The Mill on the Floss: Motifs 4 key examples

Debt shows up many times throughout The Mill on the Floss, forming a motif. For example, Mr. Tulliver starts out in debt to his sister-in-law Mrs. Glegg while, simultaneously, his sister Mrs. Moss is in debt to him. Rather than force his impoverished sister to try to pay him back, Mr. Tulliver decides to go further into debt, which is only compounded when he loses the lawsuit with Mr. Pivart (represented by Mr. Wakem), leading him to have to declare bankruptcy.

Rivers appear throughout The Mill on the Floss, forming a motif. For example, the “Floss” mentioned in the title is the River Floss, the body of water that runs through St. Ogg’s and beside which the Tulliver family mill is located. It is via this river that Stephen and Maggie run away (or, rather, row away) together when they are considering eloping. It is also the river that ultimately kills Maggie and Tom during the flooding.

In addition to the literal River Floss, river imagery appears in the novel as well, as seen in the following passage:

Maggie’s destiny, then, is at present hidden, and we must wait for it to reveal itself like the course of an unmapped river: we only know that the river is full and rapid, and that for all rivers there is the same final home.

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Music shows up repeatedly in The Mill on the Floss—particularly in relation to Maggie—forming a motif. When Maggie is a child, for example, she is overwhelmed by the beauty of her uncle Mr. Pullet playing a song on his music-box. Additionally, Philip woos Maggie through singing her songs since he knows how much it affects her. Later, Stephen also sings to Maggie during their courtship and Maggie is entranced by the music (which Philip notices, tipping him off to her feelings for Stephen), as seen in the following passage:

When the strain passed into the minor, she half-started from her seat with the sudden thrill of that change. Poor Maggie! She looked very beautiful when her soul was being played on in this way by the inexorable power of sound. You might have seen the slightest perceptible quivering through her whole frame as she leaned a little forward, clasping her hands as if to steady herself; while her eyes dilated and brightened into that wide-open, childish expression of wondering delight, which always came back in her happiest moments.

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Gossip amongst people in the town of St. Ogg’s propels the plot of The Mill on the Floss forward at several points, forming a motif. For example, gossip about Maggie and Stephen having an extramarital affair after running away together (which they did not) leads Maggie to be rejected by Tom as well as her community as a whole. Later, rumors about Maggie’s employer Dr. Kenn considering proposing to her leads him to fire her, as seen in the following passage:

Dr Kenn, at first enlightened only by a few hints as to the new turn which gossip and slander had taken in relation to Maggie, had recently been made more fully aware of it by an earnest remonstrance from one of his male parishioners against the indiscretion of persisting in the attempt to overcome the prevalent feeling in the parish by a course of resistance. Dr Kenn, having a conscience void of offence in the matter, was still inclined to persevere […] an “appearance” that is always dependent on the average quality of surrounding minds. Where these minds are low and gross, the area of that “appearance” is proportionately widened.

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