North and South, by Elizabeth Gaskell

A Literary Analysis of North and South, by Elizabeth Gaskell. It will answer these questions:

1. The film’s title, North and South, represents the cultural juxtaposition in 19th century England between the genteel south and the industrial north. Margaret Hale is from the south; John Thornton is a northerner. Early in the film, what are the main points of difference between their worldviews?
2. As portrayed in the film (visually on the screen, by people’s character traits, and by events of the story), what contrasts do you see between north and south?
4. The film sets at juxtaposition two regions of England representing two ways of life. What thematic ideas does Gaskell seem to be developing through these contrasts?
3. Including both the north and the south, what conclusions do you draw about 19th century England, particularly about the people and their ways of living?

North and South, by Elizabeth Gaskell (1855) gives readers a perspective of the oppression that was found in industrial England in the 19th century. Some background for my readers: the story begins with Miss Margaret Hale moving with her mother and father from the warm and country-sided South into the ruddy, dirty town of Milton-Northern, after her Father Mr. Hale leaves his position of Pastor in the Church of England. Margaret finds the town of Milton-Northern harsh, smoky, and poverty-stricken as factories have overshadowed and polluted the air. She meets Mr. John Thornton, whom her father counts as a pupil in his new-found tutoring job, and they are at opposition from the beginning. Margaret finds Thornton unfeeling and harsh, while he finds her beautiful, yet prejudiced and even haughty. We come to find that Thornton lifted himself out of poverty and through ambition and success, started his cotton-mill business and is the best, most-giving boss in all of Milton. He’s tough on his employees, but does it out of professionalism and care for pristine work ethic. Margaret at first cannot understand his harshness, but begins to realize the essentiality of his actions as she becomes accustomed to Northern way of life. This juxtaposition of Northern and Southern culture cause differing world views between Margaret and Thornton—something that they overcome as they begin to fall in love and desire a life together. Being raised in poverty in an industrial society, Thornton’s perspective on life is based on hard work and a very self-serving outlook on how to survive in the world and become successful, whereas Margaret’s Southern roots are nursed with strong tradition and a warmer outlook on the possibilities of life.

I noticed some main contrasting differences in between the North and the South in the film version of North and South. The first thing I noticed was the lighting in the cinematography. When the scenery was displayed in the South, the color tone of the image was warm and sunlit with bright and vibrant yellows, oranges, and greens. The scenery was a lot softer and the characters talked quietly. When the scenery was set in the North, the color tone was black, gray, and cold. The character’s faces were pasty and the sky was filled with snow or cotton from Thornton’s mill. Another contrast I noticed was the differences between Thornton and his associates and Margaret and her family. In their dialogue and conversations, the Thorntons were more curt and dry whereas the Hales were more affectionate and emotional with one another and in their feelings. Mr. Thornton had a strong administration when it came to work ethic and moral conduct which tended to be where he put his emotions, where Margaret was a lot softer in her morality and showed her emotions.

Through this contrast between two cultures during this time in England, Gaskell brought up some interesting ideas that leave readers to ponder on. The main idea I noticed derived from this struggle is the idea of modernity versus tradition. With the industrial revolution, many left their old way of life and thinking as work became more efficient and quicker with the modernized inventions. As it is manifested in this book and film, the North and South cultures struggled with each other as the Industrialization birthed a new age of ambition, working classes, and more money. Northern culture was based on an “out with tradition!” perspective and moving forward and becoming successful and rich, where Southern culture held strong traditional ties to quality, hand-labor work mixed with religion and moral. These two perspectives in the book give us as readers a taste into what life was like in England during this time and the external struggles that were found in society.

Including the North and the South, my conclusion of 19th century England is that it was a time of cultural unrest as machines took the place of a farmer’s labor. I think this was a pivotal movement for the bosses and workers who desired an increase in productivity to gain more money, but was a struggle for those who still held strong ties to the past and religion. I think this created a type of cultural civil war between the people in England, as one side succumbed to modern technology and the other did not. This created a very diverse way of living: the industrialized North created a working environment that allowed many to become rich and more productive, but also forced many into poverty and a harsh, dirty environment. The South was a cleaner and warmer environment, but was not willing to progress forward with the ways of technology which caused a lot of wasted manual labor. This diversity caused two separate kinds of people in the 19th century, even though they were united in the same country which has the potential to weaken a nation.