The Mill on the Floss · Chapter
Book I: Boy and Girl explained
This opening chapter introduces the Tulliver family, focusing on Mr.
What happens
This opening chapter introduces the Tulliver family, focusing on Mr. Tulliver's decision to send his son Tom to school and the contrasting natures of Tom and his sister Maggie. It sets up the family dynamics, social aspirations, and the tensions between duty, education, and personal desire.
Themes in this chapter
Education and Self-Improvement
Mr. Tulliver's decision to educate Tom beyond his own level highlights the theme of education as a path to social mobility and personal betterment.
Gender Roles and Limitations
Maggie's intelligence and wildness are seen as flaws by her mother, reflecting the restrictive gender expectations placed on girls in this era.
Characters to notice
- Maggie Tulliver
Introduced as a clever, impulsive, and dark-haired girl who contrasts with her brother Tom; she is affectionate but often at odds with her mother's expectations.
- Tom Tulliver
Presented as the favored son, practical and dutiful, but less intellectually inclined than Maggie; his education is a central concern for Mr. Tulliver.
- Mr. Tulliver
The miller who decides to give Tom a better education than his own; he is proud, opinionated, and concerned with family respectability.
- Mrs. Tulliver
Maggie and Tom's mother, who worries about Maggie's unruly hair and behavior, and values the Dodson family's standards of propriety.
- Mr. Riley
A friend of Mr. Tulliver who advises on Tom's education and recommends Mr. Stelling as a tutor.
Key passages
“What I want is to give Tom a good education; that is, as good a education as can be got for money.”
Mr. Tulliver expresses his desire to provide Tom with the best possible education that money can buy.
This quote establishes Mr. Tulliver's ambition for his son and sets the plot in motion.
“It's a pity but what she'd been the lad—she'd ha' been a match for the lawyers, she would.”
Mr. Tulliver remarks that Maggie would have been more suited to a legal career than Tom, highlighting her natural intelligence.
This underscores the gender limitations of the time, as Maggie's potential is wasted due to her sex.