Mary Barton is the first novel written by author Elizabeth Gaskell, which was published in 1848. The novel explores the struggles of the working-class in Manchester, England during the Victorian Era industrial revolution. Gaskell portrays a story that dives into socioeconomic inequality between aristocratic business owners and employees, while balancing a sub-plot love story between its characters. Mary Barton is full of modern day liberal overtones and fuels an argument for redistribution of wealth, as this is not a discussion of politics it’s important to highlight the ideological resemblance between Gaskell and modern theorists. This paper will revolve around the response to three questions about the novel; why did Gaskell write this book, drug addiction during Victorian times, and the impact of Mrs. Barton’s death on John’s political views. …show more content…
The author paints a clear picture of the daily struggles facing working-class individuals through poverty, death, drug abuse, prostitution, and violent crime. In the story the Barton and Wilson families are intertwined in tragic deaths of loved ones and severe poverty that fuels anger towards wealthy families like the Carson’s. I find it difficult to measure the effectiveness of Gaskell’s novel based on what I felt was her intent in writing the story. The theme of those who want what those who have still lives today and is debated in political arenas and throughout academia. I can hypothesize that Gaskell succeeded by publishing a story in 1848 that still maintains relevancy
The inability of Rex and Rose Walls to keep a stable job led to the family living in inescapable cycle of poverty for most of Jeannette Walls’ childhood. Walls’ grew up in “traditional” or “nuclear family,” where there was a husband and a wife (Moore & Asay, 2018, p. 23). They also maintained the structure of a “modern family” where Rex was usually the “breadwinner,” and Rose was the housewife (Moore & Asay, 2018, p. 23). This structure of their family was ineffective because Rex Walls couldn’t keep a job so as result, the family was constantly lacked capital to buy the resources that they needed. This led to a
This book weaves the tale of four generations of the Banes family, who lives in Chicago’s poorest neighborhood called North Lawndale. The author spent a year from May 1989 to April 1990 with this family and observed its struggle with the prevailing health care system. The story rotates in the Banes family, Jackie Bane, her husband Robert Bane, their children Latrice, Demarest , Brianna, Jackie's grandmother Mrs. Cora Jackson and Jackie's father and Mrs. Jackson’s son Tommy Markham.
Imagine: A young boy scavenges for food to provide for his impoverished family which was composed of his ill mother and starving siblings or a homeless, single mom desperatley seeking for shelter. These synopses from "Angela's Ashes" by Frank McCourt and "The Street" by Ann Petry share a common theme: perseverance through hardships. In "Angela's Ashes," a memoir by Frank McCourt, he stells about the harships he endured through his childhood, such as, struggling to assist his family in the midst of poverty by stealing food to provide for them. Futhermore, in "The Street," a novel by Ann Petry, tells the story of young Lutie Johnson, a homeless single mom who is seeking shelter for herself and her children. In these two excerpts, the authors use the characters, settings, and events to develop the theme, which I've identified as perseverance through hardships.
This short story clearly shows how different people live and struggle in the society. Human beings are always in a dilemma of making decisions. The story tries to demonstrate the struggle between the rich and the poor in the community. Faulkner has structured the story in a way that it depicts the emotional despair of both the protagonist and antagonist. What the story entails is a complete comparison of different societies from diverse life angles.
In a world that cares little for the wellbeing of each individual, it is impossible to survive out in the open. Wealth protect some from society’s demands while others seek refuge in family bonds. The main difference between the Author and the Other Wes Moore is the bubble that they matured in. For the Author, his mother’s love and hard work afforded him an expensive bubble of physical isolation and a regimented lifestyle. For the Other Wes, the sanctuary was of his own making; one of honor bound by ties of drug money and blood.The defining moments for each Wes Moore are when their bubbles are created and when they become a prison.
Although the people of a single nation share the same homeland, contradictory these people live in separate worlds. In the lives of the privileged and the unfortunate they are separated between their positions in the social ladder, which is defined by their financial stability. In Elizabeth Gaskell's, Mary Barton the different worlds of the wealthy is contrasted to those of the poor. Gaskell's attention to detail emphasizes the division among the two social classes, demonstrating the lavish and luxurious lives of the upper class as it is contrasted to those of the impoverish and disheartening lives of the lower class, while also developing characterization, illustrating the character's reactions to the
Living in poverty and having to face one’s crumbling society is extremely stressful. In Eugenia Collier’s short story, “Marigolds,” the main character, Lizabeth, and the other citizens of the town she lives in, including her parents, her friends, and Miss Lottie, must learn to cope with that stress, and in Lizabeth’s case, learn how to deal with the effects of maturation. The different types of conflict within “Marigolds” are man versus man, man versus society, and man versus self because Lizabeth has to face peer pressure, the living conditions brought by the Great Depression, as well as the development of her own emotions.
