“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…”*
The last few books I’ve read called for a little bit of extra attention to understand some of the author’s underlying motives, but Mary Barton is a good dose of dramatic entertainment, with a heavy bit of social commentary on the side (your choice being to read the footnotes and feel good about educating yourself, or to ignore the mostly depressing facts and stick to the depressing story).
Author Gaskell uses the Industrial Revolution to create an expansive and gut-wrenching backdrop to the novel. Gaskell holds no punches when she describes the utter destitution experienced by the working class in Manchester, England. Characters starve to death, die of illness and experience utter privation, but through it all, a pervading humanity continues to exist. Gaskell portrays the working class as long suffering, where the upper and middle class shine in a less complimentary light. What I enjoyed about Gaskell’s writing was the humanity she attempts to attribute to every character, and her method of drifting into the thoughts and actions of different characters.
Specifically, the heroine Mary Barton brought a refreshing breath a female character into Victorian literature. Unlike other Victorian characters of the feminine persuasion featuring in Dickens, Collins and other authors’ literature, Mary proved to be a character greater than some female characteristics. Yes, alright, I’ll admit that Gaskell could not resist creating a beautiful protagonist, but Mary’s faults help to weigh down the character with some realism. Mary can be selfish, but she at least has a brain to plan her own future. I absolutely loved Mary’s cold blooded plans to marry rich, even though, at heart, she truly loves her childhood playmate. The many choices Mary is forced to make time and again throughout the novel only demonstrates her gutsy, three dimensional character. Within the constraints of her time, place and society, Mary did the best she could and deserved her happy ending.
Regarding the story itself, the novel could be divided into two equal parts. The first half of the novel focused heavily on the political and social upheaval of the times, where the labouring classes struggled to gain certain rights. Gaskell sometimes uses her novel as a platform to discuss the political circumstances of the working class. The second half of the novel centres more around a murder, and the ensuing actions. For me, this half provided a great amount of entertainment and nail-biting, and this was where Mary Barton proves herself a strong and independent heroine.
Verdict: The most intriguing and significant element I found about this novel was the author’s choice to write a story about the working class and to feature a working class heroine and hero. Gaskell chose a different subject matter from those of her contemporaries and she convincingly and completely portrayed this subject in a realistic and entertaining manner.
*Gaskell, Elizabeth. Mary Barton. London: Penguin Book, 1993.
lisadcwrites 