Considered a significant piece of Victorian literature, North and South features a strong female protagonist, an exploration of a mature love story, and relevant social and political insight on industrialisation and class issues during the mid-19th century.
During the 19th century, a new way of thinking came to light that challenged the creativity and mystery of the Romantic genre. Instead, this new wave of thinking was shaped by the political, social, scientific and industrial advances of the day. The realist movement instead was used to accurately depict real life and focus on individuals in their social environment. The Industrial Revolution, which predominantly took place in Northern England, provided inspiration for a numerous amount of texts, which aimed to portray how the new advances impacted the traditional way of living, the social structure and the divide this created. In doing so, Gaskell among others, gave a voice and exposure to the poorer and working classes that they otherwise would have struggled to achieve. North and South was inspired by the author’s own experiences of industrialisation and seeks to represent the conditions faces by the working class labourers with the aim of depicting the changing society and increasing awareness of these issues through it’s audience. In doing so, Gaskell achieves the realist goal of depicting every day life and conveying a socially responsible message.
Dickens requested that Gaskell change the title of the work from ‘Margaret Hale’ to ‘North and South’, a difference that permeates the entire text, stating that it “implies more and is expressive of the opposite people brought face to face by the story.”
Margaret and her parents, the Hales, represent the South whilst the Higgins and the Thornton families represent the North. The South is initially shown to be quiet, pastoral, aristocratic, and idyllic. There are no strikes, no class dissension, and no downtrodden masses of hard done-by workers. Education is valued and business is considered oafish. Those from the South view the North as dirty, soulless, and hard, full of men men suffering from injustice and incessant work. Those who uphold the eminence and calibre of the North believe it to be a place of prosperity and economic autarchy. The workers there do not submissively accept their fate but are driven and push back when they are treated unethically. Those in the North view the South as filled with workers who are too resigned to stand up for their rights. After vicious cycles of generations ending up in workhouses and various other forms of manual labour, education is not held to the same prestige but is viewed as ultimately useless and that Southern life is too slow and dull.
Thornton and Margaret continue to argue these points throughout the novel. Thornton exclaims that he “would rather be a man toiling, suffering—nay, failing and successless—here, than lead a dull prosperous life in the old worn grooves of what you call more aristocratic society down in the South, with their slow days of careless ease.” After many prompts, Margaret recognizes that the South is not perfect, acknowledging its cold weather and downtrodden, toiling farmers. Despite this, she later tells people in Harley Street that she was not unhappy there, that she views her time in Helstone and Milton as times in which she felt like she was at "home." The novel concludes with a new understanding of how either side of the divide of England had its values and disadvantages. Thornton surrenders his view that capitalism is unflawed and cannot be faulted; learning better business practices and becomes an improved example of a Northern man, as influenced by a Southern woman. In the end, both characters concede that neither region is perfect.
The novel presents details and settings that have not been glorified but are a representation of real life, effectively demonstrating Elizabeth Gaskell’s realist approach. The novel is strongly influenced by Gaskell’s experience of industrialised cities, especially Manchester, on which she based the fictional town of Milton, as the novel’s setting. The Victorian era saw an increase of factories being built around Manchester, most of which were cotton mills very much like Marlborough Mill in North and South. Gaskell’s realistic settings in Milton are described by the protagonist Margaret Hale as having an air which had “a faint taste and smell of smoke, a “deep lead coloured cloud hanging over the horizon” and countless factories that were “puffing out black ‘unparliamentary’ smoke.” Gaskell resided in an area that was dubbed the ‘Workshop of the North’, which allowed her novels to be accurate in the specific, minor details of every day life of the characters in the novel, providing the most realistic context for her audience.
North and South gives an insight into England’s working-class in the North and a comparison to the privileged middle class Southerners represented by the Hales and the Lennoxs, thus providing an excellent example of the social and economic divisions of the period. Gaskell uses Margaret Hale to represent the changing attitudes of society towards class and ownership by having her idolise her hometown of Helstone. In the outset, her views on moving to Milton are written similarly to her mother’s, who asks, “you can’t think the smoky air of a manufacturing town, all chimneys and dirty like Milton would be better than this air, which is pure and sweet?” This enquiry does well at representing the aristocratic and divisive views and lifestyles at the time. However, as Gaskell manoeuvres Margaret and has her begin to interact with the people of Milton, she finds the town different than she presumed. Gaskell ensures Margaret learns to admire and thrive on the energy of the city and has her feel a “strange unsatisfied vacuum” in her “heart and mode of life” when she returns to Helstone. As we see Margaret realise that the romantic view (shaped by her southern upbringing) is flawed, she begins to appreciate the industrialisation and that it provides better opportunities for working class individuals to improve their living conditions. Margaret concedes this when Nicholas Higgins, a local mill hand, asks her whether he could get a job in the south, to which she responds “those that have lived there all their lives…labour on, from day to day, in the great solitude of steaming fields- never speaking or lifting their poor, bent, downcast heads”, the North allowed the mill workers the opportunity to earn money and gain independence, in contrast to the rural, agrarian workers in the South who were constantly at the discretion of the landowners. Gaskell suggests that industrialisation in the North is the future for modern society but will not be achieved until society’s way of thinking and approach to social and economic class division is changed. As Margaret’s perspective shifts from one opinion of the North to the other, it becomes a representation of society’s changing views of industrialisation, labour rights and the socio-economic divide.
Class struggle is one of the most important themes in the novel, examining both social and economic perspectives and divides. Gaskell explores the question of whether those in authority and men can effectively work together or whether they are to remain at odds throughout the duration of the employment. In the first half of the novel, it appears that the two sides are fated to opposed permanently. The striking workmen feel taken advantage of and resent their authority figures, whereas the latter ridicule the workers for not understanding the business practices. The strike even leads to violence and further intransigence and inability to compromise on the part of those in command. It is the relationships between Margaret and Thornton, and Thornton and Higgins that finally demonstrate that it is possible for these two conflicting classes to work in harmony. Thornton takes the workers' needs into account and Higgins keeps his superior informed of what the workmen are thinking and doing, this open dialogue and communication becomes key to the development of a better outcome for both sides. The dining room that Thornton plans to build is a symbol of this new, peaceful co-existence. Thornton acknowledges that there will still likely be strikes in the future, but that they will be less begrudging and therefore result in compromise. Gaskell is sympathetic to the working class but is not opposed to the superiors; she believes that an equilibrium is possible.
As a social condition novel, North and South provides a number of examples that represent the social and economic divide. In the novel, each death of a character represents a criticism of the conditions of the time. Gaskell uses former mill worker, Bessy Higgins as one of these examples, presenting a criticism of labour conditions. Higgins, as was common at the time, passes away from a factory related illness, most likely to be form of lung disease known as byssinosis. In the 19th century, many mill workers had to operate in appalling conditions, with humid temperatures and dust from the cotton causing many diseases (Byssinosis being the result of fibre dust inhalation) As a result, the average life expectancy was very low and death was not uncommon for the working class factory labourers. Gaskell composes Bessy’s death to have a significant impact on Margaret and therefore on the audience, as it exposes the inhumane conditions faced by the working class on a daily basis. In similar vain, the death of Margaret’s mother represents the unnaturalness of labour and the devastating long term effects of a poor quality natural environment millions were exposed to. The portrayal of the dangers faced by those who work in the mills and the use of social concerns to stimulate awareness in the reader presents one side of the social divide explored in the novel. The exposure of such unfairness of the social structure influences the reader’s desire to make a change. Gaskell uses the event of a strike in the text to immortalise the Preston ‘lock-out’ that happened in 1853. ‘Lock-outs’ were used by factory owners to ban workers who were threatening to strike and to employ new labour. These replacements went by the name ‘blacklegs’ and were often recruited from nearby counties and even from Ireland, as John Thornton does in North and South. Unfortunately, more commonly than not, this would lead to riots, as it did in Preston and in the similar riot in North and South when the workers in Milton became “enraged beyond measure at discovering that Irishmen were to be brought in to rob their little ones of bread”. Gaskell uses the strike to demonstrate the challenge towards the structure of society. The rise of the trade unions came as a result to the worker’s newfound independence and power and allowed them to defend and protect themselves from the injustices from their employers. Gaskell represents this change in the friendship between John Thornton, the mill owner, and his employee Nicholas Higgins. Initially, Thornton’s opinions reflected the Victorian belief that men should make their own fortune in life and it was only a weakness of character that hindered their economic and social progress. After becoming acquainted with Higgins he discovers the hardships faced by the workers and reconsiders what his responsibilities are as an employer. Gaskell’s representation of the relationship between employers and the workers expose the imbalance of power present during the 19th century, raising awareness of such social issues to the reader.
Margaret retains a strong prejudice against members of the capitalist class. She also feels superior to the lower classes, both in the North and the South. It is only when she arrives in Milton and upon her encounters with the Higgins' and the Thorntons, that her opinions begin to change. Nicholas and Bessy teach her that simply because she is in a higher social class than them does not mean she is better than or can condescend to them. Margaret later learns that the manufacturing classes are held in high esteem in the North, and that simply because she is educated does not mean she is better than them and in a region where education is not as valued, she cannot use that as a defence. She learns to appreciate the businessmen of the town for their charisma, intelligence, and sense of living in the moment. She sees Thornton learn humane business practices and do his best to resolve class antagonisms. And, at the end of the novel, she embraces the business and the lower social classes by saving Thornton's mill. By the conclusion, Margaret Hale has learned the value of individuals in all social classes and the convoluted divide that social and economic difference presents.