North and South; A Refreshing Romance

And why, you ask, is it refreshing? What is the difference between this and any other romance? Let me begin...

Elizabeth Gaskell, author of this novel, was born in 1810 and died in 1865. North and South is one of the many novels that she wrote in her life time, and appeared in 20 weekly episodes from September 1854 to January 1855 in Household Words. (A Charles Dickens' Magazine) It is said that since it was being featured in a magazine it had to move quickly in order for people to keep peoples interest alive and that it was possibly rushed. I, however, think it was just right! It was not rushed nor to slow.

 This type of book is called a Industrial Novel. An Industrial Novel, or sometimes called a Social Novel, is a "work of fiction in which a prevailing social problem, such as gender, race, or class prejudice, is dramatized through its effect on the characters of a novel".

However, the question I'm suppose to be answering is why is it refreshing? Upon reading many a romance novels, I have come upon the sad realization that half the time (I said half the time, not all the time) romance novels are simply that. Wait, what? That doesn't make sense...! Of course a romance novel is a romance. Bur really, admit it, isn't it nice to read a novel that has enough romance to make the story sweet, but enough story line to make it interesting? One of the reasons I love this book is the character depth. I used to read Elsie Dinsmore and don't get my wrong I love these books. If you say anything against them I will defend them. There are things I don't like, but I will give a

Margaret Hale

reason why I don't like them and then tell you what I do like about them. =) (And if your thought is 'Elsie is a perfect angel and I can't stand that' well then....lets just say that that just makes one more person in the crowd of people who thinks that.) Anyway, back to the point of bringing this up: At one point in the series there are frivolous love stories, people getting married left and right. There's no character depth in these people, just the top layer. Just the 'I love this person' emotion, or 'I love him, but he doesn't love me' emotion. (Though my favorite character does have depth, at least, as much as she can. Hehe, I wonder why she's my favorite?) So when you read Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, and Elizabeth Gaskell, you're amazed at the depth of the character, of the hardships they go through, and realistic circumstances. Ok, well Jane Austen's isn't really realistic. I heard someone say once that her characters lived in 'Austen Fairyland'. lol.

In North and South, Margaret Hale (The heroine and main character of the story) goes through a lot of hard times. Her father all of a sudden tears his family from Helstone, a paradise-like town, to live in the smoky, dirty, manufacturing city, Milton. With this sudden move Margret is forced to mature and grow up in only a few short weeks. In this book you get a taste of the miserable circumstances of the

Margaret, in one of the cotton factories

poverty stricken workers of the mills. You get to know these workers, really know them. Know that they were people, not some dirty creature to be kicked around as the masters pleased. Ah, and you also get to see what the Masters were like, what their thoughts were. Margaret was forced into this city with no idea of how the mills worked. She was shocked and appalled at the strife that was between the masters and workers, surprised that they didn't work together but seemed to work against each other instead. She becomes friends with a family of workers, as well as one of the masters. Hearing both sides of the argument she tries to figure things out, but this is no petty argument for her to dissolve like any other. Instead of fading in time, it only grows larger. She was once a peacemaker in her small country town... but this argument is to big to be solved by herself. Everyone needs to work together, but that looks like it'll never happen.

I think that this book does a very good job on combining realistic circumstances with a sweet romance. Yet these 'realistic circumstances' aren't simply showing death, or war, or one of those often 'show reality' subjects (though I'm not denying that they aren't unrealistic, or not sad), but showing the harsh side of life back then. Showing the contrast between the rich people who live far from the smokey mills, yet get the profit of theme, and Margaret's in this dreadful city. Her cousin Edith lives a 

John Thorton, master of a large cotton mill

spoiled life of luxury and is constantly telling her cousin that she should come and visit her, that 'she had no idea what Uncle (Margret's father) was thinking of when he moved them to that horrid, horrid place.' You're shown the downside to all these new inventions, the struggles of men, woman and children trying to survive in these miserable circumstances.

I heard someone once say that North and South was a mix between Jane Austen and Charles Dickens. And that is exactly what it is. You've got the romance, yet you've got the realistic circumstances. Just like Charles Dickens, Elizabeth Gaskell pushes aside the known facts of that time and shows you the harshness that many people shrink from...

So why is it refreshing? Because it is realistic.

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“I wish I could tell you how lonely I am. How cold and harsh it is here. Everywhere there is conflict and unkindness. I think God has forsaken this place. I believe I have seen hell and it's white, it's snow-white.” 

-Margaret Hale, describing Milton and the terrible cotton factories that run there.

Happy Mothers' Day!

