Analysis Of North And South By Elizabeth Gaskell

Great Essays
North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell is a novel that takes place in England during the mid-nineteenth century. The story revolves around Margaret Hale, a young adult clergymen’s daughter who, at the beginning of the novel, has been living with her upper class relatives in aristocratic southern England for the past ten years. The novel displays a group of changes, which appear when Margaret moves from the rural, aristocratic south to the industrialized north of England. Many of the changes that occur within Margaret’s life during the course of this play were major changes that occurred over the course of the nineteenth century. All of the differences that Margaret observes between the north and the south are derived from the fact that the …show more content…
North and South shows a number of changes that took place during the nineteenth century, such as the movement to cities, social mobility, the emergence of the middle class, class conflict, and unionization, that all derive from the heavy industrialization occurring during this …show more content…
The title itself shows how changes are occurring due to the growing differences between those places that are industrialized and those places that are not. The south of England represented the “old world” in the book. It was a rural place filled with two distinct classes, the upper class aristocrats, Margaret’s family in London, and the lower class rural workers, like many of Helstone’s poor villagers. These two classes had been set in stone and sense there was no means for upward social mobility these classes stayed the way they were. As the novel moves north to Milton there is a different feeling to the classes. Industrialization has spread rapidly in Milton and from the social mobility allowed in this new system a middle class emerged. This class came from people who were previously were in the working class and had worked their way to a higher level that separated them from the other workers. Mr. Thornton is an example of one of these people. He describes how that his father died while he was still in school and that he was pulled from school and had to go to work to provide for his family. This shows that, like the people who work for him now, he has been at a point where he has had to work for his money. He then describes that his mother made him put away a part of the money that he made every week and made him,

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    With time though slaves were no longer in the northern states and only in the southern. The economy and politics in the south never really changed. The South embraced their ways and viewed them as the best, while the North advanced and changed greatly. The North was now filled with factories and produced a large percentage of finished goods, but the cotton of the South made up the largest percentage of the countries exported goods. The south had a rather distinct class system planters being the richest and so on and at the bottom are slaves.…

    • 1810 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    North And South Essay

    • 1068 Words
    • 5 Pages

    After the United States declared their independence, it began to divide into two, and later three, main sections: the North, the South, and in the late 1800’s, the West. The North and South had several differences between them, which created significant tension, leading up to the Civil War of 1861-1865. The North was much more industrial than the South, partially because of factors such as being a more popular immigration spot, as well as geographical factors. The South was more agricultural, and seen as more of an agrarian society. Some disagreements were political, while others were geographic and economical.…

    • 1068 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    It 's hard to believe that there was a time in American history where certain human beings had few rights because of their color or gender. These individuals were considered possessions, mistreated and abused in the most horrific ways. No rights, no humanity and pushed to the brink. Cornered into a position where concern for laws and a future no longer seem to matter. All was hopeless, no where to turn and completely powerless to make a choice or consider options.…

    • 1255 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The North and South have always followed different paths and by the mid 1800’s the differences were even more pronounced. The North was becoming more industrial, dedicated to immigration, free labor and supported a federal government. Slavery was not common in the North and it was even banned in some states. The South’s agricultural economy was founded on slavery and cotton and they supported a government that allowed states to make their own rules. Southerners viewed the North and their views as them trying to destroy Southern culture with their industrialism and growing abolitionist movement.…

    • 352 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Chapter 11: The South and Slavery, 1800-1600 1. Explain the various factors that made the South distinct from the rest of the United States during the early nineteenth century. The South continued to remain an area known for being rural and focusing on agricultural within the first half of the nineteenth century and the rest of the world focusing on the urban industrial development. As the South’s climate was warm and humid, this became great for the commercial crops that were profitable, such as tobacco, cotton, indigo, and sugar cranes.…

    • 1248 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    By the mid 1800s, America had gotten into the swing of things. The government was under the control of one political party with a functional governing document and all three branches were working together to sort out the rough spots. Not only was the government prospering, it was an all around Era of Good Feeling because the time had finally come to advance the economy. The industrial revolution and the market revolution worked hand-in-hand to change the way of life of many United States citizens. The industrial revolution implemented the beginning of mass production and factories over handmade goods.…

