SOCIOLOGY OF LITERATURE IN "NORTH AND SOUTH"

1.      From chapter 17 “What is a strike?”

Answer: Higgins explains that the strike has failed. He credits this to the workmen's false premises and miscalculations. They did not expect the masters to bring in Irish hands, nor did the Committee men expect "passions getting the better of reason, as in the case of Boucher and the rioters" (225). These Milton workmen were the cruelest blow to the cause. Higgins was now out of work; he knew that Hamper would never give him his job back and he chafed at asking Mr. Thornton, even though he eventually would agree to do this at Margaret's insistence. The strike thus ended the way Bessy predicted it would –the masters appeared to have triumphed and the workers would need to return to work for the same wages –but as the novel progresses, the reader discovers that this strike was in fact unique. Mr. Thornton was affected; his business fails (until Margaret rescues it) and he eventually learns that a more humanitarian way of conducting business is personally and professionally profitable.

2.      Make a list of all the words and phrases which Higgins uses to describe: (a) the mill owners; (b) the workers; (c) himself; (d) the mill owners’ action; (e) the workers’ action; (f) his own actions. From this evidence, try to describe Higgins’ view of the strike (e.g. by considering who does what to whom).

Answer: Higgins, in particular, who Thornton considers among "mere demagogues, lovers of power, at whatever costs to others,"(Gaskell, 1855, chapter 38) assumes the responsibility for raising the Boucher children and embodies the values of maternal tenderness ( lacking in Mrs. Thornton) and strength (not possessed by Mrs. Hale) with great dignity. Gaskell endows John Thornton with tenderness in his heart, a soft spot according to Nicholas Higgins. Thornton's pride hides this capacity from public view but shows it in his affection for his mother and his quiet attention towards the Hales . He expresses it later more obviously when he develops good relations with his workers beyond the usual "cash nexus" and builds a canteen for factory workers (meal preparation, a domestic sphere), where he sometimes shares meals with them. Margaret's and Thornton's individual evolution eventually converges and, learning humility, they are partly freed from the shackles of separate spheres: he has known friendly relations at the mill and she asserts her independence from the kind of life that her cousin leads. She initiates their business meeting which he chooses to interpret as a declaration of love (Stoneman, 1987, pp 137–138). In the final scene, it is she who has control of the financial situation and he who reacts emotionally. They now meet as just man and woman and no longer the manufacturer from the North and the lady from the South (Gaskell, 1855, chapter 52). The blurring of roles is also evident among the workers where many like Bessy are women.

3.      Make a list of all the words and phrases which Margaret uses to describe: (a) the mill owner’s possible actions; (b) Higgins’ description of his own role; (c) the actions of workers in a strike. From this evidence, to describe Margaret’s view of the strike.

Answer: There are many things Margaret does not understand when she moves to Milton, and the strike is one of them. Bessy's opinions on the strike are unwavering -she feels that it is painful and useless. Despite the fact that there might be a valid reason behind it, she cannot help but perceive a strike as a loathsome thing that eradicates a man's hope and confidence. She has seen too many of them fail to be optimistic. The masters always have won and they always will win. Bessy's predictions turn out to be true, for Boucher and men like him feel too frustrated to hold out for diplomacy and thus turn to violent means. Irish hands are brought in and the Committee fails to secure any negotiations. Things return to their normal mode of operation. However, one thing Bessy does not live to see is the change within Mr. Thornton that leads to his better treatment of his workers and a more progressive, humanistic way of conducting business.

4.      What is the difference between Margaret’s suggestion that ‘the state of trade’ might not allow the owners to give the workers the same ‘remuneration’, and Higgins’ response that he is not talking about the state of trade but ‘rate o’ wages’? How, in Higgins’ view, do the owners use term ‘state o’ trade’?

Answer: Margaret once again shows her strength by protecting Mr. Thornton by her "womanly weakness". She sees, first hand, the suffering and starvation of the workers who have chosen to strike. She also sees the desperation brought on by this suffering. For me, it seemed that the work kills the bodies and the spirits of the workers. No work seemed to do the same in a different way.

It was against this background of agitation for worker's rights that Gaskell wrote in both N&S and Mary Barton about industrial relations in Manchester which was both a centre of trade unionism and a centre of exploitation by unscrupulous employers. We must remember that although communism has been discredited in our era it was seen as a lifeline to workers struggling under the most appalling working conditions the world had ever seen. The idea that by 'combining' in large groups they could force employers and governments to improve working conditions and pay, and to better living conditions generally, was a novel one, to which thousands enthusiastically subscribed despite the cruel strike-breaking methods exerted upon them by employers and the police. People in this area were also well aware that in 1819 Manchester had been the scene of the infamous Peterloo Massace where a peaceful assembly of men, women and children was mown down by soldiers on horseback and armed police, murdering 18 and injuring 700.

Even wages (and benefits) can be a large part of moral responsibility issues, alongside working conditions, layoff considerations, and any rights that may or may not exist to share in profitability. And, there are probably other major areas that we should name, such as an industry's impact on the environment in which it operates, even perhaps on the environment into which it provides products and services (e.g., Walmart's recent efforts to require its suppliers to reduce packaging wastes associated with their products).

5.      What is the effect of the fact that Higgins speaks in a working class northern dialect, while Margaret speaks in Standard English? Does it make his view of the strike more incredible? Less incredible? More authentic? Less authoritative?

Answer: The revival of social paternalism was a dominant feature of the Victorian effort to counteract the consequences of a competitive market economy. Paternalist ideology reasserted a belief that relations between employers and workers should be constituted in moral as well as economic terms and that society was properly seen as a hierarchical order in which the wealthy and powerful would protect the poor in return for their deference and duty.

It occurs to me that this is another contrast between the North and the South, and perhaps accounts for Margaret's views. In farming community, the farmer and the workers would necessarily have to work together for a common goal that would benefit both, that is to say, the crops. If the workers and the farmer shared the food, then that would constitute some or all of the workers' pay and would motivate both sides to cooperate for the best outcome. Perhaps part of the problem in the mills is that the only compensation is monetary.