Structure & POV

I am on page 98 of Silas Marner by George Eliot-The point of view throughout the novel is 3rd person omniscient being able to give and portray the feelings, emotions and thoughts of all characters. The narrator also uses the singular "I" but never enters the story as a character. This is a beneficial point of view for this type of story because due to Silas's reclusive personality we as the audience would have a very limited view and understanding of the community and the plot as a whole. Thus this 3rd person omniscient allows for a complete understanding of all characters involved. In addition to the point of view the structure of the book is different from that of most novels. It is a two part novel consisting of one part as a flashback of the past and the second, occurring 16 years later, a present day storyline. This structure is also essential to the portrayal of the characters and plot because to fully understand why Silas is so guarded and the way he is the audience needs to be knowledgeable about his past and what made him the way he is. An example of the narrators point of view to show the feelings of the characters from an outside view is in saying, "This strangely novel situation of opening his trouble to his Raveloe neighbours, of sitting in the warmth of a hearth not his own, and feeling the presence of faces and voices which were his nearest promise of help, had doubtless its influence on Marner, in spite of his passionate preoccupation with his loss. Our consciousness rarely registers the beginning of a growth within us any more than without us: there have been many circulations of the sap before we detect the smallest sign of the bud." (79). Thus the audience is allowed a better understanding of Silas's integration into the new community of Raveloe and his presence from more than one side.