How does faith present itself in Silas Marner?

Question

1. This good wholesome woman could hardly fail to have her mind drawn strongly towards Silas Marner, now that he appeared in the light of a sufferer; and one Sunday afternoon she took her little boy Aaron with her, and went to call on Silas, carrying in her hand some small lard-cakes, flat paste-like articles much esteemed in Raveloe. Aaron, an apple-cheeked youngster of seven, with a clean starched frill which looked like a plate for the apples, needed all his adventurous curiosity to embolden him against the possibility that the big-eyed weaver might do him some bodily injury; and his dubiety was much increased when, on arriving at the Stone-pits, they heard the mysterious sound of the loom."Ah, it is as I thought," said Mrs. Winthrop, sadly.They had to knock loudly before Silas heard them; but when he did come to the door he showed no impatience, as he would once have done, at a visit that had been unasked for and unexpected. Formerly, his heart had been as a locked casket with its treasure inside; but now the casket was empty, and the lock was broken. Left groping in darkness, with his prop utterly gone, Silas had inevitably a sense, though a dull and half-despairing one, that if any help came to him it must come from without; and there was a slight stirring of expectation at the sight of his fellow-men, a faint consciousness of dependence on their goodwill. He opened the door wide to admit Dolly, but without otherwise returning her greeting than by moving the armchair a few inches as a sign that she was to sit down in it. Dolly, as soon as she was seated, removed the white cloth that covered her lard-cakes, and said in her gravest way-- "I'd a baking yisterday, Master Marner, and the lard-cakes turned out better nor common, and I'd ha' asked you to accept some, if you'd thought well. I don't eat such things myself, for a bit o' bread's what I like from one year's end to the other; but men's stomichs are made so comical, they want a change--they do, I know, God help 'em." (Part I Chapter 10)
2. Using the above passage, do a close reading using textual evidence (cite using Part I Chapter 10)
3. Analyze, using textual evidence from this and another source. Together, parts 2 and 3 must be 400-410 words.

Answer 1

Have you finished, or are you in the process of finishing, Silas Marner yet? What assignment is this set of questions for? Without answers to those questions, I can't provide much specific help other than to hint that you consider the metaphoric significance of the heart as a casket whose lock is now broken. Ask yourself this, if the heart is a locked casket but its lock is now broken and its contents gone, what is left over? (These questions will not make much sense to you if you have not read the work in question. LOL.)

Please let me know if you need my help.