Goodreads | North and South (Oxford World's Classics)

Elizabeth rated it:

(review of isbn 0140434240)

12/27/07

bookshelves: 2007, classics-women, favorite-writers, in-england, nineteenth-century

Read in December, 2007

I keep thinking I don't like Victorian literature and then I read another Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell novel...

Usually, I find the practice of paying authors by the word or the chapter (the books were serialized) lead to meandering plots, excessive description of unimportant things, and cliffhanger chapter-endings. North and South definitely a Victorian novel. The domestic details seem to overwhelm the story someti...more I keep thinking I don't like Victorian literature and then I read another Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell novel...

Usually, I find the practice of paying authors by the word or the chapter (the books were serialized) lead to meandering plots, excessive description of unimportant things, and cliffhanger chapter-endings. North and South definitely a Victorian novel. The domestic details seem to overwhelm the story sometimes. I would have to step back and remember the importance of them to establishing class and character during this period. The cliffhangers weren't too bad - some sentiment stuff - but by the time I got to them I was utterly engrossed in the story and I didn't even notice.

Elizabeth Gaskell was a reformer. She was the wife of a Unitarian minister and they lived in Manchester, England in the mid-nineteenth century. She lived with all of the problems of the period and as a successful writer during her life time, she mixed with the wealthy as well as the poor. Her books are designed, like Uncle Tom's Cabin to make the mostly middle class women readers feel for the person who is suffering and hopefully make them sympathetic enough to take action on her behalf. Her books like Mary Barton and Ruth are deeply political and, admittedly, too sentimental for me (although I may try again now).

After Mary Barton, which was criticized for being too political, North and South was criticized as being a middle class love story, with not enough politics. I didn't see that. There is definitely a love story at the center of this book, and if you have any sense of romance as a reader, you will love it. It also has the complexity of an Austen relationship. My favorite scene is very early on. In the first meeting between John Thorton, the industrialist mill owner, and Margaret Hale, the renegade minister's daughter. We learn that he's in love with her because of one sentence as Gaskell describes Margaret's neck from Thorton's point of view while they are arguing about the rights of individuals. It's a lot like Pride and Prejudice as a tale of overcoming pride to find self-awareness and therefore true love. John Thorton has often been compared to Fitzwilliam Darcy and I can certainly see similarities but Thorton is well-rounded enough that he stands on his own.

If you're not going to be sickened by all this, then keep reading. Thorton is a complex character. Gaskell didn't create another one-sided political book here. Thorton is a pull-yourself-up-by-your-own-bookstraps individualist drawing on a lot of the Utilitarian philosophy of the time. He believes that workers should be treated well (particularly regarding healthy working environments) because they will be better (stronger) workers for it. It's a callous belief and watching Gaskell make these economic arguments for why workers should have better conditions is difficult to a modern reader, but it was revolutionary at the time. Thorton also doesn't believe in controlling the workers' lives outside of the factory, which was something that lots of "reformers" were clamoring for at the time. He's an amazing representation of a smart, individual that would not conform to society rules and was better for it. I cannot think of another character like him, although I can certainly see influences of the Brontes on him.

The other reason it is criticized as a middle class love story, is that readers, up until the late twentieth century anyway, thought that middle class women were not political. Margaret Hale says some fairly radical things in this novel and no one seems to notice. She's strong, she's compassionate, she's proud, she's confused, she cares more about doing what is right than being taken care of. She would rather be poor and honest than rich and the object of some man. Gaskell gives her a juxtaposition with Thorton's sister reinforce how unusual and decidedly better she is for these beliefs.

If you remember when it was written, by whom, and for what purpose, the charm of the writing, the ability of its author to create the scene, and the political ideas that she explores make this book much more than just a period piece. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Just writing about it makes me want to read it again!
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