an inheritance, it became her husband's when they married,
and he could spend it on anything he pleased. Women could not obtain divorces, even if their husbands were
abusive or unfaithful, and if they ran away, they could be arrested, brought back to their husbands, or imprisoned.
 All of these laws and customs made life very difficult for women who, like Maggie Tulliver, found it hard to fit the
mold of quiet and submissive womanhood.
 Nevertheless, some women did rebel against these strictures; George Eliot, who lived with George Henry Lewes
without being married to him, was one of them.
9

Chapter I – Tom’s First Half – 1/3
 Tom is having a terrible time at school with Mr. Stelling. Tom’s old school was not too bad overall. And Tom
finds school boring and useless.
 Turns out that Tom is the only pupil at Mr. Stelling’s, which makes his situation really awkward. Mr. Stelling is
a nice guy but he doesn’t really understand how to interact with kids, and he has a very narrow view of
education. Tom has to learn lots of traditional stuff, like Latin, and do a lot of rote memorization.
 Tom is confused by Mr. Stelling, who is very firm in the schoolroom, but is nice and jokes with Tom at dinner.
Tom has a life crisis and worries that he’s somehow wrong about everything. Mr. Tulliver is under the
impression that Tom is getting a very different sort of education. He wants Tom to learn things like math and
accounting. But he doesn’t express himself very well and Mr. Stelling is under the impression that Latin
grammar and Greek geometry is exactly what Mr. Tulliver had in mind for Tom.
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 Tom makes slow progress and Mr. Stelling is convinced that Tom is an idiot. Since he fails continually and
frustrates Mr. Stelling, Tom becomes depressed and embarrassed. Tom becomes so desperate that he even prays
for help with his Latin grammar.
 Tom misses the mill and his dog and playing outside and being a boy. His only friend at the Stelling’s house is
their baby daughter, Laura. Mrs. Stelling makes Tom babysit her a lot and Tom actually enjoys playing with her.
Tom misses his own sister.
 Finally, Maggie comes to visit Tom. Mr. Tulliver brings her and notes that Tom’s schooling is going well, even
though Tom complains about it. Maggie announces that she’ll help Tom with school and he’s annoyed. Mr.
Stelling is charmed by Maggie.
 Tom and Maggie go to the study and discuss his school books. After talking about Latin, Maggie announces that
she’ll be a clever woman one day and won’t be in a perpetual bad mood like her aunts. Tom says she’ll be
conceited and he won’t like her at all. Maggie says that’s mean and he has to like her since they’re related.
11

 Maggie then goes off to read Tom’s Latin grammar book and enjoys learning new words. Maggie then
helps Tom study and their study session is a bit of a train wreck, since Tom can’t remember anything
and Maggie keeps mispronouncing things. Tom keeps insulting Maggie since she’s showing off how
smart she is.
 Maggie stays with the Stellings for a fortnight, or two weeks. Mrs. Stelling finds Maggie odd. Mr.
Stelling likes Maggie, but he points out that girls are shallow and can’t really learn anything in depth.
Maggie is upset by this and Tom laughs at her.
 Finally, it’s Christmas and Tom gets to go home for a vacation. He’s thrilled to be back and the mill is
very pretty in the winter, so says the narrator.
12

Chapter II – The Christmas Holidays – 1/2
 The narrator describes how the Tulliver house is very cheery at Christmastime. But Tom notices that
something seems a little off. Turns out that Mr. Tulliver is in a terrible mood. Some man in the neighborhood,
a Mr. Privart, is trying some new irrigation techniques and it’s interfering with Tulliver’s Mill, which runs on
water power. This new guy is also a client of Mr. Wakem, the evil lawyer.
 Mr. Tulliver keeps ranting and Mr. and Mrs. Moss are confused by the whole thing. Mr. Tulliver announces
that he’ll make Tom an engineer so that he can figure out this irrigation business. Tom is rather alarmed by
that announcement. He thought he’d run a mill just like his dad. Mrs. Moss and Mrs. Tulliver agree that
getting involved in lawsuits is a bad idea and they hope Mr. Tulliver won’t do it.
 (Historical Context Lesson! In the early and mid-nineteenth century, the legal system in England was going
through a lot of changes. It was becoming more like the modern legal system and lawsuits were becoming
much more common. Lawsuits were a bit of a free-for-all, though. Lots of people got involved with them and
lots of people lost all their money by the time the lawsuits were done. People often weren’t familiar with
legal procedures in this period and many were screwed over by lawyers and the often highly inefficient and
slow legal system. So Mr. Tulliver’s ill-advised involvement in lawsuits was actually fairly common.)
13

