North and South - Elizabeth Gaskell

"

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."

Margaret Hale, full of southern pride, finds herself suddenly placed in a northern industrial city. Having entertained a strong prejudice against the tradesmen, she views the northern mill owners to be similar uncouth men. Her pride and the misconceived notions mar her better judgment and she forms an instant dislike for Mr. Thornton. This dislike was mutual initially, but Mr. Thornton goes through gradual change; and although he dislikes her haughty ways, he slowly learns to appreciate her for her true qualities and falls in love. Margaret, though not as quickly as Mr. Thornton, too goes through this gradual change and learns to appreciate who he truly is.

Gaskell's ideas of use for these two characters is twofold. First, through these characters, one from the south and other from north, she shows us how the different views, beliefs, and misconceptions of the two ends were reconciled. The southerners saw the industrial northern cities as noisy, smoky, and full of uncouth people while the northerners saw the south as full of idle people who lacked action, depth and individuality. It was interesting to see how Gaskell expressed these clashing views of both ends through her main characters, and the final reconciliation of the two was more like a reconciliation of North and South (ehmmehm...title..ehm) where both sides come to understand and respect their different ways. Second is, of course, for the obvious reason of filling a love story. Gaskell has achieved these two-folds end brilliantly.

The broad scope of the novel, coupled with insightful depth and comment means that each reading of the book can offer something new. Read it as a straight forward (or not) love story, a fictional romantic biography. Then discover the class politics that run through the novel. Or perhaps the debate (as the title suggests) between the rapidly industrialising north and the more gentrified south. Or the sexual and gender politics that create a constant thematic pulse throughout the book... Or any other matter you choose to seek out from religion to the nature of authority and so on and so forth. 

I loved the writing style and all characters where brought to life with a subtly yet strong believability. I especially loved John Thornton's character. He was so strong yet conflicted and deeply emotional... the bloody handshake drama was almost to much for me. I also thought that his interactions with his mother were top notch. 

I have only two problems with this novel. Firstly, Gaskell's own heavily religious ideas come through strongly in the text at times, though luckily not pervading the entire novel. This can get occasionally frustrating for someone who isn't religious, however I understand that it was true to the times and doesn't detract for the overall wonderful book. 

My second issue is the last few ending chapters really slow down in pace and feel less character driven. We somehow pull-out of the emotional worlds of our two leads. There is less urgency and we just kind of wait around with Margaret for months as she grieves. This is a disappointment, especially as the pacing for the rest of the book was so excellent. 

Age Rating 14+. A man commits suicide, a slightly worrying strike, death. However all described in accordance to 19th centaury sensibility.