Silas Marner Notes | Chapter 2

Silas has come to live in Raveloe because it is so unlike Lantern Yard: the townspeople of Raveloe are lazy and seem to take pleasure in living excessively. They care about good times more than anything else.

To Silas, "the Power in which he had vainly trusted among the streets and in the prayer-meetings, was very far away from this land in which he had taken refuge, where men lived in careless abundance, knowing and needing nothing of that trust, which, for him, had been turned to bitterness." Chapter 1, pg. 23. Silas feels that his God hides from him.

Topic Tracking: Religion 4
Topic Tracking: Trust 3

Silas hoards the money he earns from his weaving. He earns more money in Raveloe than he had previously in Lantern Yard. Silas's gold fills him with more happiness and satisfaction than anything or anyone else in Raveloe.

Topic Tracking: Light 2

He remembers the time he saved Sally Oates' life. He had been walking to town when he passed by the cobbler's house and saw Sally Oates, the cobbler's wife, screaming and writhing in pain. Having recognized her symptoms as heart disease and dropsy because they led to his mother's death, he knew what could relieve her pain and gave her a medicine made from a special herb called foxglove. Once news of Silas's knowledge of herbs was out, the townspeople immediately assumed he knew curses and charms.

Topic Tracking: Raveloe Customs 3

Irritated by the throng of people wanting cures for illnesses and curses, Silas drove people away with his angry refusals. He then became more isolated when people, believing that he deliberately set curses, stayed away from him. It is no wonder why Silas enjoys watching his pile of money accumulate, for his money is his only form of companion. Silas hides his money in an iron pot in a spot underneath the floor where his loom is placed. He continues his way of living, weaving and hoarding money, without real human companionship and expression of feeling, until even he feels that his life has no meaning.