In what ways does Gaskell depict unequal access to power in North and South? Anonymous 12th Grade

The height of industrialism within the British era in the 1800's provoked changes that shifted the dynamics of societal structures. The stratified society of England evinces by Elizabeth Gaskell in 'North and South' polarizes wealth and class and its impact individuals ability to access power. It is the dichotomy between the working class and the masters within the North that demonstrate that power is proportional to the status, and wealth rather by any other means. It is the universal imbalance between masters and men that is not confined to the North, that becomes the source of hegemony between the mill owners and class conflict to pervade within the society.

Placing Margaret Hale within the "intersection" of the mercantile North and the bucolic South, whilst using varying circumstances, Gaskell exacerbates the conditions of the South as indifferent to the North. Gaskell juxtaposes the "dark green forests, and warm, reveling sunshine" and Margaret's "hearty friends" to the "lead colored clouds" and the "bold, fearless faces" with "their loud jests" posing them on diametrical ends. Whilst victims of industrialization may "wish to live down on the South", Marxists liken the tenant farmers to the "factory workers" who...