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Dickens' Favourite 19th C Novels
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Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell - Group Read (hosted by Claudia) 2nd thread
Petra, a woman’s reputation could be destroyed quite easily in those times. In fact even for a good part of the 20th century. And other women would be tainted by associating with them if their supposed faults became widely known as Mary’s were. Another reason for the importance of secrets. I’m sure some part of Mary knew she was doing something unacceptable with Harry Carson but his attention overrode any concern.
I thought ch 23 was an important chapter in Mary and Margaret's friendship and was and, like Petra, thought Margaret was in the wrong and overreacting to this, but Sue's points about the time and nature of this make perfect sense. It feels like Mary is mostly alone in her battle (and knowledge about the true criminal) to try to save Jem (although she needs to enlist others to help), and time is of the essence. I thought it was interesting how Gaskell continually italicizes the word alibi (at least in my edition), as if it a new term being thrown around.
I love the way Mrs. Gaskell interposes her faith into Mary’s steadfast belief that Jem is innocent. She (Mary) is so determined and it is a beautiful demonstration of faith - her faith in God and in her belief in Jem’s innocence. It’s as if Mary is having to explain so fervently to Job and Margaret in order to convert them to her way of thinking about Jem. Much like a conversion to her religious faith, it’s what she will hold on to and won’t swerve from because it is the one thing that means life and death. Oh! surest way of conversion to our faith, whatever it may be — regarding either small things, or great — when it is beheld as the actuating principle, from which we never swerve! When it is seen that, instead of overmuch profession, it is worked into the life, and moves every action!
One non-plot point I’m curious about is the use of the word “wench” apparently to mean a young woman in the time reflected here. For me there has always been a derogatory sense to the word, one that doesn’t seem present here at all. I wonder when the word became more a term of derision.
And then Mary talks of mercy with Margaret - she is asking her not to forget that we all go wrong and make mistakes sometimes. But mercy is an act of love and kindness given to one by another. Mercy shows compassion and favor to the one who has made a mistake or done wrong. This is another beautiful inclusion directly from Mrs. Gaskell’s theology, I believe.“Yes, Margaret, you have a right to judge; you cannot help it; only in your judgment remember mercy, as the Bible says. You, who have been always good, cannot tell how easy it is at first to go a little wrong, and then how hard it is to go back. Oh! I little thought when I was first pleased with Mr. Carson’s speeches, how it would all end; perhaps in the death of him I love better than life.”
@Lori, I love that as well. That is a great quote, Lori. I know some readers / critics of the novel find that a "fault" in the novel. I find it quite rewarding. It goes in line with the characters and love the redeeming faith in hope and the symbolism. I find it quite redeeming as well. @Sue, I was thinking the same throughout reading, how much the term "wench" is used so frequently to Mary and so freely, even those people close to her, when I have heard it used more in a derogatory/ negative way in other works.
When "wench" is used in this book, it seems a term of endearment. I was confused, too, so I looked it up.We appear to have learned the word as a number of definitions but not Definition #2, which is how it's being used in this novel.
wench (plural wenches):
1. (archaic, now dialectal or humorous, possibly offensive) A girl or young woman, especially a buxom or lively one.
(specifically) A girl or young woman of a lower class.
2. (archaic or dialectal) Used as a term of endearment for a female person, especially a wife, daughter, or girlfriend: darling, sweetheart.
3. (archaic) A woman servant; a maidservant.
4. (archaic) A promiscuous woman; a mistress (“other woman in an extramarital relationship”).
5. (archaic) A prostitute.
6. (US, archaic or historical) A black woman (of any age), especially if in a condition of servitude.
Sue wrote:"other women would be tainted by associating with them if their supposed faults became widely known as Mary’s were. Another reason for the importance of secrets. I’m sure some part of Mary knew she was doing something unacceptable with Harry Carson but his attention overrode any concern."I fully agree with you on this. It was still the case well into the 20th century indeed.
