Child Psychology in Mill on the Floss

Psychology and Child Psychology

Psychology is the study of mind and behavior. Child psychology is one of the branches of
psychology. In Child psychology we study the behavior of kids while they are growing up. It is
one of the most important branches of Psychology.

George Eliot as a Psychologist

George Eliot (Mary Anna Evans) is one of the great female writers of all time. She was an
incredibly intelligent woman and this cleverness is seen in her writing style. She herself was a
great reader and analyzed the characters deeply while reading. She used this technique in her
writing style too. She explains everything going in the mind of the character and his/her
psychology is depicted to the readers without any effort. According to some critics her portrayal
of the psychological elements in characters gives life to her lifeless characters and creates a
uniqueness and beauty in her works. If we take out the psychological elements from her
characters and works they will die and her work will be of no value.

Child Psychology in Mill on the Floss

George Eliot has done some great work on Child psychology in The Mill on the Floss. She has
depicted the child psychology of a troubled girl (Maggie) in a brilliant and best way possible.
Maggie does not get attention from her parents and is in search of love. Her search for love
creates complications in her daily life. Maggie’s character as a kid is a great example of a child
who is suffering from isolation.

Maggie’s character is contrasted with the character of Tom who is loved by his parents and is
given more importance because he is a male and their only heir even though he is less
intelligent than Maggie. We will be discussing the characters of Maggie and Tom in order to get
maximum insight on child psychology.

Character of Maggie
Maggie’s character is filled with glimpses of child psychology. If someone understands her
character he/she can understand the child psychology in a better way. The way the kids behave
when they are isolated or when the kids are deprived of love how do they act? This all is
present in the character of Maggie.
Effects of Book Reading on Maggie
Maggie is someone who is ignored by her parents and her brother mostly even though she is
an outrageously clever girl. This cleverness also harms the child if the child is not given proper
care and attention. She even at the small age does things which the adults even would not do.
She reads a lot. The reason of her reading more is that she is intelligent and also she lives alone
most of the time and is deprived of affection so she tries to find love and affection in books. She
reads every book on which she can lay her hands. Some of them are not even suitable for kids
because of their violent themes.

What book is it the wench has got hold on? He burst out at last.
‘ “The History of the Devil” , by Daniel Defoe; not quite the right book for a little girl, ‘ said Mr
Riley’

She was only nine years old when she was reading these books. Reading books is a good thing
but reading wrong books can have an adverse effect on you and that’s what happened with
Maggie. When she got angry on something she used to strike nails in the head of a doll to calm
her anger. She had learned this method from Bible

“….that luxury of vengeance having been suggested to her by the picture of Jael destroying
Sisera in the old Bible”

Uncontrollable Anger in Maggie

Maggie’s anger was uncontrollable. This kind of behavior is common in the kids who are
isolated from their parents and are denied of love and care from those who are close to them.
Kids are always in search of love. Even when they are born they cry and only stop weeping
when they are fed and soothed when picked up. So, little acts of love are a big thing for kids.
Unfortunately, nobody realized that what Maggie needed. And, Ignored her all needs and
signals by which she showed she needs love and care. One of the examples of her out of control
anger can be seen in Chapter: Tom is Expected when Mr Tulliver refuses to take Maggie with
him when he is going to bring back Tom. Maggie does an act which could injure her because of
the anger

“Maggie suddenly rushed from under her hands and dipped her head in a basin of water
standing near,—in the vindictive determination that there should be no more chance of curls
that day.”
This clearly shows that when she is angry she is even willing to hurt herself without even caring
about the extent of the suffering that her foolish acts will bestow on her.

Maggie a Neglected Child

Maggie was someone who was never even understood by her parents. Her cleverness was way
ahead of her parents and they both could not understand how to deal with it. Her father was
close to her because he reminded him of his sister (Margaret). Ironically, for the same reason,
Mrs Tulliver remained at a distance from from Maggie. The complicated marriage of Mr and
Mrs Tulliver was at fault for the negligence of Maggie. Mrs Tulliver cared more for Tom because
he looked like a Dodson ; even more than Mrs Tulliver herself (Though he did not enjoyed that)

“In other respects the true Dodson was partly latent in Tom, and he was as far from
appreciating his “kin’ on the mother’s side as Maggie herself.

As for Maggie, she was the picture of her aunt Moss, Mr Tulliver’s sister, a large-boned
woman who had married as poorly as could be, had no china, and had a husband who had
much ado to pay his rent.

So, unintentionally Maggie’s mother was always a bit cold to Maggie than Tom and Mr Tulliver
was closer and more affectionate towards Maggie than her mother .

