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The Mill on the Floss | Introduction

The Mill on the Floss, published in 1860, is based partially on Eliot's own experiences with her family and her brother Isaac, who was three years older than Eliot. Eliot's father, like Mr. Tulliver in the novel, was a businessman who had married a woman from a higher social class, whose sisters were rich, ultra-respectable, and self-satisfied; these maternal aunts provided the character models for the aunts in the novel. Like Maggie, Eliot was disorderly and energetic and did not fit traditional models of feminine beauty or behavior, causing her family a great deal of consternation.

By the time Eliot published The Mill on the Floss, she had gained considerable notoriety as an "immoral woman" because she was living with the writer George Henry Lewes, who was married, though separated from his wife. Social disapproval of her actions spilled over into commentary on the novel, and it was scathingly criticized because it did not present a clear drama of right and wrong. Perhaps the most offended reader was Eliot's brother Isaac, who was very close to her in childhood but who had become estranged from her when he found out about her life with Lewes; he communicated with her only through his lawyer. In the book, Eliot drew on her own experiences with a once-beloved but rigid and controlling brother to depict the relationship between Maggie and her brother Tom.

The Mill on the Floss Summary

Book 1: Boy and Girl
The novel begins with a description of the rural area where the action takes place, near the town of St. Ogg's and the River Floss. The narrator reminisces about a February many years ago and begins to tell the story of the Tulliver family.

Mr. Tulliver, who is the fifth generation in his family to own and run Dorlcote Mill on the River Floss, tells his wife that he will send his son Tom to a school where Tom can learn to be an "engineer, or a surveyor, or an auctioneer…or one of them smartish businesses as are all profit and no outlay." His wife advises him to ask her wealthier sisters and their husbands for their opinion, but Tulliver says he will do whatever he wants. However, he does decide to ask Mr. Riley, an auctioneer, who is somewhat educated, for his opinion. The two parents discuss their other child, Maggie, who takes after her father. She is as dark as Tom is fair and is clever but headstrong, uninterested in her appearance and in social niceties. True to her nature, Maggie comes to tea late with her hair mussed up, and when her mother urges her to do patchwork, she refuses. Her mother is bothered by the fact that Maggie is nothing like her and by the fact that she is much smarter than a woman "should" be.

Riley visits Tulliver, who says that he wants Tom to have an education but that it should be in a different field from his own, as he does not want Tom to grow up and take the mill away from him. Maggie, hearing this, is quick to defend Tom, and she distractedly drops the book she has been reading, The History of the Devil, a surprising choice for a young girl. Tulliver explains to Riley that he bought the book without knowing what it was about, because it had an interesting cover. Maggie discusses the book with them, but when she begins to discuss the devil, Tulliver tells her to leave the room. He tells Riley that she is too smart for a woman—unlike her mother, who is not noted for her intelligence. He tells Riley that he chose her as a wife for this very reason.

Riley advises Tulliver to send Tom to the son-in-law of a businessman he knows. This teacher is Reverend Walter Stelling; Riley offers to contact Stelling for Tulliver and says that Stelling can teach Tom anything he needs to know.

Tom is coming home from his current school, but Maggie is not allowed to go out and meet him. Angered, she dunks her freshly brushed hair in water and then beats up a doll she keeps in the attic. Bored, she heads out to talk to Luke, the miller. He is not interested in her clever talk and reminds her that she has forgotten to feed and water Tom's rabbits while he was gone, and they have all died. This upsets her, but she forgets about it when Luke invites her to visit his wife. They have an illustration of the biblical parable of the Prodigal Son in their home, and she is fascinated with it and happy that his father... » Complete The Mill on the Floss Summary