Lori "Much like a conversion to her religious faith, it’s what she will hold on to and won’t swerve from because it is the one thing that means life and death." Great point about the underlying faith, now resolutely assessed by Mrs Gaskell.
It is indeed now a matter of life and death and running against time, Franky! Alibi in italics is perhaps because it is a Latin word, locative of alius, (alius, alibi) means elsewhere. But in our context, I think it is italicised because indeed it is a foreign, scholarly and new, almost a magical word which would perhaps save Jem from hanging - if Mary finds Will and an alibi for Jem.
Thanks Petra for your comments and the explanations on "wench". I never mentioned this because I think it is used in dialects in the North of England as commonly as "girl". We have a similar phenomenon in German with "Weib", means female, at times a prostitute, but is quite common in the South in dialects, means only "woman" or "girl" without any bad meaning, but it appears as shocking in the North.
Thank you so much all for your insightful comments!
Chapter 24Mary is back home, but doesn't want to stay. It's Sunday
Just as Ruth stayed with her mother-in-law Naomi after Naomi’s husband, then Ruth’s husband and Naomi’s other son died, [The book of Ruth in the Old Testament is short but insightful], Mary is visiting Jane Wilson at Ancoats and wants to comfort her.
Jane is upset. She too has been summoned by means of a subpoena to the Assize at Liverpool on Tuesday.
Mrs Davenport is taking care of Jane, who is very weak. She clutches the subpoena in her hand. Only Mary can calm her down and take the parchment. She is concerned about Mrs Wilson’s condition and her being summoned as a witness. Her testimony would incriminate Jem.
Poor Alice is in a bad way. She talks about her childhood and dead loved ones.
Mary gets a doctor to see both women. After a few tergiversations, he says Jane cannot go to Liverpool.
Mary asks Job for advice. He thinks it might look like a trick if Jane does not go to court for health reasons.
Mothers and daughtersThis chapter shows us how much some of the female characters have changed. It also shows the extent to which the initial roles mother/daughter have been reversed.
Mary, and to some lesser extent Mrs Davenport, have become mothers to Mrs Wilson and Alice.
We remember what Mary was like earlier in the novel, she was just like a teenager, daydreaming of becoming Mrs Carson, more preoccupied by her outfit and flirt with Harry, even though she was caring for her father. She has already grown up, but the tragedy that is now unfolding has matured her. Of course, she seeks advice from Job Legh, who is older and has been through many trials himself, but overall she tries to remain as balanced as possible. She is now thrown into action, mothering these two distressed ladies.
We also remember how desperate Mrs Davenport was in her cellar before she and her children were rescued by George Wilson and John Barton. Now we see how she is another woman, willing to stand up and look after these ladies in need.
The stroke has taken Alice back to her childhood. In scientific terms, the brain is like an onion with many layers. In case of a neurological illness with loss of memory, the outer layers of memory go first, but the childhood memories - places, people, etc - do not disappear. Alice is now the child she once was and needs as much care as she did then. Much of this emotional care is provided by her immediate and vivid memories of her mother and sister, but she is now also concretely Mary's child.
Jane Wilson oscillates between two moods. She is desperate and outraged that her son has been arrested and will be tried. But she is also dazed and at times behaving like a child and now particularly very weak. Mary can expect no motherly comfort from her. Jane is not like Naomi to Ruth, a comforting mother, but like (view spoiler) in North and South, she has become Mary's daughter.
Indeed, Mary is as she said before "friendless and pennyless", and also as Franky mentioned, quite alone, but this too is being sorted out by a gradual change of attitude of Job and Margaret who are now providing both sorts of help: friendship and pennies. This novel is not only a sad and dramatic one, but such a development in Margaret's and Job's attitude also gives hope against hope. (Romans 4:18). "For Mercy has a human heart, Pity, a human face; And Love, the human form divine," wrote William Blake (The Divine Image)
We will race on against time with Mary on Tuesday, 21 May and read chapter 25!
