North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell

Information

Goodreads: North and South
Series: None
Source: Purchased
Published: 1854

Official Summary

Penguin Edition

‘How am I to dress up in my finery, and go off and away to smart parties, after the sorrow I have seen today?’

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 fused individual feeling with social concern, and in Margaret Hale created one of the most original heroines of Victorian literature.

In her introduction, Patricia Ingham examines geographical, economic and class differences, and male and female roles in North and South. This edition also includes a list for further reading, notes and a glossary.

Review

North and South is essentially two stories woven fully together: that of protagonist Margaret Hale as she navigates moving, losing family members, and falling in love and that of the conflict between the northern (manufacturing) parts of England and the southern (agricultural) parts.  Readers might prefer one theme over the other, depending on how engaging they find Margaret as a character and how enthralling they find debates over the value of manufacturing and workers’ rights, but overall the book shows how Margaret—and the reader—must reconcile differences between things that seem fundamentally different or opposed.

Personally, I found the book intriguing, but it’s difficult to say I entirely liked it.  Margaret, though routinely praised by other characters for her poise, grace, virtue, etc. is still a flawed character.  She’s a bit classist and a bit judgmental (and indeed occasionally called out for it), and part of her arc involves her learning to accept the people of the manufacturing town of Milton without somehow holding herself as apart and separate from them.  Beyond that…she seems very generic to me.  She is generally nice and well-meaning and educated and such, but she’s not unusually good or intelligent, and I don’t find her overly remarkable or memorable as a character the way I might protagonists from other works.

The story does have a number of twists, turns, and exciting events, such as a visit from Margaret’s brother, who is likely to be executed if discovered on English soil.  There’s also the melodrama of sickness and death and the violence of a strike.  Gaskell certainly tries to keep readers turning the pages.

Nonetheless, the book is topical in the way of many Victorian novels; its major concern is the relationship between the employees and the employers in Milton, the rights of workers, etc.  Readers will likely draw comparisons to other novels of the period that treated the subject of mill owners and workers, such as Charlotte Bronte’s Shirley.  It’s a subject that was of popular discussion at the time, but may or may not hold equal interest for today’s readers.  This is particularly true in North and South, where Gaskell has characters engage in lengthy debates and monologues on the subject, in order to press her final point that workers do deserve some consideration.  If the reader doesn’t have a personal or academic/historical interest in such debates, the can make the book drag in places.

However, I did enjoy learning about the smoky town of Milton and seeing how characters could come to love a place that seems, particularly to newcomers, dirty and noisy and lacking in any beauty.  If you’re interested in Victorian literature, North and South is certainly a must-read.

Cousin Phillis by Elizabeth Gaskell

Information

Goodreads: Cousin Phillis
Series: None
Source: Library
Published: 1864

Summary

First serialized in Charles Dickens’ Household Worlds, this short novel tells the story of a young woman discovering love for the first time.

Review

Cousin Phillis is a short novel in four parts describing a young woman’s coming-of-age through the eyes of her cousin Paul.  Though it features Gaskell’s typical interest in the industrialization of the country, the coming of the railroad serves mostly as a vehicle to get the narrator and his friend into the countryside, where they meet the beautiful and intelligent Phillis. The focus remains on Paul’s observations of Phillis and her reaction to his handsome manager, Edward Holdsworth.

The choice of Paul Manning as narrator is perhaps the one flaw in the story.  He remains sadly unconvincing as a man.  We hear little of his work or of his own pursuits.  Even his friendship with Holdsworth is briefly and broadly sketched.  Most of his energy seems to be spent, not on the railroad or in finding a lover or in the things one typically expects a young man to do, but on thinking about Phillis’s habits.  At first he is intimidated by her superior intelligence, beauty, and good sense.  In the end, he is concerned about her love for Holdsworth.  But does the average man really sit around pondering his cousin’s looks and words, worrying that she is falling in love?

Aside from this criticism, however,  I found the story beautifully and simply drawn.  It is a subtle work, much subtler than many of Gaskell’s stories.  Progress is coming to the countryside, but no one makes a speech about it. We see naturally the excitement and enthusiasm of the men and woman as they welcome the advance of the railroad.  We see implicitly what might be lost–the careful, humble, and pious life of the countryside replaced by the bustle and empty show of Holdsworth and the men of progress he represents.  And the criticism of agricultural life so directly stated by Margaret in North and South is only quietly alluded to in the figure of Phillis Holman, whose superior intellect and education makes her somewhat unsuited to the sphere in which she moves.  Men of intelligence are, of course, not wholly lacking in agricultural areas, and yet Gaskell makes it clear that the long hours required in the fields make education difficult to obtain.  Only Holdsworth, a brilliant railroad man, manages to come across as Phillis’s equal in education and perceptiveness.

