MARY BARTON
By Elizabeth Gaskells
Set in the mid 19th Century town of Manchester, England. The excerpt follows the lives of the working class. The servants are not slaves. The language they speak is lower class or working class English.
The writer uses third person pronouns: he, she, etc. The excerpt is written from the 3rd person limited point of view. We know what Wilson is thinking (“…but then he thought it would be disrespectful…”) and perhaps the servants in the kitchen.
Wilson is NOT the narrator, but it is told from his point of view. We see what he sees and we are allowed to hear what he is thinking, but he is not telling the story.
The writer is using this device to better see the social stratification in this society.
In the dialogue, the speakers use “I” or “me” or “my” but that doesn’t mean there is a shift in point of view.
You need to begin commenting from the very beginning on what is going on in the excerpt.
Wilson is walking early in the morning (“….it was near eight…”) and sees the workers lazily taking down the shelters.
Contrast that with the bustle Wilson finds going on in the kitchen when he arrives in Mr. Carson’s house.
Notice WHY Wilson is making this trek to Mr. Carson’s house – it is to beg medical attention for a desperately ill fellow worker who is dying from typhus.
Through Gaskell’s narration and selection of detail it is revealed that “…the day was long enough for the purchases people made in that quarter of town” and that “…trade is flat”. The economy, in a few short words, is revealed to be bad and just how miserable it is, is shown by “…two miserable looking women…setting off on the day’s begging expedition” which suggests that this is an every day occurrence for these two wretched souls.
Notice Mr. Carson’s house is on the outskirts of town, away from the wretched, miserable women wandering the streets.
Mr. Wilson passes a window thrown open which reveals a home decorated with disregard to expenditure. (…pictures and gilding, which he was tempted to stop and look, but then he thought it would be disrespectful…) Mr. Wilson knows his place and knows that it would be disrespectful for a mere factory worker to gawk at his rich master’s possessions.
Contrast the busy bustle in Mr. Carson’s kitchen with the languorous activity in the economically depressed streets.
Notice the social stratification in the kitchen – there is a hierarchy among the servants.
Notice that the servants do not offer him breakfast because it doesn’t dawn on them to offer him food – much like later on in the excerpt the Carson family fails to realize that Thomas, who is waiting in the cold with the carriage for them, might be freezing.
Notice also that one of the Carson ladies is upstairs with a headache while the servants are bustling around waiting for the bell “…when they (the ladies) chose to ring…”
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