You have opened an entire world for us, Claudia, in mentioning “The Divine Image”. I had never read it before!
Blake was an artist as well as a poet. That particular poem was published in his volume of poetry, SONGS OF INNOCENCE, which he illustrated himself.
Lee wrote: "Blake was an artist as well as a poet. That particular poem was published in his volume of poetry, SONGS OF INNOCENCE, which he illustrated himself."Indeed Lee! My mother offered me Blake's works (in English) and I knew about his artistic talents (the dragon in Revelation) I did not want to elaborate too much on Blake - just this poem and just these verses seemed to illustrate a little bit something in the conversation between Mary and Margaret in the previous chapter!
An excerpt of the Divine Image is an epigraph in a chapter of Middlemarch
Petra, thanks for all of the information on “wench.” I loved researching the roots of English words but didn’t have the wherewithal at this time. This chapter does add to the frustration level. So much to worry about; so much to do and so little time.
Sue wrote: "Petra, thanks for all of the information on “wench.” I loved researching the roots of English words but didn’t have the wherewithal at this time. A few years ago my husband said that all he wanted for his birthday was a winch for his truck. Now I tease him that not many men ask their wife for a wench, and get one!
Chapter 25Mary is coming home. Sally Leadbitter is waiting for her. She is forcing her way into the Barton’s house and wants to know all about Harry’s murder “first hand”. She says Miss Simmonds will let Mary stay away from work for a couple of days and hopes she will come back soon because there are many mourning outfits to be made. Miss Simmonds wants to hear the gossip too. Young Mr Carson’s involvement with Mary Barton has made the seamstress workshop famous, and she could gain more orders now.
Sally is nosy. She wants to know which gown and accessories Mary should wear at the process. Perhaps, thinks Sally, she will find a new sweetheart there. She also wants to lend her a black shawl that she would wear at the trial and give her back as if it were a relic. She asks Mary about Jem. Why did he do it? Mary is tired of people thinking that he is guilty and doesn't want to talk about it.
Sally says some mean things about Job Legh and Margaret and leaves.
Job Legh has seen Mr Bridgenorth, who also thinks Mrs Wilson should go to court on Tuesday. They visit Jane and Alice together.
Mrs Wilson is indeed alternating phases of despondency and flashes of lucidity when she seems to be strong again.
Sally LeadbitterShe is a strange character we (I) instinctively do not like much.
Still, she is particularly good characterized and interesting, perhaps more complex than at first sight.
Even if we tend to be irritated by her, we understand that she has a difficult, a bitter life. She is working long hours at Miss Simmond’s and her mother is bedridden, which implies care and costs, and worries, and sorrows.
She is very superficial and cynical. In this chapter, she is intrusive and insisting like a tabloid reporter or a salesman trying to sell you an expensive vacuum-cleaner even if you do not need it. Her appearance in this chapter, beyond a mere plot device, is adding information on the public opinion, the outside world, the effects of a scandal in the city, the way many people are attracted by others’ dramas.
Acting as a mercenary intermediary, a messenger between Harry and Mary, she was a matchmaker, a procurer, but she is also a voyeur. She is feeding herself on salacious details and gossip, allowing her to compensate for her frustrations in her difficult context. If Sally were one of us, she would probably be an avid consumer of soap operas. (Nothing against soap opera watchers or Harlequin readers! We cannot read Kant all the time!)
Moreover, or as a consequence, she dislikes "whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report". Philippians 4:8, KJV. (My quote). She mocked George Wilson and Alice, and is now being unpleasant about Job Legh and Margaret, perhaps because, in her opinion, their lives are too honourable, too flawless.
But Sally may also represent what Mary could have become if she had chosen the same path. Sally is at an intermediary stage between those decent people I mentioned above and poor Esther.
