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PARTISAN REVIEW
not only her selfishness but also her ego's strength, which, in many
ways, permits her to navigate in a clearly defined social sphere, though
these definitions at times are illusory and limited. Unfortunately, for
Gwendolyn, the world is not completely constructed of mirrors; thus,
when she meets Daniel's critical eye in the gambling hall, she loses her
nerve; when confronted with the prospect of marrying someone she
clearly does not love, she succumbs to society's pressure. But when for–
tunes drive her out of her hermetic self, she gradually understands the
meaning of Daniel's spiritual transformation.
Daniel and the many Jewish characters offer compelling contrasts to
Gwendolyn's world. Toward the middle of the novel, Daniel saves
Mirah Cohen from killing herself, and she begins a new life with the
Meyricks. As Mirah transforms from a depressed, needy person into a
talented, complex individual, Daniel, whose contact with the Jewish
world has been limited, learns and grows. Eliot comments on the mean–
ing of Daniel's relationship with Mirah:
Deronda saw these consequences as we see any danger of marring
our own work well begun.
It
was a delight to have rescued this
child acquainted with sorrow, and to think of having placed her lit–
tle feet in protected paths. The creature we help to save, though
only a half-reared linnet, bruised and lost by the wayside-how we
watch and fence it, and dote on its signs of recovery! Our pride
becomes loving, our self is a not-self for whose sake we become vir–
tuous, when we set to some hidden work of reclaiming a life from
misery and look for our triumph in the secret joy-"This one is the
better for me."
Here the narrator's assessment of Daniel differs quite radically from her
earlier assessment of Gwendolyn. Daniel defines his life, momentarily, in
terms of the one he has saved . This moment speaks powerfully to a
worldly spirituality that Daniel unknowingly unlocks. His actions square
precisely with the demands that Judaism places on an individual. Daniel
implicitly understands that his behavior not on ly determines his position
in the world, but in genera l defines the society within which he partici–
pates. He could turn his back on the weak and the needy. But Daniel rep–
resents a generosity whereby a noble society could be defined through
how it treats its most impoverished members. Daniel has stumbled onto
a situation that offers him a spiritual structure-a structure that involves
the giving up of self for the betterment of others-that would lend clar–
ity to most of his in stincts and feelings. "The secret joy" the narrator
