The Mill on the Floss, a novel by George Eliot, was published in three sections in 1860. It thoughtfully portrays the vain attempts of Maggie Tulliver to adapt to her small-town world. The disaster of her situation is highlighted by her brother Tom's actions, who forbids her from communicating with the one friend who values her knowledge and imagination. While she is trapped in a compromising situation, Tom denies her altogether, but the siblings are accommodated in the end as they were trying in vain to survive the climactic flood. This novel is considered one of George Eliot's best achievements. The Mill on the Floss is famous for its accurate, expressive portrayal of English rural life and its significantly persuasive analysis of a woman's psychology.
One of the leading English novelist of the Victorian era, George Eliot was the pen name of Mary Ann Evans. She was born on 22 November 1819, in rural Warwickshire. Her father Robert Evans was a estate manager and mother's name was Christiana Evans. She was influenced by her family's Methodist religious faith. She got an opportunity to read books in estate library and acquired good knowledge. For early education she studied at a local school and after that in a boarding. After her mother's death she left the school to help her father. While living in Coventry Eliot came in contact with Charles and Caroline Bray, their influence revolutionized her thinking and she became a rationalist. Her love partner George Henry Lewes encouraged her for fiction writing. Under the pen name of George Eliot her first novel Adam Bede was published in 1859. Her most notable literary works are- Adam Bede, The Mill on the Floss, Middlemarch, Silas Marne, Daniel Deronda etc. She was died in 1880. She has been appreciated for realistic view of life, psychological insight, ethical exploration and accomplished story theme.
