The Mill on the Floss is the story of two conflicting personalities as they face the hardships of life. Maggie and Tom Tulliver are sister and brother: Maggie is passionate, impulsive, intelligent and often makes mistakes while Tom is practical, unimaginative, judgmental, honest and hardworking. Their father is declared a bankrupt. Tom works hard to pay his father’s debts and restore the family name, while Maggie is oppressed by the limited role offered to women in rural Victorian Britain. As a result of certain unsuitable friendships, she is eventually ostracised by her family and local society.