ABSTRACT
Dian Natalia Sutanto (2016). Social Mothering: Politicization of Care as Public Ethics in
Elizabeth Gaskell’s North and South. Yogyakarta: English Language Studies, Graduate
Program, Sanata Dharma University.
This research analyzes the politicization of caring values as public ethics through the
concept of social mothering proposed in Gaskell’s North and South (1854-55). Politicization of caring values as public ethics reflects an attempt to reclaim the denigrated caring values in mothering as an alternative morality to break the antagonistic pattern of public life. To reveal how the caring values are politicized as public ethics, this research firstly focuses on how patriarchal dualistic thinking that is responsible for the denigration of caring values, is challenged in the novel. This analysis is conducted with feminist theories on relational
thinking and Bakhtin’s concept of dialogism. In the next section the politicization of caring
values as public ethics through the concept of social mothering is scrutinized with feminist
theories of care, especially Sara Ruddick’s concept of maternal thinking, and theories on
ethics of care by Carol Gilligan, Nel Noddings, and Joan Tronto.
This study shows that the challenge to patriarchal dualistic thinking is done by destabilizing the absolute and integrated nature of gender identity. The patriarchal signifiers of masculinity and femininity are combined and subverted to destabilize any attempt to link gendered behaviors with the sexed bodies. Moreover, complex characters that perpetually undergo transformations are also depicted in the novel to highlight the notion of contingent
self. As proposed in feminist relational thinking and Bakhtin’s concept of dialogism, subject
formation is relational and dialogic. Subjectivity is never given or natural, but it is always in the process of becoming, influenced and shaped by others. Besides destabilizing patriarchal notion of stable and unitary gender identity, the dichotomies of body/mind, emotion/reason, public/private are also destabilized by reinvesting the relation between the paired categories with new meaning. Through the concept of social mothering, caring values in mothering are reclaimed and reinvested with richer interpretation of its values and productive potential for breaking antagonistic life in public sphere and improving humanity in general. In the politicizing caring values as public ethics, the novel posits that the practice of social mothering has to be ethical and consistent with democratic principles of justice, equality and freedom. Social mothering can be an ethical caring relationship if it is grounded on the acknowledgment of human corporeal vulnerability. Social mothering can be a democratic caring relationship if it is grounded on egalitarian and dialogic communication between the care-giver and the care-receiver in the assignment of caring responsibility.
Keywords: social mothering, ethics of care, relationality, dialogism, Elizabeth Gaskell’s
ABSTRAK
Dian Natalia Sutanto (2016). Social Mothering: Politicization of Care as Public Ethics in
Elizabeth Gaskell’s North and South. Yogyakarta: Kajian Bahasa Inggris, Program
Pascasarjana, Universitas Sanata Dharma.
Penelitian ini menganalisis politisasi nilai-nilai kepedulian sebagai etika publik melalui konsep pengasuhan sosial (social mothering) yang diajukan dalam novel Gaskell yang berjudul North and South (1854-55). Politisasi nilai-nilai kepedulian sebagai etika publik merupakan upaya untuk memberdayakan kembali nilai-nilai kepedulian dalam pengasuhan (mothering) yang termarginalisasi sebagai suatu alternatif untuk mengembangkan moralitas yang dapat mengatasi gejala antagonisme dalam kehidupan publik. Untuk mengungkapkan bagaimana nilai-nilai kepedulian tersebut dipolitisasi sebagai etika publik, penelitian ini terlebih dahulu mengkaji bagaimana pola pikir dualistis dalam budaya patriarki yang menyebabkan termarjinalisasinya nilai-nilai kepedualian dikritik dalam novel ini. Analisis ini dilakukan dengan menggunakan teori-teori feminis tentang pola pikir relasional dan konsep dialogisme Bakhtin. Dalam sub-bab selanjutnya, politisasi nilai-nilai kepedulian sebagai etika publik melalui konsep pengasuhan sosial akan dianalisis dengan teori-teori kepedulian feminis (feminist theories of care) seperti konsep pola pikir maternal (maternal thinking) dari Sara Ruddick, dan teori etika kepedulian yang dikemukakan oleh Carol Gilligan, Nel Noddings dan Joan Tronto.
Penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa kritik terhadap pola pikir dualistis dalam budaya patriarki dilakukan dengan mendestabilisasi sifat kemutlatkan dan keutuhan dari identitas jender. Penanda maskulinitas dan feminitas dikombinasikan dan disubversi untuk mendestabilisasi setiap upaya mengaitkan perilaku gender dengan seksualitas tubuh. Selain itu, karakter-karakter kompleks yang terus-menerus mengalami perubahan juga digambarkan di dalam novel untuk menegaskan konsep identitas diri yang tidak definitif. Sebagaimana dikemukakan dalam teori pola pikir relasional feminis dan konsep dialogisme Bakhtin, pembentukan subjek bersifat relasional dan dialogis. Subjektivitas tidak bersifat terberi atau alamiah, melainkan selalu dalam proses menjadi, dipengaruhi dan dibentuk oleh orang lain. Selain mendestabilisasi konsep stablitas dan kesatuan identitas jender dalam budaya patriarki, dikotomi tubuh/pikiran, emosi/akal, publik/privat juga didestabilisasi dengan memaknai ulang hubungan antara kedua pasang kategori dalam dikotomi tersebut dengan makna baru. Di dalam konsepnya tentang pengasuhan sosial, nilai-nilai kepedulian dalam pengasuhan direvitalisasi dengan memberikan intepretasi yang lebih kaya terhadap nilai-nilainya dan potensinya untuk mengatasi gejala antagonisme dalam kehidupan publik dan memajukan kemanusiaan pada umumnya. Dalam mempolitisasi nilai-nilai kepedulian sebagai etika publik, dikemukakan dalam novel bahwa praktek pengasuhan sosial harus berlandaskan pada prinsip-prinsip etis dan konsisten dengan prinsip demokrasi seperti keadilan, kesetaraan dan kebebasan. Pengasuhan sosial dimaknai sebagai hubungan kepedulian yang etis hanya apabila dilaksanakan berdasarkan pada pengakuan terhadap kerentanan jasmani manusia (human corporeal vulnerability). Pengasuhan sosial dimaknai sebagai hubungan kepedulian yang demokratis hanya apabila dilaksanakan melalui komunikasi yang dialogis dan egaliter antara pengasuh dan yang diasuh dalam pelaksanaan tanggung jawab pengasuhan.
Social Mothering: Politicization of Care as Public Ethics in Elizabeth
Gaskell’s
North and South
A THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree of Magister Humaniora
in English Language Studies
by
Dian Natalia Sutanto
146332009
THE GRADUATE PROGRAM OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE STUDIES SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
i
Social Mothering: Politicization of Care as Public Ethics in Elizabeth
Gaskell’s
North and South
A THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree of Magister Humaniora
in English Language Studies
by
Dian Natalia Sutanto
146332009
THE GRADUATE PROGRAM OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE STUDIES SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
vi
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude and dedicate this
thesis to those who have supported me in completing this thesis. I especially dedicate this
thesis to the Almighty God, Lord Jesus Christ, for his love and guidance throughout my
master study.
I want to express deep gratitude, respect and appreciation to my thesis advisor, Paulus
Sarwoto, S.S., M.A., Ph.D., for his dedication, professional guidance and incisive advice
throughout the writing process of this thesis.
My sincerest acknowledgements go to the board of examiners: Dra. Novita Dewi,
M.S., M.A. (Hons.), Ph.D. and Dra. A.B. Sri Mulyani, M.A., Ph.D., and Patrisius Mutiara
Andalas, S.J., S.S., S.T.D. who devoted their precious time to the reading and evaluation of
this thesis.
My sincerest acknowledgements also go to all lectures in the Graduate Program of
English Language Studies for their inspiring and passionate teaching throughout my master
study.
I am equally indebted to my faithful and reliable friends, especially in Literature class
batch 2014 for providing valuable suggestions and moral supports.
I especially thank my dad, my mom and my brother, for their endless love, sacrifices,
motivation and supports. My master study was only made achievable because of their
continual supports and confidence.
