SILAS MARNER’S LOSING AND REGAINING FAITH IN GEORGE ELIOT’S SILAS MARNER: THE WEAVER OF RAVELOE

Abstract

George Eliot‘s Silas Marner: The Weaver of Raveloe is a story about the experience of a man. It tells about the main character‘s life, Silas Marner, that the readers can draw some lessons from the story. Silas Marner lives for a long time without any connection to other human beings and his faith in God. The novel tells about his recovery of purpose, faith and community. From the whole discussion, this thesis proves that his losing and regaining faith are influenced by some matters. There are eight groups of people who are influenced by religion: farmer, craftsman and retailer traders, big traders, official employee, working class, upper class, woman and the last is adult and young people. Silas Marner is categorized as young people. Young people here itself includes as the group that is easy to lose faith. Before Silas loses his faith, he is well-known as a religious person in his hometown, Lantern Yard. He always goes to church and attends the church prayer-meeting. One day, he gets a big problem that drives him into the infidelity. In his new place, Raveloe, Silas really becomes an infidel person. For almost fifteen years of his staying in Raveloe, he keeps silent and never interacts with others. He also ignores everything related to the church. In short term, Silas stays away from any church activities. It is indeed that some problems are able to shake someone‘s faith and it is posibble to cause the infidelity. The strongest thing that causes Silas Marner to be a normal people is the finding of the baby near his house. The three causes above drive him to be a friendly person and begins to regain his faith. By those steps of regaining faith, Silas finds his new life. The presence of his adopted-daughter, Eppie, adds his new life. By discussing it, the readers may know that love, whether it is love for God or someone, is able to change the strict mind of someone. The regaining faith of Silas brings the good effects toward his life. Finally, by analyzing George Eliot‘s Silas Marner: The Weaver of Raveloe, the writer may conclude that the serious problems are able to cause a change, including losing faith, that is a dangerous problem of someone. However, some factors that are experienced by Silas (the losing of his gold, getting support from neighbours and finding a baby) are able to melt his cold heart and change his losing faith into the regaining faith. The moral message can be taken from this novel is to trust God without any hesitation.