There is a reason why people are afraid of the dark. For anyone who has seen a single horror film, it is clear that when the lights go out the bad guys and monsters come out into the open, and to make them go back into hiding you just need to turn the lights back on. In George Eliot's novel Silas Marner, Silas's life is reflected by this same idea. His life is cast into darkness when he is accused of theft and leaves his hometown, Lantern Yard, only to be left out and even more alone in his new home, Raveloe, turning him into the company of money rather than people. However, his inner demons vanish when he adopts an orphan, Eppie, bringing his life back to light and community. The movement from darkness to light characterizes the initial exclusion and eventual rebirth in Silas Marner's life. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay When Silas's life takes a negative turn, there are many symbols that represent his life in darkness. His life is initially characterized by the darkness resulting from life in Lantern Yard. Silas, a native of Lantern Yard and a devout Christian, is watching over his town's dying deacon at night when he has a cataleptic attack, preventing him from moving, seeing what's happening, or knowing that time has passed, when his former best friend William Dane enters the house, steals the church money from the deacon's bedside, and plants Silas' pocketknife in return to frame Silas for the theft. This represents the first of many evils in Silas's life, all of which occur at night or in the dark. Silas is expelled from the church and his fiancée calls off their wedding, prompting him to leave Lantern Yard for another town, Raveloe, where his life consists of seemingly endless solitude, prompting him to eagerly seek companionship in his gold earnings from the weaving. The city's name of Lantern Yard is ironic but significant because, although it appears to be a place of light, it actually brings Silas nothing but darkness as he loses everything and everyone he has ever known, saying that: "The little light possessed by [ Silas] spread his rays were so narrow that the frustrated belief was a curtain wide enough to create for him the darkness of the night” (Eliot 14). fate found him guilty, and Lantern Yard symbolizes the dying light of Silas' faith, which instead turns into a dark soul when he moves to Raveloe, a place that rejects newcomers. In his new city, Silas feels that “not there was nothing to recall his love and brotherhood towards the strangers among whom he found himself; and the future was all dark, for there was no Invisible Love to care for him” (Eliot 14). that Silas's life in Raveloe continues for 15 years: no kinship or religion to bring light and joy into Silas's life, but only darkness and despair. In the midst of all this, another evil emerges from the darkness: greed. Silas spends his days carefree at the loom, but “in the night came his revelry: in the night he shut his shutters, and shut his doors, and brought forth his gold” (Eliot 19). Silas begins to worship and obsess over his gold, dragging his mind into an endless cycle of greed over his love of money and anxiety at the thought of losing it. However, one dark and stormy night he neglects to lock the door while going out to run an errand, and Dunsey Cass sneaks into his cottage unhindered and steals his money. Shortly thereafter, Silas discovers the absence of his idol and: "The sight of the empty hole made his heart leap violently, but thebelief that his gold was gone could not come at once: only terror and the ardent effort to put an end to the terror” (Eliot 40). Once again, Silas's life is plunged into darkness as the only thing he has to hold on to is torn from his grasp. All the torments in Silas's life come from the darkness in which thieves can hide unnoticed and there are no responsibilities that can distract from lust and sin. However, it is these dark events and Silas's desperate reaction to them that bring him the most light. Silas's life changes for the better when new light comes to him through companionship. First he finds company in his neighbors in Raveloe despite their pity for him because of the robbery. They are better able to relate to him now that he is poor like everyone else, and comfort him in the Rainbow when he tells the story of the theft of his gold. Doing their best to find the culprit of the crime and bringing Silas meals to make up for the ones he can no longer afford, they welcome Silas into the fold of their community and, although to some he still feels like a stranger, Dolly Winthrop is kind to him and he becomes his best friend, and even the vain parish clerk, Mr. Macey, defends him to the other townspeople. However, true light enters Silas's life through Eppie, his adopted daughter. Molly Farren is trudging towards the Red House in the snow when she overdoses on opium and dies with her son in her arms. His son, seeing the light of the hearth in the open door of Silas's cottage, stumbles and falls asleep in front of the fire. Silas has another cataleptic attack as he opens the door because he hears the sound of Molly and Eppie walking, leaving. the door wide open for Eppie to enter unnoticed, and when he comes to and sees her, his immediate thought is that her golden curls are actually his returned guineas. Although he is initially disappointed that she isn't, she brings more light into his life than his gold ever had when he adopts her and they create an incredibly close bond. His joyful presence excites the neighbors when Silas and Eppie arrive, and any remaining thoughts of Silas as a creepy old miser disappear when they see the kind act he has done in taking in the little girl and loving her as if she were his own. Eppie drives Silas away from exclusion and despair just as “men are driven away from the threat of destruction; a hand is placed in theirs, leading them gently towards a calm and bright land, so that they no longer look back; and the hand may be that of a child” (Eliot 134). This allusion to the story of Lot being led out of Sodom and Gomorrah by an angel shows the complete turning point that Eppie brings to Silas's life: from solitude to community, from darkness to light. Although Silas' questions about God and fate in the Lantern Court will never be answered, Silas is happy and says: "Since the child was sent to me and I learned to love her as myself, I have had enough light to trust ” (Eliot 181) By this Silas means that even though the casting of the lot has caused him to lose faith in God, he trusts in the Lord once again because He has blessed him with Eppie, who has brought new meaning and love into his life Keep in mind: This is just an example. Get a custom paper now from our expert writers. Silas's life, once in the darkness that represented isolation, turns into light and companionship the darkness in Silas' life initially brought him nothing but pain, he is eventually able to come to terms with the darkness and not see it as something negative. When Silas is disappointed to find that Lantern Yard has been transformed in an industrial and non-industrial city.