2. The Novel
The novel is a convenient form with which to begin the fourth year work. George Eliot’s “Silas Marner” is one of the novels which lends itself admirably to intensive study. The kind of novel, the theme, the author’s point of view, the plot, the characters, the setting, and other important elements are all to be carefully studied. In the detailed analysis of plot, the introduction, the situation, the development of the plot, the secondary plots, the interweaving of principal and subordinate plots, the means of sustaining interest and suspense, the climax of the action, the unraveling, the denouement and the probability and plausibility of action, should receive consideration. The study of character presented in the novel will include the interaction of plot and character, the types of character, the grouping of characters, the methods of delineation, the truth to life, and similar points. It is also important to consider the novel as the expression of the author’s personality, of his attitude toward life, and of his interpretation, or “criticism,” of life.
Since time will permit of the detailed analysis, in class, of but one novel, use for comparison may be made of other novels which the pupils have read or are reading as a part of their library work. Novels of such different types as Goldsmith’s “Vicar of Wakefield,” Dickens’ “Tale of Two Cities,” Scott’s “Ivanhoe,” and “Talisman,” Thackeray’s “Henry Esmond,” Hawthorne’s “House of Seven Gables,” and George Eliot’s “Romola,” will furnish ample supplementary material.