Chapter II – The Christmas Holidays – 2/2
 We learn that Mr. Tulliver has a history of getting involved in lawsuits and legal disputes. Mr. Tulliver’s
own lawyer, Mr. Gore, isn’t really the best of lawyers. He actually sounds a bit like Barry, the world’s
worst lawyer, from Arrested Development. Mr. Wakem is unfortunately a superstar lawyer, albeit an
evil one.
 At the end of his holidays Tom tells his dad that he heard a rumor: apparently Mr. Wakem is sending
his son to study with Mr. Stelling.
 Mr. Tulliver says it’s true and tells Tom to be nice to the son since he’s deformed. He says that Mr.
Wakem obviously thinks Mr. Stelling is a good teacher, so it’s all cool really.
 Tom is not looking forward to meeting a deformed Wakem.
14

Chapter III – The New Schoolfellow – 1/2
 Tom goes back to school and meets Philip Wakem. Philip has a hunchback and Tom is
uncomfortable around him. Philip and Tom are both proud and shy so they don’t say much to
each other during their first meeting. It’s all very awkward.
 Tom notices that Philip is not only deformed, but he also looks a bit like a girl. Philip is pale and
small and has curly brown hair.
 (Quick Historical Context Lesson: Philip most likely suffered from a condition like scoliosis, or a
curving of the spine. Back in this period they weren’t able to medically correct it. A lot of people
in this period also disliked people with deformities and thought that they were somehow bad,
so Philip would have dealt with a lot of prejudice against him.)
 But Philip is a good artist, and Tom is intrigued by his pictures. So the two finally strike up a
conversation over drawing. Philip says he taught himself to draw and Tom is impressed.
15

Chapter III – The New Schoolfellow – 2/2
 It turns out that Philip already knows Latin and he’s at Mr. Stelling’s to learn some more advanced
subjects.
 Tom then asks Philip about his dad, which makes Philip uncomfortable.
 The boys discuss school: Philip says he can learn the things he wants to in the future and he’ll just
study Latin and stuff for now. Tom likes this plan.
 Philip then impresses Tom with his knowledge of Greek and Roman history and all the cool battles.
 We learn that Philip is fifteen and Tom is nearly fourteen.
 Tom starts talking about fishing and Philip thinks fishing is dumb. The boys are called to dinner
before they can argue about it.
16

Chapter IV – The Young Idea – 1/2
 Tom and Philip never really bond as the weeks go by, since they have very different personalities. Philip is
pretty moody and sensitive and Tom tends to bluster about and offend Philip without really meaning to do
so.
 Tom starts taking drawing lessons and is bummed since he is only allowed to draw nature scenes and and
other stuff that he considers boring.
 The narrator gives us a lengthy run down about the state of education in this period. Education was
basically a crapshoot and people were really lucky to get a decent or a useful one. Tom was clearly not so
lucky.
 Mr. Stelling continues to think that Tom is a moron and sticks to his ineffectual method of teaching since
he doesn’t know any other way to do it.
 But luckily Philip takes some of the pressure off of Tom and Mr. Stelling is distracted by his one smart
pupil. With Philip’s help, Tom does pick up some things and starts maturing too.
17

