How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Book.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
Yet Maggie’s eyes began to fill with tears. The sight of the old scenes had made the rush of memories so painful that even yesterday she had only been able to rejoice [in being home] as we rejoice in good news of friends at a distance rather than in the presence of a happiness which we share. Memory and imagination urged upon her a sense of privation too keen to let her taste what was offered in the transient present [...] (6.2.29)
Having left home, Maggie finds it difficult to find comfort in being back once more among familiar places and with familiar people. Memory and the past are so powerful for Maggie that she can only keep feeling homesick and sad even after she is back home once again.
Quote #8
"It is not the force that ought to rule us - this that we feel for each other - it would rend me away from all that my past life has made dear and holy to me. I can’t set out on a fresh life, and forget that - I must go back to it, and cling to it, - else I shall feel as if there were nothing firm beneath my feet." (6.14.45)
Home for Maggie is largely mental. It is her memory and her past, which are rooted in the mill and the land around St. Ogg’s. The physical features of her home often seem somewhat secondary to the mental and emotional features though.
Quote #9
"Your prompting to go to our nearest friends - to remain where all the ties of your life have been formed - is a true prompting, to which the church in its original constitution and discipline responds [...]." (7.2.13)
Dr. Kenn reaffirms Maggie’s desire to remain in her home, linking the importance of home to the community spirit of the Christian church. This is one of the few direct references we get to organized religion; religion is mostly discussed in terms of spirituality and morality in this book.