I want to thank all those wonderful moms out there, for all their hard work. Thank you especially for the moms who love the one true God and choose to bring their children up in the Lord showing them what is right. I have learned so much from watching my mom and the all the wonderful God-fearing ladies of our Church. So to all of those wonderful moms out there, here's a rose,

Happy Mothers Day!

P.s. A special thanks to my wonderful mom, I love you!

Charles Dickens' Writing

Not many people read Charles Dickens' novels. I admit it. Most of them are on the long side, and are sometimes considered a 'hard read' because of the style. But my thought is, so what? So what if it

Young David Copperfield

takes you a month or two to read it? So what if you have the read the sentence over again because you didn't understand it the first time? It makes the book all the more wonderful, all the more intriguing. And at the end of the 700 page David Copperfield you will feel, as I did, that you have accomplished something.

Plus, even if the writing may be on the sorta hard to read, it is amazing. The descriptions, the use of words, the use of only needed words, are amazing! I admit, there are some books where I read a description and half the words were useless, and in the end I get an incomplete picture of what the author was trying to paint for me. I know that it is hard, often very hard, to get into words what you see in your head. But that's all the more reason to appreciate the amazing-ness of Dickens' writing!

The other thing I love about Dickens' books, are the story lines. There is not one book like the other. The story lines are completely different, the character situations have a distinct contrast. Often one author will have several books that are pretty similar. Jane Austen for instance. All of her books (if my memory is correct) are based in the Regency age, are always about a girl, and, of course, romance. Now, nothing is wrong with that. Not at all. I admire Jane Austen's writing, and enjoy reading her books. But it makes me admire Charles Dickens all the more for having all of his books completely different.

Let's take a look at two of his books: A Tale of Two Cities and David Copperfield. A Tale of Two Cities takes place around 1789 during the French Revaluation (the story starts a little bit before it) and has a several main characters; a father and his daughter (a young lady) and two young men. However, David Copperfield takes place in 1820 and revolves around a little boy, following his life from the time he was born until he's about 50. Just looking at the summary of those, you can see the stark difference! 

I have not read all of his books, but I am slowly making my way through them. I started with A Tale of Two Cities and was thrown violently into complicated writing. Up until then I had been

Pip, from Great Expectations

reading very easy books that took me about a day or two to read - sometimes longer. It wasn't really on purpose, I just hadn't gotten a chance to read 'hard reads', and the books I was reading were good story lines, just really easy to read. So jumping from easy reads to a Dickens' novels I have admit I didn't understand half of the book. And I never took the time to re-read sentences. Believe me, there is nothing wrong with going back and re-reading sentences! I got the story line in the end, but I didn't get to enjoy slowing engulfing the wonderful writing. A while later a friend suggested I read David Copperfield, Charles Dickens' 700 page masterpiece. There wasn't a book from her that I didn't like thus far, so I eagerly started it. It is, indeed, a masterpiece. It took me almost exactly a month to read, and I adored it! (I personally think it's a good one to start with despite the thickness of it) After that I read Oliver Twist, which I really liked though it's certainly an older kid book. And I know that some people don't like it... so be prepared. Next followed Great Expectations, which was just as wonderful as the others, though defiantly on the sadder side. Most people actually consider this to boring, and a lot of people stop half way through. But don't. Read it until the end, give it a chance! It is hard sometimes to get passed a slow part, but it's worth it! I quickly read A Christmas Carol after I finished Great Expectations, which was really good too!

I could go on and on about these four books, but I will leave it at that! I want to read Little Dorrit next, but having heard that there's objectionable content in the movie, one of my friends is kindly looking over the book for me to make sure it's alright to read. =) But let ye be warned (What am I, a pirate?) that there is stuff in some of the books that should be read with.... caution, may be the word for it. 

These books have led me into other worlds, or rather, time periods. The times that I didn't live in, but are history. They are sometimes portrayed as beautiful and happy, which they were, but there was grief , there were poor people, and there were broken hearts. And while some books focus on

Oliver Twist. NOTE: I have not watched this. Nor do I recommend it.

the happy parts of life (or time periods) and try to ignore the sad, broken parts, Dickens' carefully and accurately shows the happy and sad parts, weaving them together to make incredible stories. So if you come across a Dickens' novel that seems harsh, just remember: that's how it was then, that circumstance most likely happened often...

So my question for you, is, have you entered into these worlds? Have you accuratley seen through these masterpieces the lives of people who lived in the past?

Here are a couple graphics I made of the movie version of David Copperfield. It was really good, and really close to the book!

<3 Eva

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Click all 3 images for full size!!

The book, David Copperfield, is in first person. And this is the very first sentence of the book. (That is my hat. haha, and the book I borrowed from a friend.)

Graphics made by Miss Evelyn