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Symbols
The town of Lantern Yard symbolizes the change that Silas Marner undergoes when he is betrayed and loses his faith in his home community and in God. Early in the book, the parish at Lantern Yard is a tight-knit, devote community, representative of the type of faith Silas Marner exhibits. He is committed to his belief in a benevolent God and trusts his safety and innocence to this God. Once he is falsely accused, his flight from Lantern Yard symbolizes his emotional separation from others with a literal physical separation. At the end of the novel, Marner returns to Lantern Yard a changed man, only to find that Lantern Yard has changed too and is virtually unrecognizable. Marner has a new faith that is no longer centered on a God who he thinks he can understand. The church community in Lantern Yard has vanished. The advance of manufacturing in Lantern Yard represents the change that is so feared by the villagers of Raveloe, and serves as an ominous indication that the Industrial Revolution will cause great changes across England.
Lantern Yard Quotes in Silas Marner
The Silas Marner quotes below all refer to the symbol of Lantern Yard. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 21
Quotes
“It's gone, child," he [Silas Marner] said, at last, in strong agitation—“Lantern Yard's gone. It must ha' been here, because here's the house with the o'erhanging window—I know that—it's just the same; but they've made this new opening; and see that big factory! It's all gone—chapel and all.”
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Lantern Yard Symbol Timeline in Silas Marner
The timeline below shows where the symbol Lantern Yard appears in Silas Marner. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1
...inner life, however, has taken a negative turn. Before living in Raveloe, Marner lived in Lantern Yard , where he had been surrounded by the activity and fellowship of his community. In...
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In Lantern Yard , young Marner had a close friend named William Dane, another promising young man who...
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When the senior deacon of Lantern Yard became ill, the young men and women of the community took turns sitting by his...
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...their engagement, and, in less than a month, Sarah married William Dane, and Marner left Lantern Yard .
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Chapter 2
Silas Marner discovers that his new home in Raveloe is vastly different than Lantern Yard . The familiar figures, church, minister, and doctrine of Lantern Yard had been the basis...
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...act of charity, Marner feels emotions that he has not experienced since his departure from Lantern Yard . Soon other villagers come to Marner's cottage seeking charms and herbs to cure sicknesses....
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Chapter 10
...upcoming Christmas day. Marner says he’s never been to church, only to the chapel in Lantern Yard .
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...impact on Silas Marner because it does not resemble the faith he had known in Lantern Yard . Flustered by her discussion, Marner attempts to return her good will by offering Aaron...
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Chapter 14
...to raise her properly. Christening is not a religious concept Marner was exposed to in Lantern Yard .
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...Eppie’s christening, but the practices and congregation are so different than what he knew in Lantern Yard that he cannot identify any of the experience with his old faith.
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Chapter 21
...achievable now that his money had reappeared. He wants to visit his old home in Lantern Yard and to see if anything ever came to light concerning his innocence and to ask...
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Silas Marner and Eppie arrive in Lantern Yard only to find a great manufacturing town, altered to a bewildering degree within the last...
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...in amazement. They are in front of a large factory where workers are leaving. “ Lantern Yard is gone,” Marner cries. The large factory has replaced the chapel and everything Marner remembers....
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Upon their return to Raveloe, Marner reports to Dolly Winthrop that the old Lantern Yard has completely vanished. He realizes that he’ll never know whether the truth of the robbery...
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