I found a suitable Bible verse (in my post above) for Sally, but no really suitable poem verse for her, perhaps just William Blake's The Tyger: "Tyger, Tyger burning bright, In the forests of the night" (Songs of Innocence and of Experience, Songs of Experience), the "forests of the night" are often commented as the Inferno of Dante Alighieri, already mentioned in this novel to characterise the difficult background people live in, whereas Sally is always lurking like a tiger.Please comment as you like, till we meet again on Wednesday 22 May, and read chapter 26.
For some inexplicable reason, I was expecting Sally to be sympathetic to Mary and was wholly surprised that she had not changed. She doesn’t even exhibit sorrow over Harry’s death. It’s all fun and games for her,
Just a quick note to let you know that I'm heading out of town for the week. I will be keeping up with our read but may not be able to post often. I'm still here and enjoying the read, even if I can't post for a while. See you in a week.
Petra wrote: "Just a quick note to let you know that I'm heading out of town for the week. I will be keeping up with our read but may not be able to post often. I'm still here and enjoying the read, even if I ca..."Thank you Petra! Enjoy your stay out of town!
Claudia, thanks for all your wonderful information. I am loving how Gaskell is building up the tension. I am having to restrain myself from reading ahead. Sally is certainly someone I do not care for. People just seem to be able to walk into your home even when no invitation is extended. I can’t imagine not having a lock on my door.
We are at a point in the novel when it is fun to speculate on whom the readers would most want to be the murderer. Gaskell has a problem where neither John's nor Jem's guilt would be that preferable, leaving her to either choose another character or draw on deus ex machina unknown, an outside agitator perhaps? Ideally for me, she'd figure out a way to make Sally the murderer which would satisfy most of us, as I don't think we'd mind her punishment. Ut my reason for broaching the issue is so one can consider what thoughts the author might be having on this.
Once again a great introduction, Claudia. When thinking of Sally, my thoughts are all negative. Though society would place her in the somewhere on the lower good side of any rating weighing the righteous and good vs the fallen where Esther would lie, I would place Sally more toward the lower end because of the damage she causes to others by the way she behaves. At least Esther has gained some insight into herself though it hasn’t changed her life much. It did lead her to try to help her niece. Sally spreads gossip, undermines the people around her for no reason but enjoyment. And she earned money for encouraging Mary’s involvement with Harry. I think we’ve all met or heard of a “ Sally “ in our lives.
Sam I love that thought of Sally as murderer. Perhaps we can offer a 21st century rewrite! I have been considering alternative killers since this happened. I find that I primarily return to that secret meeting when the lot was chosen by the assassin. John was just one of several men there. Could his trip have been a real trip and an alibi? I’ve been having the same concern as you about the two most important people in Mary’s life as the choices she has for murderer.
It’s almost difficult to narrow down any more possible culprits as so many characters have died. Jem or John seem the likeliest but we don’t believe Jem did and don’t want it to be John for Mary’s sake. John’s behavior exhibited signs which would lead us to think it’s him, but is this a red herring? That leaves us with Job, Will, Margaret, Sally(excellent choice, Sam!), and whomever was present at the secret meeting where the lot was chosen. I just don’t know. I’m never good at figuring these things out.Claudia, you picked an excellent Bible verse for Sally. She’s definitely not interested in honesty, goodness, kindness and compassion.
Mrs. Gaskell has her readers chomping at the bit for more information but she has given us a chapter that is beyond a mere plot device, is adding information on the public opinion, the outside world, the effects of a scandal in the city, the way many people are attracted by others’ dramas.
She is really getting us stirred up and anxious for Jem and playing with our emotions because the time is running out!
Great comments everybody! Yes, Sue, Sally spreads gossip, undermines the people around her for no reason but enjoyment.
We indeed would need a deus ex machina, Sam
Chapter 26Monday morning: Mary is travelling by train to Liverpool for the first time in her life. She is too preoccupied by her errand and the matter of getting hold of Will and does not pay any attention to the sceneries outside or the train itself.
