Women's Classic Literature Enthusiasts discussion

The Valley of Humiliation & Wheat and Tares.

I stopped reading at Book 4 because I found this section tedious. I don't need to know the narrator's philosophy. This is why I don't read a lot of George Eliot!

I have finally made my way to Book 5 and I hope it gets more interesting.

Is Maggie really in love with Philip? I think she views him as a great friend, who has exposed her to a world she finds fascinating. He has also given her something to hope for and look forward to each week.

When I read this book several years ago, I felt that. at the point at which Eliot introduces Philip and Maggie to one another, Philip's significance to the girl hung upon the part Philip had come to play in the life of Maggie's beloved brother. So, Maggie felt a degree of gratitude for that, which melded with her attraction to Philip's greater acquaintance with literature, music, manners and propriety. I felt that Eliot might probably distinguish between different forms of 'love' (romantic love, platonic love, brotherly love, etc.), and possibly the novel would go on to get into that. At any rate, the poor girl's meager life now had a chance at a bit of 'enhancement'.