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The Silas
Marner Miracle
by Marilyn
Green Faulkner
Have
you had a life-changing miracle? Share
your experience with Meridian's Best Books Club.
Silas Marner,
the lonely miser, returns to his shack one day to find that his
precious gold has been stolen from under the hearth of his home.
Since the betrayal of his friends and the decline of his faith,
the hoarding of gold has become Silas's reason for being, and the
loss of his treasure literally paralyzes him. Standing at the door
of his cabin pondering the theft he is seized with a fit of epilepsy
and for a crucial moment remains frozen in the "chasm of his consciousnessÖholding
open his door, powerless to resist either the good or evil that
might enter there." (110) In the moment that the door of his home,
and his soul, stand wide open, the miracle enters that changes his
life forever.
A miracle is
defined as " a wonder, or a supernatural event." George Eliot strove
to redefine traditional Christianity for herself, and she examined
the idea of miracles through the story of Silas and his treasure.
Great pains are taken to build a scenario that illustrates the "natural"
quality of miracles. Silas is nearsighted and cannot see the woman
struggling toward his door with a child. He has epilepsy, which
causes a lapse of consciousness at a moment when his fire beckons
the cold child, stranded in the snow as her mother sinks equally
unconscious to the ground. It is only natural that a cold, hungry
child should be drawn to the little cabin's bright warmth, and the
child toddles to the hearth and falls asleep in front of the fire.
As Silas regains his sensibility he sees something glowing on his
hearth, and thinks for a moment it is his precious gold:
"Gold! - his
own gold - brought back to him as mysteriously as it had been taken
away! He felt his heart begin to beat violentlyÖhe leaned forward
at last, and stretched forth his hand; but instead of the hard coin
with the familiar resisting outline, his fingers encountered soft
warm curls. In utter amazement, Silas fell on his knees and bent
his head low to examine the marvel: it was a sleeping child - a
round, fair thing with soft yellow rings all over its head." (110)
Years later,
as Silas tries to understand the marvelous gift that was left on
his hearth that night, he refers to the fifteen dark years between
the loss of his religious faith and the birth of his love for the
child: "Since the time the child was sent to me and I've come to
love her as myself, I've had light enough to trusten by; and now
she says she'll never leave me, I think I shall trusten till I die."
(180)
The shabby
little cabin where Silas dwells symbolizes the man himself. As the
gold is taken from the hearth (or heart) and replaced by a child,
Silas turns from miser to a father. The home itself undergoes changes
that reflect the changes in the inner man. Eliot was disgusted by
the unrealistic portrayal of children in novels, and gives us here
a very familiar picture of life with a toddler. From our unique
vantage point we can see how the daily routine of service to a little
child, so familiar to most of us, gradually works its magic on Silas's
soul. It is no surprise that over time the shabby cottage transforms
itself into a neat, happy home.
The fifteen
dark years of spiritual famine are followed by fifteen years of
spiritual feasting, and Silas and Eppie form a happy circle of love
that draws the other members of the community to them in fellowship.
Later, Eppie's future hangs in the balance as two men step forward
to claim her - her natural father and her future husband - and Silas
realizes he must be willing to share his treasure with another.
More transformations in the house occur as a result of this loving
gesture, and one is reminded of a lovely parable from C.S. Lewis:
"Imagine yourself
as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first,
perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the
drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on: you knew
that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently
he starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably
and does not seem to make sense. What on earth is He up to? The
explanation is that he is building quite a different house from
the one you thought of - throwing out a new wing here, putting on
an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You
thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage:
but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.
(Mere Christianity, 174)"
The Book of
Mormon ends with an interesting discussion on the role of miracles
in our lives. Mormon contends that the day of miracles has not ceased,
and that angels indeed still minister to men, and will continue
"as long as time shall last, or the earth shall stand, or there
shall be one man upon the face thereof to be savedÖ" (Moroni 7:36)
Silas Marner's
angel is the little child that needs his love and gives him a new
life. Though there is a natural explanation for her appearance,
the miraculous changes wrought by love in Marner's life cannot be
explained without looking upward toward the source of Love and Light.
Have you had
a Silas Marner miracle, a life-changing moment when one treasure
was replaced by another in your heart? Each of us can look back
on a few pivotal experiences when our future turned in one miraculous
moment, and, nearsighted though we are, these are the moments when
we see God's hand in our lives. Share your experience by writing
to bestbooks@meridianmagazine.com.
I'll offer a sampling of these in our next discussion.
Best Books Club
for May: The Chosen, by Chaim Potok. Order this book now
by clicking on the its image on the right.
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