Some questions for George Eliot, "Brother Jacob"

1. For many critics and commentators, George Eliot's story, "Brother Jacob," seems to be some sort of fable. They point to the significant names of the characters and places, to the odd structure of the story, and to the apparent built-in "moral" of the tale. Yet it is both longer than the traditional fable and it is also more firmly grounded in a recognizable "real" world than most fables are. Moreover, it is very "literary" in nature, with the author making extensive and conspicuous use of literary devices and of extended irony.

2. Imagine the author writing for the audience of the Cornhill Magazine, a well-known periodical in which the story was published anonymously in 1864. She would have known at least a little about her readers, whom she could have assumed to be relatively literate, upper middle class, Christian, and relatively conservative folks.

3. Try to explain why Eliot wrote the story the way she did. Why divide it into three sections? Why not say up front in section 2 that Freely is Faux? Why assume the tone that she does throughout most of the story? What does that tone tell us about the narrator (who is never specifically identified or described in the story)?

4. Some readers (and critics) say the ending is anti-climactic. Is it? Or is the ending "just right" for the sort of story Eliot is trying to write here?

5. Finally (or perhaps to begin with), what do you think is the purpose of the story? Do you see it as in any way related to Dickens' A Christmas Carol?