    • 577 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Civil War DBQ

    • 1291 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Civil or not? The Civil War occurred on 1861 in America and was fought for the American people and citizens. Although the war was fought for the citizens and was named ‘Civil’ only one group of the citizens, either the Union or the Confederate, won what they desired. So was the Civil War civil? Between the Union and Confederate existed several opposing opinions, which led to the Civil War. Some of these issues were the different types of economic structures, perceptions of equality and freedom, and the conflicting viewpoints on states rights and national powers.…

    • 1291 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The Ultimate Battle 1860 -1877 were years that encompassed major events beginning as early as the Civil War leading up until the end of Reconstruction. After numerous efforts to improve the country and the status of African Americans after the Civil War, extreme developments were made. Although there were many factors that assisted the reform movement, the key developments were mainly constitutional and social. Events occurring throughout the North and South contributing to the revolution include: The southern secession, the Emancipation Proclamation, the ratification of amendments 13 through 15, the Ku Klux Klan, the Freedman’s Bureau and Black Codes.…

    • 1637 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    n the 1800s, many regional cultures were developed. America began to see itself as a nation, however it was still divided by sectional interests, and this would only deepen with rapid industrialization and the issue of slavery. After president George Washington's presidency, a political calm fell over, but was disrupted by the conflict that arose between the Federalists and the Republicans. Throughout this time, industrialists began to remake rural villages into factory towns. However, textiles continued to be made in small household workshops.…

    • 753 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Was the Civil War predictable? Did any events indefinitely cause the South to desire a split from the North? The North and the South had a growing tension between them for many reasons, and the northern abolitionists encouraged a Civil War through their actions of protest. Although many Americans were affected minimally by the changes of the nation, abolitionists inevitably foresaw a Civil War because the growing tensions between the North and the South became apparent in political and social changes, slavery issues, and the growing occurrence of rebellions. Political and social changes occurred in many ways, including The Second Great Awakening, Lincoln’s presidential election to office, the way the North and the South dealt with one another,…

    • 1394 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    During the Gilded Age in America, a new movement of techology and wealth spread throughout the country. Industrialization rapidly swept through the nation and urbanized many western areas including the Great Plains and California. White colonist took this as an opportunity to expand westward though this brought destruction to the native americans, while poverty and overpopulation in Japan encouraged migration to America to find their own riches. During the time period of the Gilded Age, the Gold rush was also a prominent movement. White settlers from the east heard of untod rishes in the west and started to make their claim on land in and around california.…

    • 780 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    When comparing the North and South, there aren’t many similarities. Both believed the exact opposite on many different topics. These include topics of economics, social, military, and political ideas. At the end of the Civil War, the rural South and urban North were able to come together as a single and strong nation.…

    • 1138 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    Elizabeth Gaskell’s novel, North and South, sets the values of Southern England against those of the North in order to examine the principles of Victorian life through its public and private spheres. Gaskell’s characters inhabit a world that is complicated by social change, and through Margaret Hale, the novel’s protagonist, Gaskell is able to compare these spheres and consider the ways in which they become connected. In her article, “The Female Visitor and the Marriage of Classes in Gaskell’s North and South” Dorice Williams Elliott identifies Margaret’s role in the novel as that of a mediator who bridges the public and private spheres. She believes Margaret’s participation in the “social conversations, industrial debates and ideologies of…

    • 1935 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Cities in the North quickly developed as the industries rapidly flourished and many foreign immigrants came to settle in the North. Most cities was rooted along the major waterways of the area. Cities were overcrowded which lead to crime and other dreadful things. Immigrants that were poor lived in the streets and beg for food while the others were in crowded and dangerous apartments. On the other hand, life in the South was much different comparing to the North.…

    • 1105 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    North and South, written by Elizabeth Gaskell, takes place in the industrial Northern English town of Milton. It talks about Margaret’s views of society and how people lived during the 19th century in what is known as Victorian, England. Written within the novel there are many social, cultural, and historical issues that arise. In the Victorian age, the class limits are exceptionally strict.…

    • 1093 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays