The (Mostly) Dead Writers Society Author in Residence program 2022
I am delighted to have made Elizabeth Gaskell's acquaintance. This was an interesting study in English culture during a time of change. The Industrial Revolution is in full swing, bringing with it tension between unions, workers, and management. Class values are also shifting, as men like John Thornton could become wealthy and successful without belonging to the aristocratic class. Women like Margaret Hale are betwixt and between, largely constrained by family and cultural expectations, but maybe not willing to marry as those families would choose. She is neither aristocratic nor working class, neither fish nor fowl.
Margaret is a young woman when we meet her, but she carries heavy loads. When she rejoins her parents at the parsonage, it seems like she becomes responsible for regulating everyone's emotions. Dissatisfied mother must be protected and cajoled along. Her weak father has decided to give up his living and move the family to the industrial North. He hasn't the guts to tell his wife, downloading that responsibility to his daughter. She also shoulders the burden of packing, arranging the move, finding a home to rent, and getting her parents settled. Her brother got into trouble in the Navy and will be hung if he returns to his home country. He dares to visit when their mother is on her deathbed and Margaret must ensure that he remains safe from prying eyes.
Margaret loses so many people so quickly! She quarrels with John Thornton because neither of them can see things from the other's point of view. There are the deaths of her parents, then the godfather who has stepped in to shield her. She ends up back where she started, living with her aunt and cousin, but feeling uneasy about it this time.
The novel deals with issues that women still deal with: the expectation that they will bear the emotional burdens and help all her family members feel better about themselves; trying to find a spouse who wants you for yourself, not your looks or your money; how to run your own life despite family members/men who think they know better; having more limited options because you are female.
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