Silas Marner Project?

Question

Ok so i have to do a museum project to symbolize either the theme, characterization, mood, or a conflict in the plot of the book Silas Marner. I understand the themes of the book and stuff but i can't come up with a good concept for the project. any ideas??

fyi- a museum project is like a diorama type thing.

Answer 1

I'm not sure if this will help or not, but Silas Marner starts out as an innocent and trusting man who is betrayed by both his best friend and his girl. His community also betrays him by believing him guilty of theft. Then Silas leaves his home and goes to a new place where he is unknown and where his perspective on life has changed: he's rather jaded and his faith in both man and God has eroded; money becomes all important (the hoarding of it, since it won't ever betray you). He lives mostly like a recluse until a child, Eppie, comes into his life - after his gold has been stolen - and teaches him what is truly important in life. Silas' perspective changes back to people being far more important than gold.

Why not do a diorama on Silas, himself? You could show graphics of a young man with a friend and girlfriend, very happy. Then another graphic where the young man is accused of theft and you see his best friend and girlfriend holding hands (maybe behind his back). Then a graphic showing the man walking wearily towards a new destination then hoarding gold and keeping away from others then having the gold stolen then having a gypsy woman die at his door while her daughter enters his life, etc. You could show the change in Silas Marner's character as the story progresses.

If you go by theme, considering that to be (as bookrags calls it) "the moral order" or, in other words, the main characters are all rewarded or punished according to their deeds, you could have graphics of each of the various characters and what they did, good or bad, and what their end was. For instance, Dunstan Cass is a thief and a generally bad man. He is so reckless that he, basically, kills his brother's prized horse. Then he steals Silas Marner's gold. However, at the end you see that he didn't get away with it, but in fact died trying to escape with the gold. Also, through betrayal and loss of faith and theft of his gold, Silas Marner is rewarded by the fact that Eppie comes into his life. His love and the care he takes of her is rewarded by her love in return and her loyalty. She could have had everything by accepting her real father's name, but she loves Silas as her father and won't leave him for all the wealth in the world. Godfrey, though not actually bad, refused to acknowledge that Eppie was his daughter and even hid his previous marriage from his wife. The reward is that Godfrey's wife can't have a child and, when they try to adopt Eppie, she will have none of them.

Anyway, I don't know if this helped at all, but I hope so.