How we cite our quotes: (Volume.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
[Helstone's] people were her people. She made hearty friends with them; learned and delighted in using their peculiar words; took up her freedom amongst them; nursed their babies. (1.2.5)
Margaret loves and cares about all the people in her home village of Helstone. She likes to speak their language, to hang out with them, and to take care of their kids no matter how much money they have. At this point in the novel, you'd swear that her compassion extends to everyone in the world. Just wait, though.
Quote #2
Margaret made a good listener to all her mother's plans for adding some small comforts to the lot of poor parishioners. (1.5.1)
Even though Margaret's mother complains a lot about having a small house, she still shows a lot of compassion in her own way. She's always thinking of new ways to improve the lives of the poor people in her village, just like Margaret.
Quote #3
The girl looked wistfully at the flowers, and, acting on a sudden impulse, Margaret offered them to her. (1.8.22)
When Margaret sees a sickly and poor young girl in Milton, her first instinct is to give the girl whatever she has, which in this case is a bouquet of flowers. Again, Margaret is showing us that compassion is something she doesn't even need to think about. For her it's a basic reflex.
Quote #4
"You consider all who are unsuccessful in raising themselves in the world, from whatever cause, as your enemies, then, if I understand you rightly. (1.10.23)
It doesn't take Margaret long to pin down Mr. Thornton's views on the world. She thinks that he basically has no compassion and that he blames poor people for being poor.
Quote #5
She lifted the thin soft hair from off the temples, and bathed them with water. Nicholas understood all her signs for different articles with the quickness of love, and even the round-eyed sister moved with laborious gentleness at Margaret's 'hush!' (1.11.45)
Nicholas Higgins and his working class family are stunned at the compassion that the young and higher-class Margaret Hale shows toward Bessy Higgins. They're used to a world where you're on your own if things go wrong. But Margaret is from a strong community where the expectation is for people to look out for one another.
Quote #6
As she went along the crowed narrow streets, she felt how much of interest they had gained by the simple fact of her having learnt to care for a dweller in them. (1.13.1)
The moment she has found someone to look after (Bessy Higgins), Margaret finds that the town of Milton has become much more interesting for her. Margaret seems to be one of those people who doesn't know what to do with herself when she isn't looking after someone else.
Quote #7
"[But] because you are a man, dealing with a set of men over whom you have, whether you reject the use of it or not, immense power, just because your lives and your welfare are so constantly and intimately interwoven." (1.15.100)
When questioned by Mr. Thornton about compassion, Margaret replies that he has a moral obligation to his workers to be kind and understanding. It's not because he's their boss that he has this duty, but because he's a human being.
Quote #8
Margaret's whole soul rose up against him while he reasoned in this way—as if commerce were everything and humanity nothing. (1.19.56)
The moment Margaret hears Mr. Thornton talking as though money ruled the world she starts to feel repulsed by the sight of him. She can't stand this way of thinking. But what she doesn't realize is that at this moment, she's failing to show compassion to Mr. Thornton.
Quote #9
Boucher, the neighbour of whom she had frequently heard mention, as by turns exciting Higgins' compassion, as an unskillful workman with a large family depending upon him for support. (1.19.56)
This neighbor named Boucher has always been a bit of a thorn in Nicholas Higgins' side. But that's never stopped Higgins from looking after Boucher and his family in any way he can. That's where compassion becomes more of an obligation than a hobby.
Quote #10
"Oh! how shocking! how pitiful! […] Higgins I don't know you to-day. Don't you see how you've made Boucher what he is, by driving him into the Union against his will—without his heart going into it." (2.11.48)
Margaret's compassion toward the worker Boucher goes beyond even that of Higgins, the man who has always tried to look out for Boucher. In Margaret's mind, poor people can really do little wrong. For her, there is always someone else to blame for the actions of someone like Boucher.