Though Maggie Tulliver was prosperous in her uniqueness, she could by no means gain independence From the day she was born, Maggie was ostracized by her appearance and personality, in particular in contrast to her brother who had acquired far more feminine qualities than she ever would Tom’s female aspects gave him control over his sister and a position as the favorite Left to pick up the scrapes, Maggie was forced into submission throughout every phase of her life from not only the outside world, but also closest relatives who tried desperately to make her fit in and not disgrace her family Had she not loved them so significantly, or had their opinions and influences not been so strong, Maggie could have simply expanded her intelligence, married, and turn out to be a praised member of her family Regrettably, she became dependant on the point of view of other people to shape her future which generally resulted in disastrous outcomes In her later life, she reinvested in an additional female figure that would further, though unknowingly, agitate this cycle: Phillip Wakem His painful disability took away his masculine power, but his adore for Maggie made her the ideal candidate to attempt to control The hatred and adore that came from them hit her tough and could only produce rebellion And though mentally she required this, her revolt would only lead to further heartbreak Maggie Tulliver constantly had the prospective to be higher than she was, but she by no means had a strong sufficient support

Tom Tulliver was not as complete and saintly as he thought he was From the beginning of his life, he was defined and favored by the Dodsons, his mother’s side This is the initial indication that his character leans far more towards a Victorian female nature and it reveals significantly of his personality Even if Tom’s mother, Bessy, hadn’t been pressing him into femininity and wanting him to have all ‘o this pattern (Eliot 168) as if he had been the oldest girl, his favoritism from the females in the extended family influenced him to believe about life much more superficially Whenever Tom is discussed by the aunts, which generally takes location in front of the young, suggestible boy, he is described only by his complexion, when the focus need to have been on his intellect When it is suggested that the boy attend a private tutor, the scenario is strongly discouraged, specially with Aunt Glegg who believes that it will trigger the family to going headlongs into ruin (Eliot 61) It appears that the family wants him to be far more of a female because Maggie was such a disappointment, so an education is a waste of dollars They, instead, praise him, because he had the Dodson complexion, and put him in the exact same category as the ever loved Lucy, who is described as a white kitten (Eliot 52) He naturally notices this adore of fair skin and begins associating it with very good nature This adds onto Tom’s growing ego As the favorite child, Tom rarely finds fault within himself since he usually has Maggie around to blame, and even prior to Maggie existed he was too young to be discovered guilty of a crime This biased opinion reinforced Tom to be shallow Later in the story, Tom meets Phillip Wakem, and, despite the boy’s unfavorable parentage, he perceives him as a spiteful, embarrassing factor Phillip does not even have the luxury of a human being status, but because his physical appearance is unfavorable, Tom automatically regards him as a lesser object Tom’s trivial perspective of the human race shows how small he regards emotions He does not see them worthy, unless they are his own, and like his Aunt Glegg, becomes only interested in that which will elevate him above other people When Tom brings Maggie a present, he is certain to anxiety how significantly he had to go by means of to get it and how very good of a individual he was to get it for her Furthermore, Tom’s arrogance and pride encompassed every thing from as detailed and fulfilling as a dying wish, to the injustice of a jam puff As time went on in the household, and specially as Maggie grew older, Tom began making distinctions between females and males He had by no means acknowledged that he was in truth a lot more like a girl than his sister, as this realization would have destroyed his confidence Whether or not he did in truth know, which I, for 1, argue that he did not, is much less vital than the truth that he disregarded ladies as silly even if he was 1 of the silliest persons in the novel His hypocrisy and tantrums certainly reflects extra of what he perceives to be female, but Tom chooses by no means to look inwardly and instead focuses on how small power ladies had in his society With Tom’s pride came the want for domination, which he could have because he was a male, even if he wasn’t the conventional male This realization produced yet another being to cast aside and yet another nail in Maggie’s coffin Tom totally buries her with his contempt for imagination and intelligence Because he was young, Tom’s greatest aspect was not his brain, but his looks, and because the latter excelled him this far, the former have to be a nuisance His power had constantly been over very simple objects, and thus his superiority over Maggie comes from his understanding of how to manipulate objects (Kucich 565) In other words, because Tom sees Maggie’s capacity to manipulate her mind as useless, he can bring himself above her due to the fact she is incapable to manipulate everyday items like fishing lines Believing, now, his characteristics to be virtues, Tom becomes a negative force in Maggie’s life He is fast to hinder her and point out her flaws just as he says I’ve got a excellent deal extra dollars than you, since I’m a boy (Eliot 31) We locate that this is his only reason for liking her: she is helpful to project his superiority onto because she is the only individual he can control When Tom is sent away to boarding school, he yearns for Maggie to be at his side, but it is later discovered out that this is just to criticize her Tom’s arrogance can flourish given that the other members of the family also come across fault in Maggie which only reinforces his degradation towards her All of this shapes Tom into a personal Victorian female society to criticize the poor girl at each and every turn Maggie is marked from childhood: she doesn’t look appropriate, and is consequently lower than Tom; she is a girl and for that reason lower than Tom; she is imaginative and consequently irritating, overactive, and in the way Constantly present in her life, Tom, to an additional, appears overbearing and domineering for a small girl, but young Maggie does not see this She desperately loves her brother and is under the impression that he is all understanding and powerful, just as Tom wants her to believe Maggie does not want, but requirements to impress her brother and be around him, for she cares much more for him than any other entity In 1 scene, Maggie is reminded, even though waiting for Tom’s return, of her neglect of two rabbits, she spends extra time saying O, he will be so angry with me (Eliot 28) and fretting over his emotions than the truth that she starved two living creatures to death Why is her adore directed so strongly towards somebody who obviously doesn’t deserve it It is mainly because of Tom’s tendency to impress upon Maggie his so referred to as saintly high quality Each and every time he brings her a present and each time he forgives her Tom is sending Maggie the strongest of all his messages that he is far better than she These are specially influential to Maggie due to the fact she is an intelligent girl whose greatest fear is to be left abandoned and unloved Maggie’s differences, normally qualities like appearance which she can not change, are punished by her family withdrawing their adore (Szirotny 181) This is so obvious to her that she can’t escape the truth that she .