What is the significance of The Mill on the Floss?

The Mill on the Floss is Eliot’s most autobiographical novel. Although the plot points do not explicitly mirror events from Eliot’s life, the character of Maggie Tulliver is the closest approximation of Eliot to appear in her fiction, and she faces many of the same struggles that Eliot did. The Tullivers are not meant to represent Eliot’s parents, but Tom Tulliver is very reminiscent of Eliot’s brother Isaac Evans, and the Dodson aunts are reminiscent of Eliot’s aunts, the Pearsons.