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Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell
The Blurb On The Back:
Mary Barton, the daughter of a disillusioned trade unionist, rejects her working-class lover Jem Wilson in the hope of marrying Henry Carson, the mill-owner's son, and making a better life for herself and her father. But when Henry is shot down in the street and Jem becomes the main suspect, Mary finds herself painfully torn between the two men. Through Mary's dilemma, and the moving portrayal of her father, the embittered and courageous activist John Barton, Mary Barton (1848) powerfully dramatizes the class divisions of the 'hungry forties' as personal tragedy. In its social and political setting, it looks forward to Elizabeth Gaskell's great novels of the industrial revolution, in particular North and South
I read the Penguin Classics version of this novel, which I'd highly recommend as the introduction by Macdonald Daly gives some interesting background to the development of this, Elizabeth Gaskell's first novel, and offers up some interpretations of the text that give you something to think about as you read it.
I had read North and South, Wives and Daughters and Cranford before coming to this, Gaskell's first novel, which probably accounts for why I thought it more ham-fisted in terms of its views of social and class conflict. There are two strong messages in the book, both of which made me very uncomfortable. Firstly, the working classes should put their faith in God rather than trying to bring about social change - particularly through trade unionism. Secondly, whilst the 'masters' should look towards helping their workers and building a relationship of trust, they shouldn't try too hard to feed them if times were bad. This contrasts strongly with the message in North and South where Gaskell's view has matured so that whilst faith in God is still of vital importance, the stress was on masters and workers working together to improve social conditions via work.
With the exception of Mary and her father John, the characters in the book are pretty much black and white - Jem is good and decent who is allowed a moment's dark thoughts before quickly becoming good and decent again and Henry Carson is a wrong 'un from the start - vain, silly and happy to destroy Mary's honour and character without thinking of the consequences (all of which means that his death seems a little too convenient). Mary herself is shown as a woman happy to flirt without thinking of the consequences and whilst we know why she's happy to encourage Henry Carson (and I particularly liked the role played by her 'friend' Sally who happily acts as intermediary as she's getting paid well), she doesn't realise that he has no intention of marrying her. I did think that she was very much a cliched Victorian heroine - dithering, strong only when it suited the plot and heavily reliant on men. John Barton was far more interesting - his lack of faith in God and misplaced faith that politicians would listen to the will of the working class and try to help contributing to the desperation both of him and the trade unionists, so that you can readily believe why he'd be driven to murder as being the only way of trying to get the masters to listen.
There's a good use of Lancashire dialect throughout the book, which is interesting and doesn't detract from the story (and I'd point out that where there are non-obvious dialect words used, the Penguin edition footnotes the same to give a meaning) and there's plenty of dramatic moments - including a fire at a factory, the return of Henry Carson's body to his parents and Mary's dash down the Mersey to stop Jem's alibi witness setting sail for America. However's there's also a lot of sentimentality, including Mary's friend Margaret, who's tragically going blind and Jem's aunt Alice, a good woman who ends up suffering a stroke. All of this means that it won't be a book for everyone and I suspect that it will be of most interest to fans of Gaskell's other works and those interested in social and political conditions of the time.
The Verdict:
Overblown in places and at times the heroine needs a smack, but it's an interesting book and one that has some sympathy for the plight of the workers (albeit that this doesn't translate to wanting them to actively change their circumstances through unionism).
Mary Barton, the daughter of a disillusioned trade unionist, rejects her working-class lover Jem Wilson in the hope of marrying Henry Carson, the mill-owner's son, and making a better life for herself and her father. But when Henry is shot down in the street and Jem becomes the main suspect, Mary finds herself painfully torn between the two men. Through Mary's dilemma, and the moving portrayal of her father, the embittered and courageous activist John Barton, Mary Barton (1848) powerfully dramatizes the class divisions of the 'hungry forties' as personal tragedy. In its social and political setting, it looks forward to Elizabeth Gaskell's great novels of the industrial revolution, in particular North and South
I read the Penguin Classics version of this novel, which I'd highly recommend as the introduction by Macdonald Daly gives some interesting background to the development of this, Elizabeth Gaskell's first novel, and offers up some interpretations of the text that give you something to think about as you read it.
I had read North and South, Wives and Daughters and Cranford before coming to this, Gaskell's first novel, which probably accounts for why I thought it more ham-fisted in terms of its views of social and class conflict. There are two strong messages in the book, both of which made me very uncomfortable. Firstly, the working classes should put their faith in God rather than trying to bring about social change - particularly through trade unionism. Secondly, whilst the 'masters' should look towards helping their workers and building a relationship of trust, they shouldn't try too hard to feed them if times were bad. This contrasts strongly with the message in North and South where Gaskell's view has matured so that whilst faith in God is still of vital importance, the stress was on masters and workers working together to improve social conditions via work.
With the exception of Mary and her father John, the characters in the book are pretty much black and white - Jem is good and decent who is allowed a moment's dark thoughts before quickly becoming good and decent again and Henry Carson is a wrong 'un from the start - vain, silly and happy to destroy Mary's honour and character without thinking of the consequences (all of which means that his death seems a little too convenient). Mary herself is shown as a woman happy to flirt without thinking of the consequences and whilst we know why she's happy to encourage Henry Carson (and I particularly liked the role played by her 'friend' Sally who happily acts as intermediary as she's getting paid well), she doesn't realise that he has no intention of marrying her. I did think that she was very much a cliched Victorian heroine - dithering, strong only when it suited the plot and heavily reliant on men. John Barton was far more interesting - his lack of faith in God and misplaced faith that politicians would listen to the will of the working class and try to help contributing to the desperation both of him and the trade unionists, so that you can readily believe why he'd be driven to murder as being the only way of trying to get the masters to listen.
There's a good use of Lancashire dialect throughout the book, which is interesting and doesn't detract from the story (and I'd point out that where there are non-obvious dialect words used, the Penguin edition footnotes the same to give a meaning) and there's plenty of dramatic moments - including a fire at a factory, the return of Henry Carson's body to his parents and Mary's dash down the Mersey to stop Jem's alibi witness setting sail for America. However's there's also a lot of sentimentality, including Mary's friend Margaret, who's tragically going blind and Jem's aunt Alice, a good woman who ends up suffering a stroke. All of this means that it won't be a book for everyone and I suspect that it will be of most interest to fans of Gaskell's other works and those interested in social and political conditions of the time.
The Verdict:
Overblown in places and at times the heroine needs a smack, but it's an interesting book and one that has some sympathy for the plight of the workers (albeit that this doesn't translate to wanting them to actively change their circumstances through unionism).