The train is crowded by lawyers and people going to the Assize. Mary overhears a conversation about Jem’s trial. She too is mentioned in this discussion. Lawyers are mentioning a particularly good attorney, a Mr William, who will cross-examine Mary Barton. They say that the trial is happening too soon, that the investigations have been hastened, perhaps something has been neglected, but ”the old man” - the victim’s father - wanted it that way. It is a clear case after all, and why take more time and gather more evidence?
Mary goes to Mrs Jones, Will’s lodger, and learns that Will has never been to the Isle of Man and that he has already sailed aboard the “John Cropper”.
Mary’s first train rideWe are explicitly told that she is boarding a train for the first time in her life, absently watching the chimney smoke hovering over the city, but feeling homesick. Interestingly, Mrs Gaskell uses a German word, Heimweh (homesickness) perhaps as an echo of her first trip to Belgium and Germany in 1841, when she went to foreign countries for the first time and most probably learnt that word by hearing it. We also know that the Gaskells had German friends living in and near Manchester, who sometimes surely experienced Heimweh.
Every journey, no matter where, marks the end of one phase of a person's life and the beginning of something new. The train ride on the viaduct over Chat-Moss and into a tunnel may be interpreted as a passage from childhood into adulthood. Indeed, Mary is not the futile girl she used to be in some of the first chapters, but she is now intensely focused on a very serious and adult purpose: getting hold of Will and bringing him to court as a key-witness with an alibi for Jem, and saving Jem from capital sentence.
Mary was losing sight of the familiar objects of her childhood for the first time; and unpleasant as those objects are to most, she yearned after them with some of the same sentiment which gives pathos to the thoughts of the emigrant.
Friedrich RückertThe epigraph is a slightly paraphrased excerpt of his poems Schifffahrt (voyage), Liebesfrühling (spring of love) and Mailieder (songs of May) as mentioned a note in the Norton Critical Edition.
The choice of those poems is interesting: Will is embarking for a long voyage. The present action is taking place most probably at the very end of Winter or in early Spring (Frühjahr is the best description for that phase of the year, a time in-between), it should have been a Liebesfrühling indeed because Mary loves Jem and Jem loves Mary, but the present situation is dramatic.
As I did not know Friedrich Rückert (1788-1866) yet, I found many interesting things on him. He was an Orientalist, a linguist, a lecturer, a translator, and a poet. He taught Oriental languages (Arabic, Hebrew…) and indeed knew some more specific idioms e.g. Armenian and was knowledgeable in the most European languages.
A father of six children, Friedrich Rückert also found time for writing poems.
His children fell sick with scarlet fever. Two of them, Luise and Ernst, did not recover.
When they died, Rückert was shocked and wrote a cycle of 428 poems in 1833/34 called the Kindertotenlieder and praised by writer and historian Hans Wollschläger as “die größte Totenklage der Weltliteratur“. (the greatest lamentation in the world literature). Initially not intended for publication, “the poems show a quiet acquiescence to fate and to a peaceful world of solace,” wrote Karen Painter, associate professor of musicology at the University of Minnesota.
The Kindertotenlieder, five poems from this cycle, were eventually put into music by Gustav Mahler (who himself had eleven siblings, but six died in childhood) in 1901 and 1902. They were masterfully sung among others by baryton Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau or mezzosoprano Jessye Norman, but here is a relatively recent and very good and sensitive rendition of one of those Lieder “Oft denk’ ich, sie sind nur ausgegangen” (Often I think they only went out) sung by Eva Zaicik, mezzosoprano, with Anne Le Bozec, piano.
https://youtu.be/nbyKMlJ1JIQ?si=YzUmK...
Let's meet in Liverpool on Friday, 24 May and read chapter 27 together!
