# Mr. Riley Gives His Advice Concerning a School for Tom explained — The Mill on the Floss

> Chapter companion for The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot.

## What happens

Mr. Tulliver seeks advice from Mr. Riley about sending his son Tom to a new school. Mr. Riley recommends a clergyman named Mr. Stelling, praising his education and character. Mrs. Tulliver expresses concerns about housekeepers and the cost, but Mr. Riley reassures her. Mr. Tulliver worries that a parson might be too learned for a boy destined for business, but Mr. Riley argues that clergymen make the best schoolmasters. The chapter ends with Mr. Tulliver considering the recommendation.

## Themes in this chapter

### Education and Self-Improvement

The chapter centers on Mr. Tulliver's desire to give Tom a good education to prepare him for a business career.

### Social Class and Respectability

Mr. Riley emphasizes that clergymen are gentlemen by profession, and Mr. Tulliver worries about the social standing of non-clergy schoolmasters.

## Character check-ins

### Mr. Tulliver

Seeks advice on Tom's education, expresses traditional opinions and concerns about practical learning.

### Mr. Riley

An auctioneer and appraiser who gives advice on schooling, recommending Mr. Stelling.

### Maggie Tulliver

Listens eagerly when Tom's name is mentioned, showing her protective affection.

### Mrs. Tulliver

Expresses motherly concerns about Tom's care and feeding at school.

### Tom Tulliver

The subject of the discussion about his future education.

## Key lines

> Mr. Tulliver was, on the whole, a man of safe traditional opinions; but on one or two points he had trusted to his unassisted intellect, and had arrived at several questionable conclusions; amongst the rest, that rats, weevils, and lawyers were created by Old Harry.

Mr. Tulliver generally held conventional views, but he had independently concluded that rats, weevils, and lawyers were the devil's creations.

_Highlights Mr. Tulliver's superstitious and simplistic worldview._

> I want him to know figures, and write like print, and see into things quick, and know what folks mean, and how to wrap things up in words as aren't actionable.

I want Tom to learn arithmetic, penmanship, quick thinking, and how to express himself without risking legal trouble.

_Mr. Tulliver's practical goals for Tom's education._

## Links

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