Last but not least, I would like to give my gratitude for those whom I cannot mention
vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE………..……….i
APPROVAL PAGE………...………..………...ii
ACCEPTANCE PAGE ………..……..………..iii
STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY ……….………..………...iv
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS…….………….…...………..vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS………...vii
ABSTRACT…………..………...ix
ABSTRAK ………..………..x
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION………..1
1.1. Background of the Study………...….1
1.2. Research Questions………..……….11
1.3. Goals and Significance of the Study……….………...….11
1.4. The Chapter Outline……….……….13
CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED STUDIES……….….15
CHAPTER III REVIEW OF RELATED THEORIES…….………..………….....24
3.1. Patriarchal Dualistic Thinking on Gender Identity and Separate Sphere……….…24
3.1.1. Epistemological and Ontological Dualism of Patriarchy………....…...25
3.1.2. Historicizing Patriarchy: the Formation of Gender Identity and Separate Sphere Ideology in Britain………...………....30
3.1.3. Love’s Labor’s Lost: Depoliticization of Care into Private Sphere……….……..36
3.2. Feminist’s Politicization of Care as Public Ethics………....…..……….….42
3.2.1. Feminist Relational Thinking: Critique to Patriarchal Dualism……….43
3.2.2. Maternal Thinking: Feminist Reclamations of Motherhood………...……...49
3.2.3. Ethics of Care: the Revival of the Love’s Labors in Public Sphere…………...…58
3.2.3.1. Ethics of Care: Different Moral’s Voice………....61
3.2.3.2. Articulation of Ethic of Care as Feminist Ethics..……. ………65
3.2.3.3. Expanding Ethics of Care into Political Domain………...………....69
viii
CHAPTER IV DIALOGIC REPRESENTATION OF SUBJECTIVITY:
CHALLENGING PATRIARCHAL DUALISM OF GENDER IDENTITY …………...81
4.1. The Bildungsroman of ‘No Rosebud’ Heroine in Reclaiming Subjectivity, Agency and Power………....………...86
4.1.1. Within London’s Feminine Cocoon: The Fairy Queen Titania and ‘No Rosebud’ Heroine………...89
4.1.2. Back to Helstone: The Fall of Domestic Patriarch and The Rise of Domestic Matriarch………...…….………….…...95
4.1.3. Migration to the North: Expanding Female Agency and Power into Public Sphere……….……...103
4.1.4. Margaret’s Self and Sexual Maturity: Resolving Maiden Modesty versus Woman’s Work…….………...120
4.2. The Men who Defies Hegemonic Masculinity………...………...129
4.2.1. Thornton: The Man who Claims the Right of Expressing His Feelings….…….131
4.2.2. Higgins: The Mothering Person..……….…………138
4.3.Conclusion………141
CHAPTER V EXPANDING CARING VALUES INTO PUBLIC SPHERE: AN ADVOCACY OF INTER-CORPOREAL AND DEMOCRATIC SOCIAL MOTHERING………...143
5.1. Advocating Social Mothering through the Dialogics of Dissent: Expanding Ethics of Care into Public Sphere………..……….…144
5.2. Corporeality as a Paradigm for Ethical Caring Relationship………...…...173
5.3. Communal Catering and Dining Room Scheme: Practicing Democratic Social Mothering and Nurturing Inter-Corporeal Ethical Caring Relationship in Industrial Relations...186
5.4.Conclusion………195
CHAPTER VI CONCLUSION……….….197
ix
ABSTRACT
Dian Natalia Sutanto (2016). Social Mothering: Politicization of Care as Public Ethics in
Elizabeth Gaskell’s North and South. Yogyakarta: English Language Studies, Graduate
Program, Sanata Dharma University.
This research analyzes the politicization of caring values as public ethics through the
concept of social mothering proposed in Gaskell’s North and South (1854-55). Politicization of caring values as public ethics reflects an attempt to reclaim the denigrated caring values in mothering as an alternative morality to break the antagonistic pattern of public life. To reveal how the caring values are politicized as public ethics, this research firstly focuses on how patriarchal dualistic thinking that is responsible for the denigration of caring values, is challenged in the novel. This analysis is conducted with feminist theories on relational
thinking and Bakhtin’s concept of dialogism. In the next section the politicization of caring
values as public ethics through the concept of social mothering is scrutinized with feminist theories of care, especially Sara Ruddick’s concept of maternal thinking, and theories on ethics of care by Carol Gilligan, Nel Noddings, and Joan Tronto.
This study shows that the challenge to patriarchal dualistic thinking is done by destabilizing the absolute and integrated nature of gender identity. The patriarchal signifiers of masculinity and femininity are combined and subverted to destabilize any attempt to link gendered behaviors with the sexed bodies. Moreover, complex characters that perpetually undergo transformations are also depicted in the novel to highlight the notion of contingent
self. As proposed in feminist relational thinking and Bakhtin’s concept of dialogism, subject
formation is relational and dialogic. Subjectivity is never given or natural, but it is always in the process of becoming, influenced and shaped by others. Besides destabilizing patriarchal notion of stable and unitary gender identity, the dichotomies of body/mind, emotion/reason, public/private are also destabilized by reinvesting the relation between the paired categories with new meaning. Through the concept of social mothering, caring values in mothering are reclaimed and reinvested with richer interpretation of its values and productive potential for breaking antagonistic life in public sphere and improving humanity in general. In the politicizing caring values as public ethics, the novel posits that the practice of social mothering has to be ethical and consistent with democratic principles of justice, equality and freedom. Social mothering can be an ethical caring relationship if it is grounded on the acknowledgment of human corporeal vulnerability. Social mothering can be a democratic caring relationship if it is grounded on egalitarian and dialogic communication between the care-giver and the care-receiver in the assignment of caring responsibility.
Keywords: social mothering, ethics of care, relationality, dialogism, Elizabeth Gaskell’s
x
ABSTRAK
Dian Natalia Sutanto (2016). Social Mothering: Politicization of Care as Public Ethics in
Elizabeth Gaskell’s North and South. Yogyakarta: Kajian Bahasa Inggris, Program
Pascasarjana, Universitas Sanata Dharma.
Penelitian ini menganalisis politisasi nilai-nilai kepedulian sebagai etika publik melalui konsep pengasuhan sosial (social mothering) yang diajukan dalam novel Gaskell yang berjudul North and South (1854-55). Politisasi nilai-nilai kepedulian sebagai etika publik merupakan upaya untuk memberdayakan kembali nilai-nilai kepedulian dalam pengasuhan (mothering) yang termarginalisasi sebagai suatu alternatif untuk mengembangkan moralitas yang dapat mengatasi gejala antagonisme dalam kehidupan publik. Untuk mengungkapkan bagaimana nilai-nilai kepedulian tersebut dipolitisasi sebagai etika publik, penelitian ini terlebih dahulu mengkaji bagaimana pola pikir dualistis dalam budaya patriarki yang menyebabkan termarjinalisasinya nilai-nilai kepedualian dikritik dalam novel ini. Analisis ini dilakukan dengan menggunakan teori-teori feminis tentang pola pikir relasional dan konsep dialogisme Bakhtin. Dalam sub-bab selanjutnya, politisasi nilai-nilai kepedulian sebagai etika publik melalui konsep pengasuhan sosial akan dianalisis dengan teori-teori kepedulian feminis (feminist theories of care) seperti konsep pola pikir maternal (maternal thinking) dari Sara Ruddick, dan teori etika kepedulian yang dikemukakan oleh Carol Gilligan, Nel Noddings dan Joan Tronto.
Penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa kritik terhadap pola pikir dualistis dalam budaya patriarki dilakukan dengan mendestabilisasi sifat kemutlatkan dan keutuhan dari identitas jender. Penanda maskulinitas dan feminitas dikombinasikan dan disubversi untuk mendestabilisasi setiap upaya mengaitkan perilaku gender dengan seksualitas tubuh. Selain itu, karakter-karakter kompleks yang terus-menerus mengalami perubahan juga digambarkan di dalam novel untuk menegaskan konsep identitas diri yang tidak definitif. Sebagaimana dikemukakan dalam teori pola pikir relasional feminis dan konsep dialogisme Bakhtin, pembentukan subjek bersifat relasional dan dialogis. Subjektivitas tidak bersifat terberi atau alamiah, melainkan selalu dalam proses menjadi, dipengaruhi dan dibentuk oleh orang lain. Selain mendestabilisasi konsep stablitas dan kesatuan identitas jender dalam budaya patriarki, dikotomi tubuh/pikiran, emosi/akal, publik/privat juga didestabilisasi dengan memaknai ulang hubungan antara kedua pasang kategori dalam dikotomi tersebut dengan makna baru. Di dalam konsepnya tentang pengasuhan sosial, nilai-nilai kepedulian dalam pengasuhan direvitalisasi dengan memberikan intepretasi yang lebih kaya terhadap nilai-nilainya dan potensinya untuk mengatasi gejala antagonisme dalam kehidupan publik dan memajukan kemanusiaan pada umumnya. Dalam mempolitisasi nilai-nilai kepedulian sebagai etika publik, dikemukakan dalam novel bahwa praktek pengasuhan sosial harus berlandaskan pada prinsip-prinsip etis dan konsisten dengan prinsip demokrasi seperti keadilan, kesetaraan dan kebebasan. Pengasuhan sosial dimaknai sebagai hubungan kepedulian yang etis hanya apabila dilaksanakan berdasarkan pada pengakuan terhadap kerentanan jasmani manusia (human corporeal vulnerability). Pengasuhan sosial dimaknai sebagai hubungan kepedulian yang demokratis hanya apabila dilaksanakan melalui komunikasi yang dialogis dan egaliter antara pengasuh dan yang diasuh dalam pelaksanaan tanggung jawab pengasuhan.
