Question

How is the social life at Raveloe different from that at Lantern Yard ? 

Answer 1

According to the narrator, Before Silas came to Raveloe, he lived in a town to the north, where he was thought of as a young man “of exemplary life and ardent faith.” This town was dominated by a strict religious  sect that met in a place called Lantern Yard. During one prayer meeting, Silas became unconscious and rigid  for more than an hour, an event that his fellow church members regarded as divinely inspired. Later, when he  moved to Raveloe, with its sense of “neglected plenty,” completely unlike the world in which he grew up.  The fertile soil and climate make farm life much easier in Raveloe than in the barren north, and the villagers  are consequently more easygoing and less ardent in their religion. Nothing familiar in Raveloe reawakens  Silas’s “benumbed” faith in God. Spiritually depleted, Silas uses his loom as a distraction, weaving more  quickly than necessary. He kept himself isolated and less active in lively interactions. He only focuses and  concentrates on his work and earning of gold. For the first time he is able to keep the full portion of his  earnings for himself, no longer having to share them with an employer or the church. Having no other sense  of purpose, Silas feels a sense of fulfillment merely in holding his newly earned money and looking at it.