Elizabeth Gaskell’s Mary Barton and the Industrial Novel
Elizabeth Gaskell’s Mary Barton belongs to a small, short-lived form of Victorian literature called the industrial novel. The primary authors of this genre—Charles Kingsley, Frances Trollope, Charlotte Brontë, Benjamin Disraeli, Charles Dickens, and Elizabeth Gaskell—all were, what Herbert Sussman describes, as primarily middle-class authors writing for middle class readers in a rapidly changing world, where both author and reader struggled to comprehend their transforming society. The English people new not whether to accept this newly industrialized world as a necessary result of capitalism, or reject it for its inherent inhumanity. Writers like Gaskell portrayed the victims of this new world with sympathy, but expressed fear that the working-class would someday rise to overthrow the economic system that had treated them with such cruelty. As working conditions improved, and people became tempered to this new world, the industrial novel, with few exceptions, ceased to exist, but we can use this genre to look back on how the industrialized world—the world in which we now live comfortably—came into being.
It was just about 40 years before Elizabeth Gaskell published Mary Barton that Great Britain was primarily a rural, agricultural society. Many people grew their own food, and clothes and household materials were usually made within the home. Any specialized occupation almost always centered on the home and family, with children and parents both contributing to the family business. Three inventions, however, swiftly changed this system. The invention of the spinning mule and spinning jenny allowed mass production of woven cloth, which was ...
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...oughout Europe, forced the English government to create new restrictions that outlawed child-labor, decreased working hours, increased worker safety, and implemented a host of other policies that allowed an overall improvement in living conditions for the working-class. By the end of the 19th century, the condition of the working-class was better than it had ever been, and England had survived the most rapid century of change in its history. Literary works like Mary Barton were Gaskell’s attempt to understand this period of change, and they are our best hope of fully understanding them ourselves.
Sources:
Victorian Britain. Ed. Sally Mitchell. New York: Garland, 1988. “Factories,” “Factory Acts,” “Textile Industry,” “Working Hours.”
A Companion to Victorian Literature. Ed. Herbert F. Tucker. Oxford: Blackwell, 1999. “Industrial” by Herbert Sussman.
Summary The PBS special, “Mill Times”, hosted by David Macaulay, gives a viewer insight into what aided in igniting the Industrial Revolution and changing how textiles are produced. Through documentary snippets and an animated storyline the viewer is able to imagine life before technological changes. Viewers are shown how clothing was produced prior to the mill, the benefits of the mill, the Lowe girls and their working environment, and further technological advancements which aided in making production more mobile and independent of waterways. The beginning of the program shows how laborious and strenuous it was to manufacture any cloth before the waterwheel invention.
The literature of the nineteenth century cataloged the social, economical and political changes during its period. Through it many new concerns and ideologies were proposed and made their journeys through intellectual spheres that have endured and kept their relevance in our own period today. The literature, sometimes quite overtly, introduced the issues arising with the changes in society specifically due to the industrial revolution. In this mixture of new ideas was the question of women's labor and functions among this rapidly changing society. American authors as well as Victorian authors, like George Gissing and Mabel Wotton, explored these issues somewhat explicitly during this period. In America, Louisa May Alcott and Charlotte Perkins Gilman expressed these issues in short stories with strong implications of the dangers of unfulfilled or unsatisfying labor available to women.
Emma Griffith is the author of the influential book, Liberty’s Dawn which talks about the people’s people’s personal experience during the time of industrial revolution.The Industrial Revolution was the period encompassing the vast social and economic changes that resulted from the development of steam-powered machinery and mass-production methods. The lives of large section
Harris, Beth. ""Slaves of the Needle:" The Seamstress in the 1840s." Victorian Web. 21 Nov.
Many of us complain about the tough hours we work or the amount of chores we have to complete, but think about the truly harsh conditions that young girls and women had to work in the textile industry with very little pay and no accolades. Back in the 18th century, when the Industrial Revolution struck, it made it hard for female mill workers to enjoy being employed. Due to the terrible working conditions, the amount of hours worked, and the low wages were a few of the similarities that the female mill workers in England and Japan shared.
The Industrial Revolution in America began to develop in the mid-eighteen hundreds after the Civil War. Prior to this industrial growth the work force was mainly based in agriculture, especially in the South (“Industrial Revolution”). The advancement in machinery and manufacturing on a large scale changed the structure of the work force. Families began to leave the farm and relocate to larger settings to work in the ever-growing industries. One area that saw a major change in the work force was textile manufacturing. Towns in the early nineteen hundreds were established around mills, and workers were subjected to strenuous working conditions. It would take decades before these issues were addressed. Until then, people worked and struggled for a life for themselves and their families. While conditions were harsh in the textile industry, it was the sense of community that sustained life in the mill villages.