Chapter IV – The Young Idea – 2/2
 Tom befriends a local named Mr. Poulter, who was a soldier back in the day. Mr. Poulter criticizes the whole of
military history and tells Tom stories about his own battle exploits. Mr. Poulter also shows Tom his sword and
Tom is duly impressed. Mr. Poulter agrees to show Tom some battle drills and Tom runs off to get Philip.
 Tom bursts in and interrupts Philip while he’s playing the piano. Philip is annoyed and snaps at Tom. We learn
that Philip doesn’t like Mr. Poulter, who is often rude to him. Tom gets mad in return and yells at Philip and calls
him a girl and insults his father.
 Tom storms back out and Mrs. Stelling comes in to check on Philip, who is crying. Philip lies and says that he has
a toothache and that’s why he is upset.
 Tom meanwhile goes back out to watch Mr. Poulter. He begs Mr. Poulter to let him keep his sword for a few days
and, responsible adult that he is, Mr. Poulter agrees. Tom hides the sword in his room and is excited to show it
to Maggie, who is coming to visit again next week before going off to a boarding school with Lucy.
18

Chapter V – Maggie’s Second Visit
 Tom and Philip are no longer speaking and only talk to one another when Mr. Stelling is around.
 Maggie shows up and Tom is glad.
 Maggie instantly likes Philip since she pities him.
 Tom runs upstairs, telling Maggie that he has a surprise for her and that he’ll show it to her later that day.
 The boys and Maggie gather in the school room to do homework. Philip is instantly charmed by Maggie
and wishes that he had a nice sister like her. Tom then drags Maggie upstairs for his big surprise.
 He makes Maggie close her eyes and, when she opens them, she sees Tom, dressed up with a fake
mustache, holding a real sword. Tom starts swinging the sword around and Maggie freaks out and says
he’ll hurt himself.
 Maggie was right, since Tom quickly drops the swords and stabs himself in the foot. Maggie starts
screaming and the whole household is in turmoil.
19

Chapter VI – A Love Scene
 Tom is terribly worried that he will be lame, or have a limp, for the rest of his life. Mr. Stelling doesn’t think to
reassure Tom, but luckily Philip asks about it and goes to tell Tom the good news: he won’t have a permanent
injury. Tom and Philip reconcile and Philip hangs out with Tom and Maggie, telling them fun stories and Greek
myths.
 A few days later Maggie and Philip are alone in the school room. Philip asks Maggie if she could love a brother
like him and Maggie says yes, but that she’d love Tom best still. But she’d feel sorry for a deformed brother.
 This makes Philip uncomfortable and Maggie quickly assures Philip that she thinks he’s very smart and likes
him a lot. Maggie also assures Philip she won’t forget him when she goes away and Philip says he’ll always
remember her. He wishes he had a sister like her.
 Philip tells Maggie that he likes her eyes and Maggie is surprised to note that Philip seems to like her better
than Tom. Maggie gives Philip a kiss on the cheek.
 When Mr. Tulliver comes to fetch Maggie, she praises Philip to him. Mr. Tulliver tells Tom not to get overly
friendly with Philip, since he is a Wakem. Once Tom gets better, the two boys grow apart again due to their
differing personalities.
20

Chapter VII – The Golden Gates are Passed
 We jump forward in time – Tom is now sixteen and has been studying all the while at Mr. Stelling’s. Tom and
Philip never recover their temporary friendship and Maggie rarely sees Philip anymore.
 Mr. Tulliver is now engaged in his lawsuit with Mr. Privart and Mr. Wakem, and Maggie is sad that this probably
means the end of her relationship with Philip.
 Despite his rather ineffectual education, Tom is now a self-confident young man who is looking forward to
finishing school. He is confident that his father’s lawsuit will be settled soon.
 One day Maggie, now thirteen, shows up unexpectedly. Maggie has awful news: their father has lost his lawsuit
and the family is now financially ruined. Tom is horrified and is suddenly thrust into the adult world without
warning.
 To make matters worse, their father is very ill and seems to have lost his mind – he doesn’t recognize anyone and
is really out of it. Tom quickly goes to tell Mr. Stelling the news and the two Tulliver siblings head back home.
 The narrator closes the chapter by lamenting the loss of Tom and Maggie’s childhood innocence and hints that
their lives are going to get much worse in the future.
21

The Mill on the Floss Summary Book II Chapter I to VII

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The Mill on the Floss Summary Book II Chapter I to VII