“…so that he saw her, touched the hem of her garment, was enough. Surely, in time, such deep love would beget love.”
When I decided to read Mary Barton by, Elizabeth Gaskell, I expected to like it, however I did not expect to like it more than I like North & South. Mary Barton is a faster paced novel, especially in the second half, and is much more cinematic - there’s a wild chase and a murder trial that kept me turning the pages! Gaskell took a love triangle and the grievances of the working class and turned them into a novel rich with humor, sadness, socio-economic issues and intrigue. The characters are lively and distinct and we get a sense of Manchester and Liverpool in the mid-1800s.
Gaskell highlights the plights of the poor; who are disgruntled and angry that the rich factory owners live in luxury, while their workers can barely afford to eat. However, hardship and grief are no respecter of persons; in fact it is the great equalizer of men.
“Rich and poor, masters and men, were then brothers in the deep suffering of the heart…”
Gaskell also uses the subject of grief to show how life’s hardships impact one’s faith. How can one reconcile the Gospel with the hypocrisy of man? Gaskell marries these tensions with forgiveness and redemption.
“Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us.”
In my review on the first half of Mary Barton, I mentioned the strong socialist/communist overtones, which made sense, given that Mary Barton was published the same year as Marx’s The Communist Manifesto (1848). In the latter half, we get more balance; Gaskell skims over capitalism and free markets. She admits that it’s flawed, however once compassion is factored into the midst, both manufacturer and laborer can work together harmoniously. Labor laws were not yet in existence, so I find Gaskell’s commentary balanced, insightful and genuine.
“God has given men feelings and passions which cannot be worked into the problem, because they are for ever changing and uncertain. God has made some weak; not in any way, but in all. One is weak in body, another in mind, another in steadiness of purpose, a fourth can’t tell right from wrong, and so on; or if he can tell the right, he wants strength to hold by it. Now, to my thinking, them that is strong in any of God’s gifts is meant to help the weak.”
Overall, Mary Barton was a joy to read and the second half was extraordinary. I’m surprised no one has made a screen adaptation of this yet - it would translate well. Also, since the was written before North & South, it seems as if Gaskell honed in on a few of the plot points in Mary Barton and explored them more deeply in North & South.
Rating: 4/5
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