Mebbe so, but . ..
Posted by Sari on October 17, 1997 at 13:13:19:
In response to Silly woman, written by Amy on October 16, 1997 at 22:25:19
] ] What was the significance of linen? Like in Mill on the Floss, it was such a big deal for the mother to lose it. Was she supposed to be buried in it?
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] Sari, one of the people who know more about history and fabrics will have to tell you about the linen. My guess would be that the table linen was an especially fine and costly fabric, and the sewing done on such a fabric was also especially fine and done by a skilled hand.
] But mostly, Maggie's mom made such a fuss because she was a woman a little like Mrs Bennet, in that she lacked Understanding and was awfully self-involved. Unlike Mrs Bennet, she married down. The table linen was one material possession she had a lot of pride in, and gave her a little remembrance of her former life in a family with a bit more gentility than the one she married into.
I am inclined to agree, yet in the novel, she keeps mentioning it before to Mr. Tulliver, and how she is almost eager for him to die first then she could wrap him up in the linen? Or something like that? I wasn't too sure, and had the tendency to wave it aside as female silliness, but it kept popping up in the book, so I was naturally curious.
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