Claudia wrote: "Let's meet in Liverpool on Friday, 24 May and read chapter 27 together!"Sorry, I have a bridge date. (I couldn’t resist.)
Claudia, as always the information you so generously share is fascinating, and definitely helps us better understand the text. You’re leading us on such a good adventure. Thank you.
Now I’m thinking more and more about who did it. I love Sam’s tease about Sally. I’m sure it was neither Jem nor her father. But, who?Did someone steal the gun from Jem? As Antionette reminded us, no one is locking their door.
Mary can really handle only one possibility at a time. She’s positive it isn’t Jem, but the other option, of her father, is too difficult for her to completely process. The possibility is there, but keeps getting buried.
What a cliffhanger! Ahhhh! I can’t imagine the original readers anxiety with 2 short chapters in a row with the intense state of the story! I am never good at seeing these twists coming so I just have to take the story as it unfolds. I wish I had a more sleuthish eye for what’s happened and what possibilities there are. I did not see this coming - Mary not finding Will and him being gone, sailed already. Now we wait to see what happens next!
What a surprise at the end of this chapter! I didn't see that coming. How's Jem going to be saved now?!!Ms. Gaskell is keeping us on the edge of our seats.
I am not good at speculation of murder mysteries.
Like many of us, I'm not convinced that it's either Jem or John.....but then, who else?
It's someone who has access to both their houses and knows them . This person knew about the gun at Jem's house and the card with Jem's writing at John's house.
Who is close enough to both these men to know such details? (rhetorical question)
We certainly are being kept guessing.
I'm looking forward to Friday.
MARY’s FIRST TRAIN RIDE Claudia, your summary is beautiful. What fabulous insights you share with us!
Thank you all for your comments! Yes Lori we are hanging on a cliff once again!
Kathleen, you said something important: Mary can really handle only one possibility at a time. She is positive that it isn't Jem but the other option, of her father, is too difficult to completely process. The possibility is there, but keeps getting buried."
Mary is indeed actively focused on getting hold of Will (now the news that he has sailed with the John Cropper is devastating). While spending all her time and energy doing so, she is consciously (or unconsciously) burying the matter of her father.
This is perhaps why we too are trying to consider other possible perpetrators.
Chapter 27When Mary hears that Will has sailed, she breaks down and almost falls into a stupor. She repeats, "Oh, Father!”This is not understood by Mrs Jones, who thinks Mary has lost her mind.
But Mary regains her composure and Mrs Jones's young son, Charley, appears and takes charge of the matter, explaining to Mary that they must find out whether or not the John Cropper has sailed. The configuration of the estuary, the ebb and flow of the tides, have a great effect on when the ship can sail. Charley knows a lot about ships and boats, the harbour and the sea, he is often there and dreams of going to sea himself when he is older.
He finds some sailors who can confirm whether the John Cropper is still anchored further out in the bay, as he knows for a fact that she has been towed out. An apparently old sailor climbs a mast and checks with his glasses that the John Cropper is still anchored further down the estuary. It is now a matter of life and death and Charley asks the sailors to take Mary to the John Cropper in their boat.
Charley”Charley was one of those boys who are never "far to seek," as the Lancashire people say, when any thing is going on; a mysterious conversation, an unusual event, a fire, or a riot, any thing, in short; such boys are the little omnipresent people of this world.”
Charley is one of those unexpected people who sometimes suddenly appear in our lives when everything seems so dark and hopeless. Can we call him a little deus ex-machina? It is perhaps too early to tell, but there is still hope.
He is still a child (not the first child in this novel!) and manages to help Mary where adults cannot. He is a sort of Liverpudlian Gavroche (but Mrs Jones is no Mme Thénardier!), who knows all, the places, the shortest ways, how to speak with people, the dialects, the specificity of seamen, etc. As a future sailor, he is truly knowledgeable and that is exactly what Mary needs now. She is rightly obsessed with getting hold of Will. While his mother suspects and somewhat disapproves that Will is Mary's boyfriend and does not yet understand why she is so eager to find him, Charley asks no questions, or, when he does, he is non-judgemental on her private life. He knows the best way to the harbour and gives her some additional tourist and historical information about the streets they pass through, even if she is not quite receptive now.
