Week Four: A Nation, City, and Man and Woman Divided

“I don’t want to possess you – I wish to marry you because I love you!” – John Thornton, portrayed by Richard Armitage…thus read this quote in an intense and deep British accent…

As I sit in my best friend’s mom’s living room on a rather dreary stormy gray day nibbling my Reduced Fat White Cheddar Cheez-Its, I can’t forgive myself for having left North and South at home on my couch. I could really kick myself. It would be the perfect accompaniment to this dreary day! The beautiful music, awesome cinematography, fantastic acting, and – of course – the love story would at least transport me from hot and muggy Louisville, Kentucky to the beautiful climate of Industrial Revolution mill town of Milton, where every day is gray and overcast, the air smells of human excrement and factories burning lord only knows what, and the seasons change before you realize you were in the last one.

Sounds great doesn’t it? Yeah, I don’t think so either.

This is one reason why I have no qualms writing about another author, Elizabeth Gaskell, on my blog about Jane Austen. Not only is North and South the P&P of the Industrial Revolution, but many of the same elements drive its plot as in Austen’s works, i.e. character and place. Because it is a conflict of place. Margaret Hale comes from the agricultural south of England. After her father leaves the Church they move to Milton, and Industrial center in the north (modeled after Manchester). There, cotton is king. Business and making money are the moral principles. Enter John Thornton, one of her father’s first friends in Milton. Thornton is a Master, meaning he operates a Cotton Mill. Highlights include being strong-willed, driven, protective, and having an over-protective mother. The last one isn’t always such a good thing, actually. The two clash – leading to the quote above. It truly is P&P set roughly fifty years later. There is the conflict between the two, in which the viewer/reader is privy to the knowledge that she hates his guts and he is falling for her, the first (disastrous) proposal, the growth where they both figure out that they know nothing about the other and they behaved like complete imbeciles, and then the happy ending. Don’t get mad, I didn’t give anything away. The fun is how it all comes about. Let’s just say that you’ll forgive Mr. Bell for his horrendous plaid pants. With plenty of intricate plot lines and “WHY, MARGARET, WHY?!?” moments, North and South deserves a place next to Austen on the bookshelf.

I could go on and on about the beauty of this film…but I’ll abstain.

About the title of this post… an American who heard the title of this film/book would most likely assume that it was about the Civil War. Clearly, it’s not – but the parallels between the regions and the class conflict are really interesting. This film is a history lesson – what I learned from seeing it made more of an impact than whatever I learned in the classroom. Funnily enough, I convinced my History 104 (Global History since 1500 with a Woman’s Perspective) to watch it. She showed a clip in class J. Her graduate assistant also said that she was using the novel as a text in her next class. But I digress. This is one aspect where I feel the novel surpasses P&P – you learn about every class, every person. There is equal representation and choosing sides is not an option. They are equally well represented. There is a political and social justice message. And yet it is so powerful because of the two main characters and their personal story, their developing relationship and growth. It’s a love story, set in possibly the most unromantic place in England. We recognize the conflict within the characters as conflict we have or could experience ourselves.

Jane would have loved it.

Next Week:

I’m working on a plan for the entire year. Keyword, working. This week was actually supposed to be making the chemise for my costume, but since I am working three jobs that’s just not realistic. Plus, it’ll take forever since I don’t know how to sew really much at all. The goal for that is three weeks (week seven?). Next week I’m going to be discussing something I find fascinating and amusing…Jane on YouTube!!! Till then…