North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
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| Title: North and South Author: Elizabeth Gaskell Published: January 13th 1994 Publisher: Penguin Books Pages: 521 |
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Synopsis:
When her father leaves the Church in a crisis of conscience, Margaret Hale is uprooted from her comfortable home in Hampshire to move with her family to the north of England. Initially repulsed by the ugliness of her new surroundings in the industrial town of Milton, Margaret becomes aware of the poverty and suffering of the local mill workers and develops a passionate sense of social justice. This is intensified by her tempestuous relationship with the mill-owner and self-made man, John Thornton, as their fierce opposition over his treatment of his employees masks a deeper attraction.
In North and South, Elizabeth Gaskell skillfully fuses individual feeling with social concern, and in Margaret Hale creates one of the most original heroines of Victorian literature.
My Review:
He almost said to himself that he did not like her, before their conversation ended; he tried so to compensate himself for the mortified feeling, that while he looked upon her with an admiration he could not repress, she looked at him with proud indifference, taking him, he thought, for what, in his irritation, he told himself he was-a great rough fellow, with not a grace or a refinement about him.
North and South is one of the most significant 19th-century novels, it is not just a love story; it is also a mighty view of the class distinctions between the south and the industrial north of England. It is a political analysis, an economics study, a social critique, a tale about class, a story about the actual lives of working-class people as they cope with the problems created by the industrialization of England.
Gaskell has a true talent for capturing the human spirit, making her characters convincing and portraying human suffering. One of the many delightful aspects of the book is the interior monologue Gaskell presents for the two central characters as they puzzle their way through their understanding of both each other and their times and place.
Margaret Hale is not a tedious Victorian heroine, but rather a thinking and feeling person with opinions, which she expresses quite freely. She is sympathetic to the cotton mill workers, taking compassion on their poor working and living conditions, and the way they are handled by their employers. She is swift to judge Thornton, whom she loathes for being arrogant, proud, and a stern employer.
What I cherish about this book is the passion the characters feel, both in their love, and their drive for what they believe is right. I also love the conflict between the characters, as it is sincere, they both come from different worlds, still, somehow they end up falling in love. The affection between the characters is convincing, where they are bold, angry, prideful, incompetent, and overall human!
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