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Chapter 21
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Silas Marner, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Faith
Morality
The Individual and Society
Fear of the Unknown
The Limits of Human Knowledge
Summary
Analysis
Eppie and Aaron are married on a beautiful sunny day. Eppie wears a dress of white cotton, which Nancy begged that she be allowed to provide for the young bride. Eppie tells her father that on this wedding day he won’t be giving her away, but instead taking Aaron as his son. Priscilla and Mr. Lammeter stop to watch the wedding procession on their way to the Red House. Priscilla wishes Nancy could have had a child like Eppie, someone to occupy her and Godfrey’s minds above and beyond the lambs and calves.
Like many nineteenth century novels, the book follows “the Marriage Plot”: it ends with the wedding of Eppie and Aaron. While the domestic bliss of the ending cannot fully account for Marner’s unresolved past, or for Godfrey and Nancy’s childless home, it does show the way that bliss can coexist with the mysteries of the unknown and of moral fate.
Themes
Literary Devices
The wedding party passes into the humbler part of Raveloe and stops to greet old Mr. Macey, seated outside his door. Mr. Macey says he always insisted that there was no harm in Master Marner and that he’d live to see him get his money back. Guests are already assembled early at the Rainbow, chatting about Silas Marner’s strange story, and the great blessing he brought upon himself when he adopted a child. The villagers agree that they ought to wish a man joy who, like Marner, deserves all his luck and blessings. The group gives a cheer as the bridal party passes.
The wedding unites the Raveloe community in celebration. Mr. Macey reminds the wedding party that Marner wasn’t always trusted and liked in Raveloe. But, after his kindness towards Eppie, all the villagers agree that he deserves all his blessings—the village sees Marner as having achieved morally appropriate happiness. The cheering villagers show that Marner and Eppie are now truly loved members of Raveloe society.
Themes
The cottage at the Stone Pits now has a larger garden than Eppie ever dreamed of. Other alterations were made by Godfrey Cass to accommodate Silas Marner’s growing family in the home where they preferred to stay. As their beautiful home comes into view, Eppie exclaims that no one could be happier than they are.
Despite Marner’s restored faith and connection to his community, the novel ends with the true source of blessing in the weaver’s life—the mutual love between he and his daughter, the family they have built— and suggests that such things are more valuable than wealth, privilege, or even knowledge.
Themes
