The reader should note that Adam and Arthur were boyhood friends, and that Arthur still has a very high opinion of the humble carpenter. The fact that these two young men have respect for each other intensifies the drama of the novel's crisis, as we shall see presently. The linking also serves to emphasize the fact that Arthur and Adam share some basic characteristics: Arthur's confidence in his virtue is matched by Adam's confidence in his ability to solve all problems and control the course of his own life.
Eliot dilates upon the existence of the two "insignificant" sisters, Kate and Anne Irwine. Her comments here form part of the fabric of the humanitarian gospel Eliot is preaching. To her, no human life is insignificant, for the reason that every human being can be a source of love and comfort for his fellows. Note, in this context, how the rector treats his sisters.
However, according to Eliot, insignificant people can also stir up evil tempers, affect the price of bread, and, in the case of the Irwine sisters, cause their brother to remain a bachelor. In Eliot's words, "they play no small part in the tragedy of life." She points out that such people can be as effective in their own innocuous way as the more colorful people she writes about, and should not be underestimated or dismissed.
In this chapter, the author employs at great length a literary method which has appeared once before, toward the end of Chapter 3. She breaks off her story line to comment, in her own voice, on issues which her descriptions of the thoughts and actions of her characters have raised. This sort of direct authorial comment, sometimes referred to as the "Dear Reader Technique," is no longer in wide use since it interrupts the plot and destroys the illusion of reality which the novel as a whole should create. But it is one of Eliot's favorite devices, one of the primary ways in which she communicates her meaning to the reader and controls his reactions to her characters and the situations she places them in.
