The Mill on the Floss · Chapter
Enter the Aunts and Uncles explained
The Tulliver family gathers for dinner with the aunts and uncles.
What happens
The Tulliver family gathers for dinner with the aunts and uncles. Maggie, distressed after cutting her hair, is comforted by her father. Mr. Tulliver announces his plan to send Tom to a clergyman, Mr. Stelling, for schooling, causing surprise and confusion among the relatives. The chapter highlights family dynamics, the contrast between Maggie and Lucy, and the differing attitudes of the Dodson sisters.
Themes in this chapter
Family Obligation and Conflict
The gathering of aunts and uncles highlights familial tensions, especially Mrs. Glegg's criticism and the differing opinions on Tom's education.
Gender Roles and Limitations
Maggie's emotional distress and her father's tenderness contrast with the expectation that she conform to proper behavior, as voiced by her aunts.
Education and Self-Improvement
Mr. Tulliver's decision to send Tom to a clergyman for schooling reflects the value placed on education for social mobility.
Characters to notice
- Maggie Tulliver
Distressed after cutting her hair, comforted by her father, and contrasted with Lucy.
- Tom Tulliver
Shows hardness toward Maggie's grief; subject of his father's schooling announcement.
- Mr. Tulliver
Comforts Maggie and announces his decision to send Tom to Mr. Stelling.
- Mrs. Tulliver
Anxious and melancholy, mediates between her husband and her sisters.
- Mrs. Glegg
Criticizes Mr. Tulliver's indulgence of Maggie and expresses disapproval of the schooling plan.
- Lucy Deane
Present as a contrast to Maggie; neat and pretty, kissed by Maggie.
Key passages
“Delicious words of tenderness! Maggie never forgot any of these moments when her father 'took her part'; she kept them in her heart, and thought of them long years after, when everyone else said that her father had done very ill by his children.”
Maggie treasured the times her father defended her, remembering them fondly even when others later criticized his parenting.
Highlights the bond between Maggie and her father.
“Very trivial, perhaps, this anguish seems to weatherworn mortals who have to think of Christmas bills, dead loves, and broken friendships; but it was not less bitter to Maggie—perhaps it was even more bitter—than what we are fond of calling antithetically the real troubles of mature life.”
Though adult worries may seem more serious, Maggie's childhood pain was just as intense, if not more so.
Reflects on the intensity of childhood emotions.
“It was like the contrast between a rough, dark, overgrown puppy and a white kitten.”
Maggie and Lucy were as different as a scruffy puppy and a delicate kitten.
Describes the physical and temperamental contrast between the cousins.