North and South Gender Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Volume.Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #4

She did not mind meeting any number of girls, loud spoken and boisterous though they might be. But she alternately dreaded and fired up against the workmen, who commented not on her dress, but on her looks, in the same open fearless manner. (1.8.19)

Once she arrives in Milton, Margaret doesn't mind the fact that many of the town's women are loud and rough around the edges. But she dreads the men, who always seem to be staring at her with sexual looks and comments. 

Quote #5

"Perhaps our Milton girls have too much spirit and good feeling to go angling after husbands; but this Miss Hale comes out of the aristocratic counties, where, if all tales be true, rich husbands are reckoned prizes." (1.9.29)

Mrs. Thornton knows that the girls of Milton have the good sense not to be aggressive and try to attract men openly. But she doesn't trust Margaret, whom she fears will use every dirty trick in the book to land a rich husband like her son, John. 

Quote #6

She was glad when the gentlemen came, not merely because she caught her father's eye to brighten her sleepiness up; but because she could listen to something larger and grander than the petty interests which the ladies had been talking about. (1.20.32)

Margaret is happy when she's in the company of men, at least when she's at a party. She prefers their talk of politics and philosophy to the women, who just talk about dresses and superficial stuff.