Charley knows the right places and the right people, and is efficient about it, getting straight to the point without wasting time on other matters, but he also adds a touch of kindness Mary needs so badly.
A Liverpool specialLiverpool has been described as “having the most splendid setting of any English city." (Nikolaus Pevsner, 2006).
Situated on the Liverpool Bay of the Irish Sea, on the estuary of the River Mersey, the city of Liverpool is built across a ridge of sandstone hills rising up to a height of around 230 feet (70 m) above sea-level at Everton Hill, which represents the southern boundary of the West Lancashire Coastal Plain.
Liverpool, which began its development from the 13th century became a significant town in the late 17th century, when the port at nearby Chester began to silt up. The Port of Liverpool became heavily involved in the Atlantic slave trade in 1699. It also imported much of the cotton required by the neighbouring Lancashire textile mills and became a major departure point for English and Irish emigrants mainly to North America as we see in many novels of that period.
In the 19th century, Liverpool rose to global economic importance at the forefront of the Industrial Revolution and built among others the first intercity railway, the first non-combustible warehouse system, the Royal Albert Dock.
Liverpool as a port town is already in the 19th century a cosmopolitan town but has its peculiarities and its own dialect.
(Source: Wikipedia)
While Mary is "tossing in a boat for the first time in her life", trying to reach the John Cropper, your comments will be most appreciated, until we read chapter 28 on Saturday 25 May!
I feel very thankful that Mary had Charley to guide her to the Liverpool docks, and get her on a boat. I hope the men are strong rowers since time is running out as the tide comes in. Elizabeth Gaskell handles the suspense very well since Mary is so young and inexperienced in the world, but is doing all she can to try to save Jem. Thanks for the information about Liverpool, Claudia. I didn't know much about the city other than the association with the Beatles!
Connie wrote: "I feel very thankful that Mary had Charley to guide her to the Liverpool docks, and get her on a boat. I hope the men are strong rowers since time is running out as the tide comes in. Elizabeth Gas..."You are welcome, Connie! Yes, the Beatles are a milestone in the life and more recent history of Liverpool!
Yes, Elizabeth Gaskell handles the suspense brillantly. She definitely knew how to write a story!
Poor Mary but she’s got a chance! Hooray! She has faith yet she is so anxious. I think I might have gotten even more anxious when Charley starts giving her a tourists view of the city, though. I can only imagine how fast her heart is beating and her focus is a single one - find Will!Hoping with all hope that she makes it to the John Cropper in time…
It was very difficult to stop at the end of this very short chapter! I could feel Mary’s intense aggravation when Charley was trying to show her high points of the city’s architecture! But I enjoyed the tour and was thinking how little I knew of the city in spite of my love for the Beatles over the years.
Chapter 28Mary is now on board of a boat with two unknown rough sailors.
It is one o’clock on Monday.
The men are courageously rowing their way down to the offing where the John Cropper is moored. When the wind suddenly dropped, they can progress more easily, but the John Cropper is now heaving anchor and sailing away. The sailors manage to attract the seamen’s attention onboard the John Cropper and shout them that they want to speak William Wilson, and for which purpose. The Captain tells them that he would not stop his ship for any reason whatsoever.
But Will appears and shouts:
“So help me God, Mary Barton. I’ll come back in the pilot-boat, time enough to save the life of the innocent.”
“There was hope, although so slight and faint”.
However Mary has little notion of what a pilot-boat is and how long it will take for Will to come back. She asks the boatsmen onboard and receives multiple answers. It all depends on the route chosen by the John Cropper until the pilot-boat may return on its berth, and may vary strongly.