1 CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
1.1. Background of the Study
Elizabeth Gaskell‘s North and South was published in 1854-55 amidst the rapid
industrialization and urbanization in Victorian Britain. The novel addressed what was widely
perceived in Britain of 1850s as increasing social antagonism between classes. Due to rapid
industrialization and urbanization, aristocratic and agricultural rural order in Southern Britain
was weakening, whereas the new mercantile and manufacturing middle class was flourishing
in Northern industrial cities. Besides the rising of the new wealthy middle class,
industrialization also brought forth new proletariat class.
New social hierarchy was established in the Northern industrial cities with wealthy
factory owners at the top and impoverished industrial workers at the bottom. There was an
increasing division of labor between masters and workers as the social paternalism was
replaced by laissez-faire principle. Social paternalism which was used to be practiced in the
country between squire and tenant farmer, and successfully maintained feudalism for ages
was replaced by impersonal capitalist economy determined by the market place. Intimate and
personal relationship between masters and workers during feudal era was replaced by
contractual, more distant, and impersonalized relationship. Consequently, social antagonism
became more complicated not only between the industrial North and the agricultural South,
but also within the North between the masters and the workers.
In North and South it is shown that the interests between classes, especially between
those of masters and workers can be managed non-violently, ethically, and democratically.
Through sympathetic interpersonal contact and dialogic communication grounded in the
2
social harmony between classes can be cultivated. All needed to cultivate social harmony
between classes is epitomized by the heroine of the novel, Margaret Hale, in her relationship
with the mill owner John Thornton and the working class the Higgins family. Being uprooted
from rural South to industrial North, Milton city, Margaret Hale, a middle-class daughter of a
clergyman, witnesses the dehumanizing force of industrial exploitation to the workers‘ lives.
She also witnesses antagonistic relationship between the masters and working class. Margaret
sees that both classes endorse to antagonistic approach in dealing with their conflict of
interests. Witnessing the dehumanizing force of industrial exploitation and antagonistic
industrial relations between masters and workers, Margaret transcends all gender, sphere and
class limitations to transform industrial relationship beyond cash nexus by mediating the
industrial conflicts between masters and workers. She brings them together into interpersonal
contact and advocates for social mothering as ethical caring relationship to alleviate the
conflicts between masters and workers.
In her dialogic1 encounter with Thornton and Higgins, Margaret sees that the
antagonism between masters and workers rooted in the ignorance on the interrelation and
interdependence of masters‘ and workers‘ interests. Furthermore, their antagonistic
relationship is also rooted in the master‘s ignorance to his ethical responsibilities for
responding to his workers‘ suffering and the necessity of dialogic communication between
masters and workers to overcome class prejudice and misunderstanding. Masters‘ ignorance is
the consequence of industrial capitalist maxim of laissez–faire that glorifies self-made man,
sanctifies individual rights and non-interference on individual freedom. This maxim
essentially justifies benign neglect based on the assumption that all human beings are equal
1
3
and autonomous. Consequently, no one is responsible for anyone else. This maxim suppresses
the fact that human is not absolutely autonomous and independent. All human beings in
particular time and condition depend on the caring and nurturance of others. All humans are
interdependent and relational. Hence, all human beings have caring responsibility to each
other. Nevertheless, along with the emergence of industrial capitalist economy, laissez-faire
principle has suppressed this fact and changed the relationship between masters and workers
becomes purely contractual, more distant, impersonalized and antagonistic. The principle has
caused a lack of compassion among the masters and workers.
The study on Gaskell‘s novel suggests that social relationship has to be grounded not
on the blind market forces or impersonal economic principles, but on humane ethical
principles, such as ethics of care. To alleviate the social antagonism between masters and
workers, ethical caring responsibility and sympathetic interpersonal communication are
needed to nurture social harmony between the classes. Therefore, the novel through the voice
of its heroine, Margaret, proposes for the importance of interpersonal contact between the
masters and workers through dialogic communication, such as sharing economic information
and decisions with workers to develop the workers‘ economic literacy and well-beings.
