Mary Ann Evans, born in Warwickshire, England, wrote the 1859 Victorian novel The Mill on the Floss under the pseudonym George Eliot. While maintaining the Victorian mindset, the novel encompasses many gender role stereotypes for its main characters. Evans was criticized during her life for not following the expected gender roles of the time. She may have written The Mill on the Floss as a subtle cry against society's expectations (or lack thereof) of men and especially women. The gender roles of the Victorian period are clearly visible in The Mill on the Floss and widely followed; however, the roles are sometimes reversed or contrary to what the reader might expect. The characters of Tom, Phillip, Lucy, and Maggie all demonstrate how Evans defines gender roles throughout the novel. Say no to plagiarism. Get a Custom Essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get Original Essay Tom Tulliver, a central character in the novel, is first introduced to the reader as a lively and adventurous thirteen-year-old boy. Tom clearly enjoys traditionally manly activities like fishing, riding horses, and thinking about owning a gun one day. He doesn't seem to worry too much about his future and greatly appreciates the fact that his younger sister Maggie considers him a friend and a "protector". The reader has every reason to suspect that Tom will experience a life full of adventure and few responsibilities until it is time to take over the family business and become a man. Mr. Tulliver, Tom's father, however, has different plans for his boy. Mr. Tulliver expects Tom to go to school and receive an education and be "a little nimble with his tongue and his pen, and [become] a clever fellow" (p. 23). It is at the point in Tom's life, where he goes to live with Mr. Stelling, a clergyman/tutor, to learn Latin, arithmetic and history, that Tom is most lost in terms of gender roles . All his previous experiences seem of no use to him in this new environment. Without any other boys in Mr. Stelling's care, Tom cannot physically fight for his place in the world. He also has a lot of difficulty with the new subjects he is taught because he has never been exposed to them. So he can't even prove himself through his studies. Meanwhile, Tom is described as "more girl-like than he had ever been in his life" (p. 148). He had become aware of his difficulties in understanding the new concepts thrown at him every day which made him seem "stupid" and this knowledge gave him a "girl's susceptibility" (p. 149). Towards the middle of the novel and at the end of Tom's school years, Tom learns of the terrible accident his father was in and he must return home. It is during this period that Tom gets rid of all feminine and even childish expressions. Tom is rushed too quickly towards virility and quickly becomes ultra-masculinized. He goes to work every day and when he returns refuses to talk to anyone while he eats dinner. This mindset governs the rest of Tom's life until the end of the novel, and then his life, when he is once again put in the position of a woman as his sister saves him during the flooding of the Floss. Phillip Wakem, a character who becomes increasingly important as the novel draws to a close, stands in stark contrast to the character Tom Tulliver. Phillip, born with a spinal deformity, is seen as weak throughout the novel. When Tom and Phillip become classmates at King's Lorton with Mr. Stelling, Phillip is still depicted as asofter day, with finer features and more refined talents. Phillip is a master in the arts, such as drawing and music. And where Tom went out and had adventures, Phillip just read about them and recounted the quests of others (p. 173). As Phillip grows up, he befriends Maggie Tulliver, Tom's sister, and falls in love with her. However, Maggie does not initially see Phillip as a potential lover, a sign that she does not see Phillip like a “real” man. He is repeatedly described as feminine or feminine when he pledges his love for Maggie (p. 344). Maggie appreciates Phillip's beautiful singing voice, although it is repeatedly mentioned to the reader that it is a tenor and not a more manly bass (p. 435). Phillip shows more manly traits as he gets older and even objects to his father's opinion of Maggie Tulliver when Phillip informs him of his intention to marry her. However, Phillip can't hold Maggie's attention forever. He ends up losing her to another man who presents a more traditional masculine role. Lucy Deane, a relative of the Tullivers, is not a main character in the novel. However, it is important to note that she is one of the characters who followed gender roles almost perfectly as an adult. As a child, Lucy was raised to portray the role of a perfectly feminine girl. She had “the prettiest little rosebud mouth you could kiss: everything about her was neat: her little round neck with the row of coral pearls, her little straight nose... her light eyebrows... matching in his hazel eyes” (p. 66). Because of her upbringing, Lucy longed to play with her cousins, Maggie and Tom. On one occasion in particular, the reader is shown Lucy's delight in going on an adventure with Tom to forbidden parts of Aunt Pullet's garden, "a rare treat for doing something naughty" (p. 107). The reader does not hear much about Lucy once Tom leaves for school and the next time Lucy enters the plot, she is a young woman. As a young woman, Lucy upholds the Victorian gender role of a woman and is very petite and demure. She is even described as being physically ill when Maggie runs away with her future fiancé (p. 531). Lucy's behavior proves that although she had a desire, however small, to break free from the mold, society pushed her back to a pattern of "appropriate" behavior as she grew up. Maggie Tulliver, the heroine of the story, is first introduced to the reader as a spit-up child with a very active imagination. Maggie, against her mother's wishes, plays outside with Tom, doesn't keep her bonnet on her hair, and refuses to wear the beautiful and expensive clothes her relatives send her. Her father affectionately refers to her as "little girl" throughout the novel, and Maggie continually defies society's expectations regarding her actions. Maggie reads every book she can get her hands on and engages in a sort of self-education. Maggie turns out to be so intelligent that she is almost as good at Latin as Tom and has never taken a lesson (p.157). As a child, Maggie doesn't understand why people expect her to act in a way that would make her physically uncomfortable and deny her the right to express all of her vibrant feelings. As she ages and deals with her father's illness, Maggie begins to allow herself to be pushed into a more traditional mold. She reads the writings of Thomas á Kempis and decides to live a life of piety and self-sacrifice (p.301). She believes that by doing this, she will become less tied to the desires of “this” world and more attuned to the rewards of the “next life” (p. 302). This decision is clearly motivated by the desire she feels to integrate into..