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Quote 8. When they did meet, she remembered her promise to kiss him, but, as a young lady who had been at a boarding-school, she knew now that such a greeting was out of the question, and that Philip would not expect it. This promise was void, like so many other sweet, illusory promises of our childhood; void as promises made in Eden […] impossible to be fulfilled when the golden gates had been passed. Explanation and Analysis. A major theme of The Mill on the Floss is the persistence of childhood memories and desires far into adulthood. Philip and Maggie’s childhood meeting has a great impact on both of them: Philip falls in love with Maggie, and Maggie “remember[s] her promise to kiss him.” Even as these memories continue to exert a powerful hold on their lives, however, they are also made “void” or impossible by the pressures and social realities of adult life. Having been at a boarding school and socialized into the roles and behaviors accepted of her gender, Maggie realizes that it is not acceptable for an unmarried woman to kiss an unmarried man. The narrator compares childhood, a time of innocence and openness, to Eden, sharply contrasting it with the harsh realities of the real world. Just as Adam and Eve were banished from Eden, so too is Maggie unable to return to the sweetness and innocence of her childhood now that she has matured.