Imagine being forced to work in conditions that might cause you to lose a limb, to be beaten daily, or to be left with long term respiratory conditions. These terrible conditions were realities to families who worked in textile factories in the 1700’s. England was the first to adopt textile factories which would benefit with mass production of cotton material. According to the power point, “Industrial Revolution; Life in English Factories”, low and unskilled workers, often children, ran the machines and moved material, this helped lower the cost of goods. During this time, commissions investigated the working conditions of the factories.
"The Condition of England" in Victorian Literature: 1830-1900. Ed. Dorothy Mermin, and Herbert Tucker. Accessed on 3 Nov. 2003.
Robson, Catherine, and Carol T. Christ. "The Victorian Age." The Norton Anthology English Literature. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt. 9th ed. Vol. E. New York: Norton &, 2012. 1130-137. Print.
The 19th century was a time of massive change socially, politically and scientifically. This time saw the rise of Imperialism and of the Industrial Revolution in Britain, seeing massive changes in the way industry was run. Also during this time the literary movements of Romanticism and Victorianism emerged. Romanticism dealt with the issues of reality versus illusion, childhood and man versus nature. The first book I will examine in this essay, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, comes from this literary period and focuses on the man versus nature theme, namely the theme of scientific development and it’s contrast to nature. The second book I will look at in this essay comes from the Victorian period of the 19th century. This period saw the rise of the Industrial Revolution and of huge social and political change. Hard Times by Charles Dickens deals with these issues very closely, focussing mainly on the rise of industry in Britain and its effects on the people of Britain. Both of these novels challenge the social, political and scientific developments of the 19th century, namely the advent of science and technology.
...tes possibilities of collision and clogging of ideas during the implementation stage. Within these factors, the therapy is essential in ensuring that different problems are addressed using personalized ideas.
an article on a writer named Taki 183. Graffiti is just about anywhere you look, from subway stops to tall skyscrapers. A lot of artists use spray paint cans and chalk to make their graffiti on. ``Art in the Street`` unrolled at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, California in 2011. This exhibit shows the works of U.S and international artists including Shepard Fairey, Margaret Kilgallen, Banksy, and JR. Jean Michel Basquiat's works are shown in a special gallery dedicated to 1980`s artists. In the last few decades, Graffiti art has even made its way into some of the most famous art galleries. People use graffiti as a way to express themselves and show their perspective of the world (youthvoices.net). Everyone has their own opinions on what graffiti is to them. Some people like it and other people hate it because they think it is a crime or it ruins the urban environment they live in ( Liz Gogerly). For some people, Graffiti is a powerful way to preach a point or share their opinions in a hands on way ( Liz Gogerly). The Cyber Bench documents New York City by saying that political activists use it as way to express their ideas and street gangs use it as a way to label their territory (www.at149st.com).
The setting for this novel was a constantly shifting one. Taking place during what seems to be the Late Industrial Revolution and the high of the British Empire, the era is portrayed amongst influential Englishmen, the value of the pound, the presence of steamers, railroads, ferries, and a European globe.
The Victorian Era in English history was a period of rapid change. One would be hard-pressed to find an aspect of English life in the 19th century that wasn’t subject to some turmoil. Industrialization was transforming the citizens into a working class population and as a result, it was creating new urban societies centered on the factories. Great Britain enjoyed a time of peace and prosperity at home and thus was extending its global reach in an era of New Imperialism. Even in the home, the long held beliefs were coming into conflict.
As a result of this, the risk of graffiti artist, take when they tag come with a huge price. An increasing number of people however, in different places around the world, are identifying graffiti as a legitimate art form and now give legal spaces to it. There are many cities that consider graffiti actual art and it is legal. The cities range from coast to coast and all around the world. One major city is Queens, New York. A full city block in the Queens neighborhood called “Dubbed5Poitnz” is almost entirely covered by graffiti. It is free to the public but artist who are interested in putting up their work must first get their work approved by Meres One who is the creator and founder of this city block graffiti. Another place is Venice, California. The Venice Graffiti Park is located in Venice Beach. It is most famous and loved by many street artist because of the open space it gives. The only downside is that the artwork gets painted over by other artist as space gets all covered. It is a popular spot for tourists, due to the fact that you see different artist working on their creative artwork every day. Doing graffiti legally may not give the artist that adrenaline rush as when they do it illegally, but the time artist get when doing it legally calls for more detailed and creative