North & South
I picked North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell. I enjoyed the book very much. I'm not a speed reader, it took me three weeks to read it (I am also reading three others on the side).
I love to read books that help me appreciate my own life and all the things and people I have been blessed with. I enjoy when opposites come together and work together for the greater good.
I feel like I related to Margaret's character the most, even though I feel like I am very different from her. I think she let too many people walk all over her. I wish she would have stuck up for herself sooner. If she had, maybe her parents could have been at her wedding?
I didn't mind the writing style. I loved the way the author described in detail the setting. I always felt like I was right there while reading. Like I said before, I'm not a speed reader and I don't skip ahead so I didn't seem to get confused with the writing style.
I will be reading this book again for sure. I wish I would have read it sooner.
I have recommended this book to friends and I see myself doing so again and again.
I give North and South 4.5 stars out of 5 stars. I don't think I have ever given a book all 5 stars... I wish it would have been shorter in some places and longer in other places if that makes any sense?
Nice work Pi! What do you mean that if she had stood up for herself that her parents might have been at her wedding?
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Jenn, it is just my review and how I inturrpeted the book. There are so many different underlying themes in this book, gender roles, modren vs tradition, employer vs worker, and religious views. I don't think any two people inturpret them the same.
Here is my best explanation for my inturpitation. :)
Both of her parents died(see pages 259 and 364) before she and Mr. Thornton settled their differences and misunderstandings.
Mr. Thornton knew he loved her and asked her to marry him after the riot, she was too proud and she refuses him. She thought that he felt he HAD to ask her because everyone now thought she cared for him. She worried about everyone thinking she would do it just for his money. She worried that he thought he was inferer to her because of her gender. If she had had enough ---I don't know courage?... self respect...esteem...? she wouldn't have cared what others thought, she would have stood up for herself instead of just assuming and then misunderstanding. I feel she would have realized he really truely cared for her, and I think their relationship would have progressed from there. Because, I don't think anyone else in her life ever really cared for her. Not her mother, aunt, Dixon, her brother, Henry Lennox, Edith, or really even her father. They all took advantage, or wanted to, in some way, which she allowed them to do. They loved her in thier own way or certian things about her, but didn't truely care or love all of her.
Thornton grows more frustrated with her and tries not to think about her. I think most of his frustration is that he loves her so much. He is a very proud man too though. Later, Fredrick comes to see his mother before she dies. Margret is seen with Fredrick and everyone asuumes the worst. She waits so long to tell the truth and explain herself and the situation (to stick up for herself) see page 440, that by the time it's resolved (which she doesn't even do herself!) both parents have died and she and Mr. Thornton have moved on with their lifes. It's totally by chance that in the end they even choose to be together (back in those days this meant getting married hence, a wedding).
It really drove me crazy how it took sooo long to get that situation cleared up. I wish Elizabeth Gaskell would have written one more chapter instead of just a page (if that) in the very end where they deciede to finally be together. I feel like as a woman back then she probably stood up for herself enough; reading it in 2013 I thought she let everyone walk all over her. It really made me feel sorry for her. You could tell she loved her parents. She did everything for them. I feel like she would have wanted them to see her happy and succesful and married. :)
You do have a point. If she had taken charge and told Thorton what was going on/happened they would have gotten together earlier. It also bugged me as well that she wouldn't say anything to him. I think she just didn't recognize that she loved him. Or didn't recognize that the feelings she did have toward him were love. The shyness, the insecurity. If it had been any other person who saw her with Fredrick I don't think she would have cared. You are right that her parents took advantage of her kindness, her need to care for people. They didn't really act like parents should. Putting the child before themselves. Especially the mother.I feel like Margaret had to beg her in order to spend time with her. Now that I really think about it you're right about both the parents. The father made her tell the mom that they were moving! I couldn't believe that! He was dragging her into what was between him and his wife. What kind of father puts that responsibility on a child?
ReplyDeleteI agree with the whole parent thing. The mother acted more like the child than mother and it seemed like margaret had to fill in. The father was a bit of a coward and neither were very observant of what was going on with margaret at all.
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