An Interpretation Of The Life Philosophies In The Mill On The Floss

George Eliot is an outstanding female novelist in the history of British literature, and The Mill on the Floss is one of her most popular novels. Although critics interpret this novel by applying different theories from different perspectives, few scholars analyze this novel from the perspective of the philosophical thoughts reflected in the characters of the novel. In light of Henry Bergson's life philosophy and the theory of dialectic materialism concerning change and development to explore the implication of life philosophy reflected in two types of characters in George Eliot's novel The Mill on the Floss. Tom and Maggie represent the first type, while Mr. Deane and Bob belong to the second one.It is argued that the tragedy of Tom and Maggie shares a close similarity for they both live in the shadow of the past and want to recapture their glorious past. However, their tragic fate has some differences as well. In Tom's case, his obstinate and blind wish to return to the past time causes his behaviors to be dominated by a downward impetus. Although he lives now in a fast changing world with the rise of modern industry, because of his value and the emergence of inferiority complex, he is still deeply obsessed with the values of yeomen era in which he spent his childhood. In order to recapture the past time, he hides his true self and devotes all of his time and energy into work, which lead to his mental illness. His act to recapture the past makes him blindly reject the progressive social changes, stick to the remnants of outmoded values and things, and decline to emerge into the new world, which finally makes him an outsider of the progressive society.As regards Maggie, although because of the collapse of both emotional and economic foundation due to the bankruptcy of her father, her childhood lifestyle has changed substantially, she is still attaches to it. But in fact, Maggie's childhood is not as beautiful as she fancies. On the other hand she longs for a new and better life. She actually has two opportunities to start a new life: one is to marry her old friend Philip Wakem, and the other is to marry her true lover Stephen Guest. But she ultimately chooses to give them up, and Maggie's Electra Complex is the main reason for her to leave Stephen Guest. Owing to her attachment to her childhood lifestyle and Electra Complex, she at last lets her downward impetus gain the upper hand, and makes her unable to change. Maggie inevitably chooses to return to the past too. In all, Tom and Maggie violate Bergson's duration concept, and they do not realize the essence of life is change. Neither of them is Bergson's concept of"real person".By contrast, Mr. Deane and Bob's success in life owe much to their adaptation to social changes. Mr. Deane not only comprehends the inevitability of the social changes, but moreover, he actively makes himself fit the changes. As regards Bob, life is a flux of change. Unlike Tom, Bob does not addict himself to the past time, and more importantly, he is quick to realize the significance of the social changes and able to effectively take the advantage of those changes. They are the"real person"of Bergson's life philosophy.At the end of the story, Tom and Maggie are drowned by the flood, which has highly symbolic meanings. The flood symbolizes the Industrial Revolution, a combination of both destruction and regeneration. The flood washes away brother's and sister's outmoded beliefs, but at the same time creates the opportunity for their birth of new thoughts, which will help them head for rebirth. It concludes that people should not just indulge in the past, let alone the attempt to reverse the course of time. Instead, what people should do is accept and adapt to the new changes.