Significance of the Title of The Mill on the Floss

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Introductory

The Mill on the Floss is a novel by George Eliot with a strong auto-biographical bond. [Well, she was not George Eliot at all as in today's sense. It was the pen name of Mary Anne Evans. So, we can say that it is the actual name of George Eliot] Published in 1860, the novel centres around a mill named as Dorlcote Mill [these were small factories] and a family who owns and loses after a defeat in a lawsuit. Title of the novel straightly suggests that it is about a mill on a river which was known for its brutal storms. The title holds multiple angles to testify its significance. [Let's crack them one by one]

River Floss as a Symbol

The river serves is the central motif in this novel. Which not only represents journey life but Maggie's [uncontrolled] emotions as well. The deep channels of the river are symbolized with rigid habits of the people, unaffected beyond the weathering of time. Floss river is also signified as Eden where two kids, Maggie and Tom Tulliver play by and glance the tides. Its summer fest leaves its residue in the shape of a round pool where Maggie and Tom used to fish. The of flowing water provides enough energy to grind the wheat which was once cultivated through the water of the same river. Lastly, the river appears as a destructive force, claiming the lives of Tom and Maggie, who met on their final reconciliation. Thus the title signifies the symbolism of the river in many different ways.

The Final Reconciliation

The Final Reconciliation tends to denote the ending of the novel which is severely criticized by the critics. Lytton simply sums the deaths of the two protagonists, "the end is weakly prepared". It is not a faulty piece of a story. It rather signifies the allegorical representation of the English society in general. Eliot might have written this novel somewhere in the 1850s, the age of industrialization and materialism but she depicts the purity of the 1830s society through the Tulliver family. Because Tulliver Family, in the end, is subjected to be swept in the waves of the flood, the purity of 1830s is forced to decay by the industrial materialism of the Victorian Era. So, the title gives a hint to the final departure through the symbolic representation of the river.

Autobiographical Reference

George Eliot did not write this novel just to represent the suffering of a common Englander woman. She portrays her own life through the rough pages of the particular novel and most critics agree to this point. Just like Maggie, who was somewhat abandoned and scolded by her brother, Tom, Eliot was actually abandoned by her brother, Isaac. Who, after getting married and her father having kicked the bucket (died), she was not allowed to live with her brother in Griff House, which was their family abode. This is how Eliot gives a clue to her actual story through the story, narrated and illustrated through the title.

Conclusion

The Mill on the Floss is more than an ordinary title. It denotes the sudden shift from pure emotions to prejudiced materialism and the story of the author's own suffering accurately and effectively.

Significance of the Title of The Mill on the Floss

Introductory

River Floss as a Symbol

The Final Reconciliation

Autobiographical Reference

Conclusion

References and Citations

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