Silas Marner : Chapters 8 -14. --Please read your selected questions before reading or listening to the corresponding chapter. Write out the answers to the selected questions. You may be called on in class to read your answer.

Chapter 8:

  1. What various opinions did people hold regarding the culprit of the theft?
  2. Who became the prime human suspect? How did he appeal to the imagination of the people?
  3. What was Godfrey’s attitude toward Dunstan’s absence?
  4. Do you agree with Godfrey’s statement about Dunstan: “He’ll never be hurt—he’s made to hurt other people”? Explain your answer.
  5. How much did Godfrey resolve to tell he father? How long did this resolve last?

Chapter 9:

  1. Characterize Squire Cass.
  2. Was Godfrey honest with his father? What did he reveal, and what did he keep t himself?
  3. What was the Squire’s attitude toward his sons? Was it justified? Was he partially to blame for the way his sons turned out? Explain.
  4. What was Godfrey’s attitude about his father’s methods of raising children?
  5. Why was Godfrey alarmed by what his father said about Nancy Lammeter?
  6. How does the author describe chance? What kind of person resorts to chance? How dos this discussion relate to Godfrey?

Chapter 10:

  1. What prevented Dunstan’s absence from being linked with the theft of Marner’s gold?
  2. How did Silas changed after the theft?
  3. How did the villagers respond to Silas? What advice did Mr. Macey, Mr. Crackenthorp, and Dolly Winthrop give him?
  4. What attitude did most of the inhabitants of Raveloe have toward going to church?
  5. Characterize Dolly Winthrop.
  6. Contrast Silas’s Christmas with that of most of the villagers and with that of Squire Cass.
  7. Why was Godfrey looking forward to New Year’s Eve? What did he dread?

Chapter 11:

  1. Describe Nancy Lammeter’s physical and moral qualities.
  2. Contrast Nancy and Priscilla. Describe their relationship.
  3. What did the people at the party think of Godfrey and Nancy?
  4. How did Nancy feel about Godfrey?
  5. Explain how the way Godfrey treated Nancy at the party show his irresponsibility and his reckless disregard of the consequences of his actions.

Chapter 12:

  1. Why was Molly traveling on New Year’s Eve?
  2. Explain the statement, “It is seldom that the miserable can help regarding their misery as a wrong inflicted by those who are less miserable.
  3. How did Molly’s little girl find her way to Silas’s hearth?
  4. Why did Silas associate the child with gold?
  5. Why did the child bring back Silas’s memories of Lantern Yard?

Chapter 13:

  1. What thoughts went through Godfrey’s mind while he waited to find out if his wife were alive?
  2. Why did Silas insist on keeping the child?
  3. Why did Godfrey not acknowledge the child? How did he justify his choice?

Chapter 14:

  1. Who proved to be the greatest helper and adviser to Silas? Explain.
  2. Why did Silas want to do everything for Eppie himself?
  3. Contrast the claims that the gold and that Eppie mad on Silas.
  4. What approach did Silas take regarding discipline? Why?
  5. How did Eppie change Silas’s life?