Maggie’s Self Destructive Personality

Maggie was a cunning kid. She did things which were harmful to her just to tease the other
person. We see her this side of personality throughout her childhood. When she gets angry or if
she gets mad at someone she tries to ridicule them and for this purpose if she has to make fun
of herself or even hurt herself she does not care at all. Often, after doing things when her fury
has vanished she realizes the errors she has done and then feels sorry. We see this kind of
behavior of Maggie when Dodsons are guests in Mr Tullivers house. Mrs Tulliver asks Maggie to
go and comb her hairs but just to show her irritation towards her mother she decides to have a
go on her and cuts her hairs just to make her mom look foolish in-front of her sisters without
even realizing that she herself will be the center of attraction and humiliation. She realizes it
after her hairs are cut and Tom starts making fun of her.

“Maggie answered by seizing her front locks and cutting them straight across the middle of
her forehead.”
Maggie as an Innocent Child
Maggie was as innocent as possible. Even though she was cunning, she was someone who had
no experience of world. All of her knowledge of world was from books. She was intelligent so
she dreamed like those who are witty. She had a different and innocent perception of life. For
her, whatever was in the books was true. She lived in the imaginary world of her on. She used
to like gypsies. She liked them because she thought that they respect people with knowledge.
She was so innocent that she thought that she could be the Queen of Gypsies. And she
fantasized that if she ran away and lived with them she would be of great importance to them
and maybe she could be their Queen.

“No,” said Maggie, “I’m only thinking that if she isn’t a very good queen you might be glad
when she died, and you could choose another. If I was a queen, I’d be a very good queen, and
kind to everybody.”
This here shows that how innocent she was.
Also, she thought that Gypsies had good foods to eat but was disappointed when she was given
food which she could barely eat.

Character of Tom
Character of Tom is totally the opposite of Maggie’s Character. If Maggie is someone who is
neglected then Tom is the one who has all of the attentions on him. If Maggie is someone who
craves for love then Tom is someone who does not need more love. Tom loves chasing animals
and even likes disturbing them on the other hand Maggie is someone who has a soft heart for
animals and cannot see any disturbance caused to them. Tom and Maggie are both different
characters. Tom just has all the love that he needs and Maggie is deprived of all the love.

Confident Character
Tom is someone who is loved by all. His sister and parents love him dearly. So he is someone
who is confident because of all the support that he gets from the family. Also, he is a boy and
boys were given more importance than the females of that time. These all things boost up his
character and make him a more strong character. He is always assured that what he does is
right.

Authoritative Character
Tom has an imposing psychology. He tries to get what he wants. He is also not someone who
forgives someone easily. He tries to put his authority into action. He has a dominant
personality. When he arrives home he gets angry with Maggie when he hears that his Rabbits
have died because Maggie could not take care of them. He does whatever he can to punish her
and also he says that he will get Harry fired
“I’ll pitch into Harry—I’ll have him turned away.”

This shows the authority that he possesses. He is confident enough that his one complain can
get anyone in trouble.

Man of Rules
Tom’s psychology is of a man who is really honest and does things by rule. He never
compromises on rules. If at some place he loses fair and square he accepts it and if he gets
cheated then there is no one who fights for his rights as he do. This can be seen in “Chapter Six:
The Aunts and Uncles are coming”

In that chapter there is a scene where he asks Maggie to close her eyes and choose the piece of
cake which she wants to eat (One is a large piece the other is a small one). Maggie chooses the
large one with her eyes shut. Tom gives her the big piece even though he is angry but admits
that she won it fair and square.

“But I wanted you to have it—you know I did,” said Maggie in an injured tone.
“Yes, but I wasn’t going to do what wasn’t fair, like Spouncer”

Another scene from the same chapter is that when Bob cheats him in a coin toss he fights with
him because he has cheated on him. He fights ruthlessly for his right and wins it.

“Bob took the halfpenny out of his pocket and threw it away from him on the ground.
Tom loosed his hold and left Bob to rise.
“There the halfpenny lies,” he said, “I don’t want your halfpenny; I wouldn’t have kept it. But
you wanted to cheat: I hate a cheat. I shan’t go along with you any more,” he added, turning
round homeward, not without casting a regret towards the rat catching and other pleasures
which he must relinquish along with Bob’s society.”

Also he never hits women because he thinks that it is a weakness to hit females. That is the
reason he restrains from hitting Maggie even though sometimes he is a lot angry at her.

“Tom turned white with anger, but said nothing: he would have struck her, only he knew it
was cowardly to strike a girl, and Tom Tulliver was quite determined he would never do
anything cowardly.”
Conclusion
George Eliot has done a remarkable work in depicting the psychology of child in Mill on the
Floss. She has given minute details of a kid’s mind who is suffering from isolation. Maggie’s
character is the perfect example of someone who is deprived of love. Her character is
contrasted by the character of Tom who lives in the same house but is everything which Maggie
is not even though he is less intelligent than Maggie. How clever wit becomes a trouble for a kid
is also depicted in the best possible way. We can say that George Eliot was a genius and the
work that she has done is remarkable. No one could portray child psychology better than Eliot
herself. She will be remembered by her this remarkable work.