From the start the novel is laden with the pressures that the main characters are exposed to due to their social inequality, unlikeness in their heredity, dissimilarity in their most distinctive character traits, differences in their aspirations and inequality in their endowments, let alone the increasingly fierce opposition that the characters are facing from modern post-war bourgeois society.
At first, Austen reveals the tensions between the working class and the upper class and emphasizes the rigid social structure that existed in nineteenth century London. The rigidity of the social structure can be attributed to the fact that “no class exists for itself but is bound by reciprocated rights and duties to classes above and below” (Kilger 359). Although the classes are separate and very distinct from each other, they still all depend on one another to thrive and succeed. However, this was definitely not the case during the
Throughout this story the reader is encouraged to pull for the underdog. Mr. Haskins and his family represent a family met with hardship, an underdog, potentially pulling themselves up from the bottom and ascending towards success. This subject matter would be unknown to a middle class, well to do family, and as Dr. doCarmo explains: “Naturalist works often deal with subjects most comfortable middle-class readers wouldn’t consider part of their ordinary lives” (doCarmo). Most middle class readers have never faced losing everything such as livelihood, money, and home. This automatically captivates them in the beginning of the story. Garland holds the attention of the middle class by reminding the reader of this unknown throughout the story: “It was the memory of this homelessness, and the fear of its coming again, that spurred Timothy Haskins and Nettie, his wife, to such ferocious labor
To Kill a Mockingbird takes place in a tiny southern town in Alabama in 1932. The tiny town of Maycomb was home to deep rooted racism. Two children named Scout and Jem live in this town with their father Atticus and when their father is sent to defend a black man their lives see a dramatic change. The children soon learn the harsh truth of their little town and lose a childhood full of innocence. In her novel To Kill a Mockingbird, author Harper Lee foreshadows a loss of innocence through the symbolic significance of building a snowman, a harsh fire, and a mockingbird.
Jane Eyre, often interpreted as a bildungsroman, or a coming-of-age story, goes further than the traditional “happy ending,” commonly represented by getting married. Instead, the novel continues beyond this romantic expectation to tell full the story of Jane’s life, revealing her continual dissatisfaction with conventional expectations of her social era; as a result, many literary critics have taken it upon themselves to interpret this novel as a critique of the rigid class system present in 19th century Victorian society. One literary critic in particular, Chris R. Vanden Bossche, analyzes Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre through a Marxist lens, asserting the importance of class structure and social ideology as historical context and attributing this to the shaping of the novel as a whole. This approach of analysis properly addresses Brontë’s purposeful contrast of submission and rebellion used to emphasize Jane’s determined will for recognition as an equal individual.
Based on the ideas of Karl Marx, this theoretical approach asks us to consider how a literary work reflects the socioeconomic conditions of the time in which it was written. What does the text tell us about contemporary social classes and how does it reflect classism? Jane Eyre depicts the strict, hierarchical class system in England that required everyone to maintain carefully circumscribed class positions. Primarily through the character of Jane, it also accents the cracks in this system, the places where class differences were melding in Victorian England. For example, the novel questions the role of the governess: Should she be considered upper class, based on her superior education, or lower class,
Throughout the course of history, social hierarchies have existed across the globe, spanning from prince to pauper or business tycoon to lowly scrivener. Authors, in turn, have written works regarding social class, often examining the negative effects of societal structure on personal growth. Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre takes place in Victorian England, in the age of industry and genesis of industrial capitalism. The novel’s protagonist, Jane, first lives a life of neglect, then a life in poverty, and eventually finds her happy ending. Through Jane’s personal experiences and interactions with fellow characters, Brontë analyzes the effects of social class. Professor Chris Vanden Bossche’s article analysis “What Did ‘Jane Eyre’ Do? Ideology, Agency, Class and the Novel” examines social inclusion and monetary pressures placed on the central characters during this pivotal era of English history. Through the Marxist lens, Jane Eyre can be understood in terms of complexity and character motives. Vanden Bossche effectively argues that external forces, like money and people, both motivate and repress Jane into choosing her own path. Thus, a more developed explanation is made for Jane’s various behaviors regarding social inclusion and societal rebellion.
The Victorian Era was known for its propriety, and for its social standards that could be as strict as the caste system in India. Citizens in England of low social regard faced many prejudices and limitations that could be almost insurmountable to overcome. Much like the caste system, people considered to be the dregs of society were often alienated and had little room for opportunity. In Charlotte Bronte’s novel Jane Eyre, the main character, Jane, suffers social prejudice because she is a simple governess, revealing much about the social stigmas about the working class during the Victorian Era. Jane’s social status limits her not only from being with the one she loves, but also hinders her endeavor to achieve true autonomy.