Silas Marner is the eponymous protagonist of the novel, but he does not fit the conventional mold of a hero. He is introduced to the reader as an outsider, a man on the periphery of one community who has already been unjustly exiled from another. Silas is a skilled weaver, allowing him to maintain his solitude, but he is not exceptional in any other way. He is not particularly strong, intelligent, or courageous; he is simply a man who has lost his faith in community, in religion, and in his fellow man. Silas arrives in the narrative at his nadir, at a moment of complete disillusionment with society, and, over the course of the novel, he gradually finds something worth living for. He tries to find meaning in his life through work and money, only to lose everything. Only when a little girl accidently stumbles into his home does Silas learn that life is worth living.

Despite the changes to Silas’s character, there are a number of fundamental qualities that remain the same throughout the novel. He is an honest man and a hard worker. These qualities are important, especially in the

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