My name is Aaron and I am the husband of Eppie, the adopted daughter of weaver Silas Marner, who also lives in Lantern Yard; this is a retelling of Marner's loss and redemption. Silas Marner is a respected member of our religious town and highly thought of in his church. He is supposed to marry Sarah, a servant girl, but she marries another parishioner whose deceit about Silas stealing from him causes Marner's expulsion from the parish. The betrayal of his beloved and a fellow churchgoer causes Silas to become a loner, living in the village of Raveloe: "Minds that have been unhinged from their old faith and love have perhaps sought this Lethean influence of exile in which the past becomes dreamy" (Eliot 12). The betrayal makes Silas turn away from life and take up an existence focused on work and making money.
Silas toils painstakingly to build up a pile of gold, but the greedy and drunken Dunstan Cass, Squire Cass' son, robs Silas of his gold. Silas becomes even more depressed and isolated, though a few people living in the village attempt to assist him in the face of his loss, but "He hated the thought of the past; there was nothing that called out his love and fellowship toward the strangers he had come amongst; and the future was all dark" (Eliot 14). One cold winter night, an opium addict named Molly arrives in town with her little daughter. She is really the wife of Godfrey Cass, the eldest son of Squire Cass, and she arrives in town to claim her place as Cass' wife and his place as the father of her child. Before reaching her destination, Molly collapses in the snow and dies. The little girl leaves her mother and makes her way to Silas' house. Silas looks for her mother, but finds her dead, so he decides to keep and care for the child as his own.
Silas names the little girl after his deceased sister, "We named her Eppie" (Eliot 126). Eppie has a remarkable impact on Silas' life. Though...