Like so many twenty-first century Christians, fleeing congregations where they have been hurt or confused, Silas doubts everything. When the drawn lots determine that Silas is guilty, he loses his fiancée-to his friend-and leaves town in shame, finding his way to the small village of Raveloe. We are told that his nature was “both sane and honest, though, as with many honest and fervent men, culture had not defined any channels for his sense of mystery, and so it spread itself over the proper pathway of inquiry and knowledge.” He is inexperienced in the world and altogether trusting of his community.Ī great tragedy befalls young Silas Marner. He is earnest about faith, has one very close friend, and is engaged to be married. Silas is a member of a close-knit dissenting chapel in Lantern Yard. The story begins in early nineteenth-century England, with Silas Marner, a young weaver. Silas Marner listened in silence.Ī book often assigned in high school, Silas Marner has a considerable amount to say about losing and regaining faith and what that journey may look like. He was solemnly suspended from church-membership, and called upon to render up the stolen money: only on confession, as the sign of repentance, could he be received once more within the fold of the church. The lots declared that Silas Marner was guilty.

Resolved on praying and drawing lots… Silas knelt with his brethren, relying on his own innocence being certified by immediate divine interference, but feeling that there was sorrow and mourning behind for him even then–that his trust in man had been cruelly bruised. In the early pages of Silas Marner, a devout young weaver falls asleep at a sick man’s bedside and is accused of having robbed the dying man.

The silas marner