1.

What does gold symbolize in the novel, Silas Marner?

Answer»

In the novel Silas Marner, for Silas, gold at first symbolizes the achievement of earthly goals. It literally is a symbol to him rather than an end in itself: “money had stood to him as the symbol of earthly good”. 

Eventually gold stops being a symbol for Silas, when it magically transmutes into a real, living girl. As Silas reaches forward to take what he thinks is his lost gold, “instead of the hard coin with the familiar resisting outline, his fingers encountered soft warm curls”. That’s when gold aquires more of a symbolic meaning in the novel, as Eppie comes to symbolize Silas’s gradual absorption into common life.



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