On her way back to the harbour, Mary is confused. “She had no clear perception of anything that passed” and “she sank into a kind of stupor” and falls then asleep.
They arrive at the harbour at dusk. Mary gives all her money to the older rough sailor. She realises that she has lost the card with the lawyer's address where she was appointed with Job Legh, and cannot remember where she was at Will's lodgings that morning.
She wanders for a while, hesitant, troubled by dark thoughts. The rough old sailor hesitates, but finally asks her to follow him.
Mary’s first boat tripThe boat trip chasing the John Cropper is unexpected, improvised, and frustrating. Mary is embarking with unknown sailors, rough men. She is little aware of any danger as she is focusing on catching up the John Cropper. The only steady person she could rely upon was her ”little mushroom friend”, Charley Jones, a boy she has known for one hour at most. He has not embarked with her and has gone home. She has even forgotten his mother’s address in her subsequent confusion. It almost sounds that Charley was perhaps a strange little troll who has never existed.
There is little scenery background description, but the narrative insists on grey tones, clouds, ink hues, a head wind, no wind at all and at last a ship already heaving anchor. Mary is concentrating her mental energy on reaching the John Cropper, while the boatsmen are spending their strength and energy on the same purpose, against headwind and obstacles they have first to circumvent.
Although Mary has taken control of her life, she is "friendless and penniless" but strong enough and willing at all costs to stand her ground and do her very best to save Jem, she experiences an increased uncertainty and ongoing adversity.
When she first arrives at Milk-House Yard, Will is not there any longer. When the boat at last manages to reach Will’s ship, the John Cropper is already sailing. So that the boat must sail along the vessel and the sailors are trying to reach someone of the crew who are now terribly busy and noisy. A dialogue of the deaf ensues, with the noise drowning out Mary's voice, which is lost in the wind, while the captain uses a cornet to make himself heard.
The captain is rude to her but Will has answered her favourably. Still, there are uncertainties and Mary falls eloquently into stupor and sleeps on their way back to the harbour. Her sudden torpor reminds us of her falling asleep at the feet of John Barton when the latter told of his trip to London and Job Legh told his and Margaret’s story. Once on land again, she is distraught, has seemingly lost all notion of where she is and of where she is going, but follows blindly the rough old sailor.
We see a somewhat similar scene in Ruth, by Elizabeth Gaskell (view spoiler).
In both cases, there is a kind of traumatic shock here, a nightmarish dimension, a dissociation and a total detachment from reality, a loss of spatial and temporal reference points, all very skillfully described. In both cases, Mary (or later, Ruth) are in a hypnotic state.
Though there is still a faint hope, things seem to be getting out of hand and spinning out of control.
A pilot-boatA pilot boat is a smaller boat that is anchored in a harbour, i.e. it knows the currents and obstacles of the harbour. A pilot boat will help a ship to sail out of the harbour or of her mooring and out of the bay, if necessary. When a foreign ship arrives in a harbour, a pilot boat helps her to reach her mooring or anchorage.
The sailors on Mary’s boat are discussing how long it would take the pilot boat to return to the piers, depending on the ship's route. If the John Cropper were to sail through the Banks (I infer it is an area immediately off the Liverpool Bay) it would take less time for the pilot boat to come back to the piers, than if she were to sail past Holyhead, off North Wales.
We are Monday evening, it is definitely a question of life and death and time.
Dickensians!
Books mentioned in this topic
Mary Barton (other topics)North and South (other topics)
Mary Barton (other topics)
Cranford (other topics)
Hard Times (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Charles Dickens (other topics)Jenny Uglow (other topics)
Effie Black (other topics)
Ebenezer Elliott (other topics)
Dion Boucicault (other topics)
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Claudia, Margaret's reaction to the rumours are astounding. She's ready to let a good friendship go because of a flirtation. Amazing how fragile women's lives were back then.