The Theme of an Oustider in Silas Marner and To Kill a Mockingbird

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Discuss the theme of an oustider in Silas Marner and To Kill a

Mockingbird.

What is an outsider? The dictionary defines that an outsider is a

person excluded from a group. The outsider plays an important part in

both novels. In 'Silas Marner' by George Eliot Silas is the main

outsider, however in 'To Kill a Mockingbird' by Harper Lee even though

Boo is the obvious outsider there are many others.

'Silas Marner' is written by George Eliot, which is the pen name of

Mary Ann Evans. She had to change her name to a man's name to avoid

facing prejudice, as it was not seen proper for a lady to write books,

this also makes her an outsider. Due to this she could be more

sympathetic with outsiders, this could have influenced her to create

the character Silas Marner. Her book 'Silas Marner' was written in

1860 but is set in 1820 just before the industrial revolution. The

Neapolinic wars were in motion during 1835, this meant that the

landowners stayed rich and the peasants stayed poor. 'Silas Marner' is

set in the town of Raveloe, which is an isolated town as there are no

trains coming or going from it, the only means of transportation are

horses. This makes Raveloe an outsider town. Silas Marner is a weaver

and the fact that the industrial revolution is about to commence is

ironic because as soon as the industrial revolution begins to take

over he will be out of his job, this adds to the theme of an outsider.

A weaver also works from home and does not have many interactions with

other people, which makes him more of an outsider. A weaver was also

seen to be unusual career for a man at this time, which also makes

Silas more of an outsider. People find Silas obscure but still need

him to make fabric for them. Thi...

... middle of paper ...

...nd not to be outsiders just because of the nature

of their personality. Lee creates Boo to end with little life

fulfillment, as all that happens is Scout walks him home and we do not

know what happens to him. Whereas Silas gets a family and finds

happiness in Eppie, which is much more fulfilling. I think that both

outsiders are afraid at first of opening up to people which after what

they have been through is understandable. However both characters

overcame their fears and opened up to people. I also think that both

these novels show the importance of children in our society, they're a

lot easier to talk to than adults, because they are more unprejudiced.

They don't have reason to judge people and don't know how to judge

people so they take people for what they are and learn more about them

before making opinions. I think that these two stories prove that.

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