Cousin Phillis is a short story (indeed–it seems to cut off in the middle), but one that immediately captures the interest of the audience.  The beauty and the rhythms of the countryside come alive through Gaskell’s pen and the warmhearted characters quickly earn reader sympathy.  Readers just beginning to approach Gaskell will find that this is an easy and a delightful way into her works.

Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell

Information

Goodreads: Mary Barton
Series: None
Source: Library
Published: 1848

Summary

Set in Manchester, Elizabeth Gaskell’s first novel tells the story of Mary Barton, a working-class girl who dreams of marrying rich and thus raising up her father.  Meanwhile, tensions between the factory masters and their men are running high as work slows and families begin to starve.

Review

Mary Barton, Elizabeth Gaskell’s first novel, anticipates North and South with its depiction of life for working-class Victorians in a factory town.  The division between the rich and the poor as well as the relationship between masters and their men drives the story.  Though its title focuses on Mary, who works as a dressmaker and dreams of marrying a factory owner’s son, the book itself centers around the actions of Mary’s father, driven to desperate measures in an effort to reconcile the social injustices he can no longer understand.

As the book traces Mary’s growth from child to young woman, it deftly illustrates the way in which poverty destroys families.  The women are alternately lead to moral ruin in an attempt to chase a better life, or sadly resigned to watching their children starve and their husbands waste away.  The men, meanwhile, become depressed or restless, according to their natures, as they struggle to accept that they can no longer provide for their families.  Even accepting wages from their wives or children seems to mock them with their failure.  Eventually some of them find an outlet in joining the union.

Gaskell’s novels are intriguing in that they tend to advocate for a middle road when it comes to social reform.  Though she sympathizes with the working class and argues that the masters should recognize that their interests are intertwined with those of their men, she does not fail to censure the unions.  When violence erupts or when the unions refuse to give aid to non-members, she suggests that they are no better than the masters who look the other way when times are hard.  Her ultimate solution is tied up in Christianity: the idea that men should want to help each other, out of their own good nature, simply because it is the right thing to do.

Lest the story become too heavy, however, Gaskell lightens it with a dash of romance.  The romance, of course, offers its own social and moral commentary, intertwined as it is with the events of the novel.  But that does not make it any the less interesting or moving.  As is not unusual in her works, Gaskell offers us a pretty but giddy heroine who does not initially recognize the value of the faithful man who woos her.  Her road to understanding that a man’s true worth does not lie in looks or riches is long and hard, but makes her love all the more precious.

North and South may be Gaskell’s most celebrated work.  But I admit that I enjoyed Mary Barton more.  Mary and Jem are admittedly less compelling than Margaret and Mr. Thornton.  But the social commentary does not the form of lengthy speeches and debates.  That made the  novel flow more smoothly for me and enabled me to read with much more interest.

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell

Information

Goodreads: North and South
Series: None
Source: Library
Published: 1854

Summary

When her father decides he can no longer in good conscience serve the church, Margaret finds herself uprooted to the northern industrial town of Milton.  However, her heart lies in the South and she cannot abide men who reek of trade.  Her pride causes her to clash with Mr. Thornton, who heads a factory and does not share her opinions on the proper relationship between hired hands and their masters.

Review

After reading Sylvia’s Lovers, I looked forward to reading more of Elizabeth Gaskell’s work and especially North and South, regarded as one of her finest novels.  However, though I have seen the book praised as an industrial Pride and Prejudice and a sweeping commentary on the industry of the nineteenth century, I find myself a little disappointed by the book I read.  I adore nineteenth-century novels and do not mind long books or old-fashioned prose or slow plots.  But I still found myself bored at length by North and South.

If I had to guess, I would hazard that 400 pages of this book are debates about the proper relationship of hired men and their employers, the role of the government, and the ways in which the economies of the North and the South either help or hurt people.  The final 100 pages finally show us some action–a bunch of remarkably sudden deaths, losses of fortune, and gains of fortune, all to make sure the story wraps neatly up.  I think the debates could have been interesting–had they been cut short.  And I think the ideas could have been interesting, if they were not all staged as debates between the characters.  I wanted to see them integrated naturally into the text and the conversations, not have them scheduled in as weekly sparring matches between the characters.

I think I did enjoy North and South.  At least, I read it very quickly.  But my quick reading was in part because I wanted to see what happened to the characters, not because I was engrossed by the debating contests.  I wish the story had been a little more streamlined and that it felt a little more natural.  Then I would have enjoyed all of it, not just the “good” parts.

Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell

Information

Goodreads: Wives and Daughters
Series: None
Source: Library
Published: 1864-1866

Summary

Molly Gibson lives a comfortable live with her father until the day he remarries.  Dr. Gibson had hoped for a sensible woman of integrity to watch over his daughter as she grows.  His new wife, however, proves to be of questionable character, as does her daughter Cynthia, who flirts dreadfully and seems to harboring secrets.

Review

Elizabeth Gaskell once again brings a small town to life, showing that a limited cast of characters engaged in everyday activities can prove just as absorbing as any fantasy quest.  Wives and Daughters focuses on the contrast between two young women–Molly Gibson and her stepsister Cynthia Kirkpatrick–as they grow up and discover love.  Their hopes and fears may be centered around seemingly ordinary things–a visit from a friend, the prospect of a ball–but Gaskell reminds us that such things take on extreme importance to the young.  In the process, she makes her readers sympathetic onlookers.

Wives and Daughters is true Gaskell.  As is common in her works, the beautiful and charming woman initially ensnares our worthy hero, who is far too susceptible to looks over character.  Meanwhile, the quiet and good-hearted beauty goes unnoticed.  However, rather than censure the men for being so easily lead astray, Gaskell seems to save her barbs for the women.  The flirt, though depicted as sympathetic, is still roundly criticized for her actions, which not only hurt the men but also drag down other women.  The moral of  the story is clear: virtue is to be valued over charm and is indeed a charming attribute for women in its own right.  Live for others, Gaskell reminds her readers.  Virtue is its own reward.

Still, the book does not feel didactic, possibly because Gaskell seems to believe so earnestly in her own message.  The little lessons are naturally entwined in the story and readers can see for themselves the contrast in character between Molly and Cynthia and between Molly and her stepmother.  Molly comes across as a sweet young thing, not saccharine or unrealistic.  Readers will want to cheer for her and hope that she ends up happy.

My one complaint lies with the ending of the novel, which feels a little like a betrayal.  When I read hundreds of pages of a story that is tending in one direction, I fully expect that story to go where it has been heading–not somewhere else.  My understanding is, however, that Gaskell died before the work was finished and that Frederick Greenwood wrote the ending.  So I suppose her and not Gaskell must be blamed.

Overall, Wives and Daughters is an engrossing and a satisfying story.  North and South and Cranford may be Gaskell’s most well-known works.  But, so far, this one is my favorite.

Sylvia’s Lovers by Elizabeth Gaskell

INFORMATION

Goodreads: Sylvia’s Lovers
Series: None
Source: Library
Publication Date: 1863

SUMMARY

Life in Monkshaven is not particularly exciting, except when the impressment gangs come through.  Otherwise, Sylvia lives a calm life on her parents farm.  Her cousin Philip loves her dearly, but she gives her heart instead to the sailor Charlie Kinraid.  But Philip fears Charlie may be false.

Review

Sylvia’s Lovers is a quiet tale, a tragedy played out on a small scale.  Though it may not feature the noble characters that typically people tragedies, it contains all the drama and pathos that might conceivably fit into the life of a person, even the type of person history tends to forget.  From the families torn apart by the impressment gangs to the domestic strain of a married couple who realize their marriage may have been a mistake, Sylvia’s Lovers marches solemnly onward to a conclusion readers feel cannot possibly be pretty.

Sylvia herself is a somewhat petulant and flighty thing, a girl accustomed to following her own whims rather than thinking of the comfort of others (aside from her parents, whom she loves dearly).   She regularly overlooks the positive qualities of those whom she dislikes or finds dull and she tends to think primarily about her own feelings while remaining quite unconscious that others might have interior lives of their own.  Gaskell tells us that, even so, Sylvia exerts a charm and fascination over men.  One can only assume it is her beauty and her pretty little airs.  But, since readers do not get to see these, we are left only with her character, which is, sad to say, not particularly impressive.  It is therefore a marvel that Gaskell can convince readers to care about Sylvia’s story at all.

But care we do, for the inexorable pull of fate lays over the story and readers feel from the start that nothing good will come for Sylvia in the end.  Gaskell gives us a little moral here, for, it seems Syliva might have been happy had she learned to love and forgive others, had she appreciated the good in men and been able to recognize the bad.  But, alas, Sylvia thinks only in terms of her own passions and is at first reluctant to turn to God, then later discouraged from trying to turn to Him by those who claim to know His will.  Perhaps she’ll find Him eventually, but, of course, always too late, too late.  Sylvia’s tragedy may be reckoned as heartbreaking as those of kings.