69 pages • 2 hours read
North and South
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Chapters 36-39Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 36 Summary: “Union Not Always Strength”
Margaret and Richard visit Higgins. He will not accept payment for Mary’s work. He is unemployed because of his union affiliation. Boucher once believed the union tyrannical but has recently sought work at Hamper’s, a union mill. Higgins blames Boucher for the failure of the strike. Margaret argues that by forcing Boucher to join the union, Higgins made him what he is. Boucher has been involved in mischief and is now missing. Margaret suggests the union is good in theory as it fights for justice. A crowd gathers outside following police officers carrying a body on a door. The men found Boucher’s body drowned in the creek. The implication is he died by suicide. Margaret offers to deliver the news to his wife. Mrs. Boucher is surrounded by children and the house is filthy and in disarray. When Margaret delivers the news, Mrs. Boucher denies it is possible. When she faints, several neighbors gather the children and take them off to be fed. When Mrs. Boucher recovers, someone brings her the baby who is clutching gifts from the neighbors. Before leaving, Margaret and Richard knock on Higgins’s door, but he says he wants to be alone.
Chapter 37 Summary: “Looking South”
Richard and Margaret attempt to visit Higgins again, but he is not home. They visit Mrs. Boucher and attempt to console her and the children but find her despondent and bitter over his death. She blames the mill, the union, and Higgins for Boucher’s death. Margaret thinks town life is deleterious. Country life with the ability to go outdoors is better for grieving. However, she concludes both city and country life have downfalls: “The dweller in towns must find it as difficult to be patient, as the country-bred man must find it to be active, and equal to unwonted emergencies” (410). Life is difficult no matter where a person lives. Both Richard and Margaret are disappointed when Thornton does not visit. Margaret is anxious to see how matters stand between them. Higgins comes instead. He has been searching unsuccessfully for work. Feeling a duty to help them, Higgins has decided to take Boucher’s wife and children down south and look for work. Richard expresses pride in his plan, but Margaret dissuades him saying he will find the work drudgery and the weather disagreeable. Margaret and Richard suggest Higgins ask Thornton for work. Higgins refuses help from Richard in gaining Thornton’s approval but says he will go and ask himself. Margaret thinks of Thornton’s kindness and hopes she will not lose him as a friend.
Chapter 38 Summary: “Promises Fulfilled”
Thornton is angrier that Margaret has a secret lover than he is with her improper behavior: “It was this that made the misery-that he passionately loved her, and thought her, even with all her faults, more lovely and more excellent than any other woman” (421). Mrs. Thornton has heard of Margaret’s impropriety and assumes it is a ploy to make Thornton jealous. Thornton chides his mother’s assertions saying he fears Margaret is entangled in something that might bring her harm. Mrs. Thornton reminds him of her pledge to Maria and suggests she speak to Margaret about the incident. The idea that Margaret has fouled up her reputation makes Mrs. Thornton gleeful, and she takes pleasure in visiting her to criticize her behavior.
Margaret writes a letter to Edith detailing Maria’s final days. Mrs. Thornton finds Margaret softened and convinces herself she has done it just to placate her. Mrs. Thornton reminds Margaret of her promise to discipline her when she is out of line and begins to discuss the rail station incident. Margaret cuts her off, thinking Thornton sent her to address the lie. When Mrs. Thornton clarifies that her issue is with being seen with a man, Margaret stiffens in defense, saying she cannot tell her the full story, but she must trust that Margaret’s intentions were good. Margaret suggests she has insulted her and abruptly exits the room, leaving Mrs. Thornton in stunned silence.
Higgins waits for Thornton outside the factory for five hours. One of the workers alerts Thornton to Higgins’s identity and his position as a union member. Thornton is busy but agrees to talk to him. Higgins asks for a job, but Thornton mentions his reputation. Higgins tells him about his plan to support Boucher’s orphans, but Thornton does not believe him and refuses to hire him. Thornton notes as he leaves, his determination in waiting so long to meet with him.
Chapter 39 Summary: “Making Friends”
As she reviews her conversation with Mrs. Thornton, Margaret realizes he must think Frederick is her lover. Her last year has been difficult, and she feels much older than her age. Margaret vows to put aside worries about herself. Mrs. Boucher is very ill, and when Margaret visits, she finds Higgins there playing with the children. They discuss Thornton’s refusal and Margaret expresses her disappointment. Thornton arrives just in time to overhear her. She leaves without speaking to him. Thornton has been out gathering information about Higgins. He now believes his story and offers him a job. Higgins is at first angry as Thornton brought up his trouble with Boucher. However, each man apologizes for offending the other. They shake hands and agree to be amicable. Higgins promises to work hard and not cause any trouble.
Thornton sees Margaret walking as he leaves. He hopes she will tell him the truth about the rail station man. Margaret says she cannot reveal the truth because it would hurt the man. Thornton is wounded, saying, “but I see we are nothing to each other” (446). He leaves Margaret perplexed wondering why he spent so much effort telling her she means nothing to him. At home, she receives a letter from Edith saying they plan to return to Harley Street. The idea of taking a vacation in London after all her travails entice Margaret: “[S]he thought that even stagnation would be a rest and refreshment” (448). Bell is coming to visit her father soon.
Chapters 36-39 Analysis
For much of the narrative, Gaskell identifies the main conflict as the masters versus the workers. However, when the officers carry Boucher’s body through the street, the disturbing scene humanizes the conflict and gives a face to the poverty-stricken workers. The sorrowful moment displays the impact of corrupt power systems on one man’s life. Labeled a traitor by union supporters but finding no prospects outside its protection, Boucher feels hopeless and unable to go on with his life. His death is grievous, but the way the community comes together to support his widow and orphaned children is heartening and displays the power of caring for one’s neighbors.
Higgins bears the responsibility for Boucher’s death and pledges to care for his family. Ironically, Margaret convinces Higgins not to go south in search of work. Her description of the backbreaking agricultural work and miserable climate marks a complete shift from her halcyon memories of Helstone. By encouraging him to stay in Milton and apply for work at Marlborough, Margaret acknowledges the town’s significance and value. Margaret proves herself again a wise voice of reason in handling Boucher’s sudden death and Higgins’s reconcilement of his role to play in the Boucher family’s future. In contrast, Richard continues to be powerless to help Margaret in any capacity. He contrasts with Higgins, a working-class individual who understands the world concretely. Despite his best efforts, Richard is too philosophical and abstract to truly connect with the lower-class citizens.
The idea of Margaret loving another man so consumes Thornton that the obsession distracts him from his work. He makes a grievous error, however, in sending his mother to uncover the nature of the train station incident. Mrs. Thornton uses the opportunity to address all her grievances with Margaret, particularly Margaret’s rejection of her son’s proposal. It is ironic she deems Margaret unworthy of her son but then rebukes her for rejecting him. Though the meeting stirs Margaret to anger, in its wake she realizes Thornton’s mistake and her feelings for him begin to take shape in her mind. The theme of misjudgment continues in Thornton and Higgins’s relationship. Their conciliatory agreement represents a turning point in the novel where a master and a worker come to a peaceable agreement by recognizing each other’s humanity. The moment also foreshadows the hope that Margaret and Thornton can also have a similar reconciliation.
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