The Mill on the Floss

The Mill on the Floss In "The Mill on the Floss," published in 1860, George Eliot went to her own early life for the chief characters in the story, and in the relations of Tom and Maggie Tulliver we get a picture of the youth of Mary Ann Evans and her brother Isaac. Lord Lytton objected that Maggie was too passive in the scene at Red Deeps, and that the tragedy of the flood was not adequately prepared. To this criticism George Eliot answered, "Now that the defect is suggested to me, if the book were still in manuscript I should alter, or rather expand, that scene at Red Deeps." She also admitted that there was "a want of proportionate fulness" in the conclusion. But, with all its faults, "The Mill on the Floss" deserves the reputation it has won. The reception of the story at first was disappointing, and we find the authoress telling her publisher that "she does not want to see any newspaper articles." But the book made its way, and prepared an ever-growing public for "Silas Marner."