The Mill On the Floss

First published in 1860, The Mill on the Floss centres on the relationship and experiences of siblings Maggie and Tom Tulliver as they grow through puberty and into adulthood. Their relationship is tested by Maggie’s attraction to Philip Wakem and subsequently Stephen Guest, the latter engaged to Maggie’s cousin Lucy Deane. How the relationship between brother and sister and how it survives, is the focus of the novel. Thematically, The Mill on the Floss is more about the ability of individuals to control their surroundings and whether they are able to attain their desires when the currents and eddies of society are raging about them. Such imagery is brought to the fore in the climax.