North and South Society and Class Quotes

Margaret Hale is anything but perfect. For starters, she's pretty judgmental when it comes to anyone who has made money at business. These "shoppy" people, according to Margaret, are too money-obsessed and self-interested to be interesting. 

When Margaret turns down Henry Lennox's marriage proposal, the guy admits that he should have seen this coming. After all, he's only a young lawyer starting out with little money. So who was he to think he could marry a beautiful young woman? What he doesn't realize is that his money-centered way of thinking is probably one of the main reasons for Margaret's refusal. 

Margaret is all about class equality and love for all humanity—that is until one of her servants starts getting sassy with her. Then she's more than happy to remind everyone that she's their boss. 

Mr. Hale isn't sure whether the family should bring their maid Dixon with them when they move to Milton, mainly because they don't have much money. But on top of that, Mr. Hale suspects that Dixon sometimes oversteps her bounds as a servant. Margaret has just criticized Dixon for doing the same thing, but when she hears someone else saying this, she falls back on her old "Oh don't be such an elitist" routine. 

One of the first things Margaret notices about her new home in Milton is that the people there have expensive, but tacky clothing. People from the south, on the other hand, have cheaper, but more stylish clothing. The observation is symbolic, since it reflects Margaret's belief that in the end, money can never make up for lack of good breeding. 

Margaret's mother is mortified at the thought of her own daughter cleaning the house in preparation for a visit from a businessman. After all, the Hale family has always aspired to "higher" things like education and morals. But now they've come down in the world and they need to rely on "shoppy" people like Mr. Thornton. 

The Hales aren't the only ones who can play the class card. Mrs. Thornton, for example, tells her son John to stay away from Margaret Hale because she's poor. Little does Mrs. Thornton know that Margaret thinks she's way too good for John. 

Like her son, Mrs. Thornton doesn't have much patience for workers who demand higher wages. In her mind, they're just a bunch of ingrates who should spend more time working and less time complaining. 

Nicholas Higgins has a different view of social classes than Mr. Thornton does. All he sees is a world where terrible working conditions have caused his daughter to become terminally ill. For him, it's impossible to live a dignified human life when bosses don't do enough to assure a good quality of life for their workers. 

Of all the members of the Hale family, Mr. Hale is probably the most egalitarian. In other words, he tends to treat everyone the same way whether they're poor or rich, ignorant or educated. In this sense, Elizabeth Gaskell is on his side.