Through ongoing intercourse with Margaret, Mr. Hale and Higgins, Thornton is able to see
beyond class stereotype and undergoes transformation from hardhearted and authoritarian
master into humane master who is able to develop ethical caring relationship democratically
beyond cash nexus with his workers. Encouraged by Margaret, Thornton starts to perform
social mothering to his workers. In the same time, this transformation is also followed with
the resolved antagonistic relationship between him and Margaret. Through ongoing dialogue
between them, both of them are able to solve their misunderstanding and consummate their
4
North and South emphasizes on the importance of nurturance, loving care,
compassion, sympathy, interdependence and interpersonal relationships to break aggressive
and antagonistic pattern of public life. These qualities are commonly associated with the
concept of motherhood. Therefore, Patsy Stoneman claims that Gaskell‘s thinking is
maternal2. For this reason many early feminist critics undervalue Gaskell‘s works. According
to Deanna L. Davies the feminine nurturance on which Gaskell grounded her work and life is
seen as traitorous to feminist stance.3 Many feminists perceive motherhood as oppressive
patriarchal institution to women. Many feminists consider that North and South celebrates the
ideology of feminine sphere as something natural and given instead of criticizing woman
oppression. Unlike other women novels written by Eliot and the Brontes, Gaskell‘s novel is
considered as conservative and preserving feminine values rather than subversive toward
patriarchy.
Davies states that few recent feminist critics start to re-evaluate Gaskell‘s work and
find that the emphasis on the caring or nurturance is not only the most interesting part but also
the most potentially subversive.4 This research shares a similar view that Gaskell‘s North and
South is subversive. In North and South the concept of motherhood in patriarchal ideology is
challenged and subverted. As patriarchal institution, motherhood consists of beliefs,
traditions, attitudes, rules, customs and other norms imposed to women which deal with the
care and rearing of children. North and South offers an alternative view to see mothering as
loving care and nurturing attitude performed by women and men. As stated by Davies, North
and South offers alternative view to see mothering as a social political category rather than
biological category.5 Davies further states that the concept of mothering in North and South is
a kind of metaphor for a nurturing attitude toward other people that is not dependent on
2
Stoneman, Patsy. Elizabeth Gaskell. 2nd. Manchester and New York: Manchester UP, 2006, p. 33.
3
Davies, Deanna, L. Feminist Critics and Literary Mothers: Daughters Reading Elizabeth Gaskell. Signs 17.3 (Spring, 1992): p. 507. JSTOR. Web. 23 Mar. 2015.
4
Davies, p.507.
5
5
biological motherhood or female sex.6 Based on Davies‘ statement above, the concept of
mothering can be divided into two: biological and social political aspect. Biological category
of mothering is not the concern of this research. The scope of this research is limited to the
analysis on the concept of mothering as a social political category that can be performed by
both male and female to challenge the dominance of patriarchal ideology and to remedy the
antagonism of public life.7 This research provides alternative term to accommodate the
concept of mothering as social political category by using the term of social mothering.
The characteristic of nurturance or loving care attitudes in social mothering is that it is
no longer defined by one‗s gender and sex, but rather by the nature of the work one puts in
which includes nurturance, loving care, compassion, sympathetic interpersonal relationship
and subject empowerment. Social mothering is a social political category which can be
performed both by women and men not only being limited to the rearing of children, but also
including the nurturance and caring of the dependents in the society. The depiction on how
social mothering is performed by both female and male characters in the novel might be
interpreted as a challenge to what R.W. Connell calls hegemonic masculinity, that is, the idea
that women are good at caring and men are not.8
The subversiveness of North and South can be seen in the aspect that the concept of
nurturance in the novel is not attached to one‘s sex, gender and marital status. Margaret, who
is not yet a wife and mother, practices caring both in domestic sphere for her parents and
brother and also in public sphere –crossing class division –for the working class, especially
the Higgins family. Higgins as a male also practices caring to his motherless family and his
friend‘s orphaned children. Moreover, in the end of the story Thornton starts mothering his
6
Davies, p.513.
7
The concept of social mothering in this research is treated as a proposal for alternative gender and class relations grounded on the ethic of care, instead of as a specifically female experience of mothering. Gender and class relations addressed in this research is limited to the context of Victorian era in which patriarchal ideology sharply defines gender norms, roles and separation of sphere for the working of capitalism or industrialism.
8
6
workers by providing communal catering arrangement and giving education to the workers
about economic affairs. North and South proposes that mothering is not only exercised by
women in private sphere but must also be expanded into public sphere across classes by both
women and men to break the antagonistic pattern of public life. The concept of social
mothering is characterized by subversive maternal thinking that it is proposed based on the
assumption of the relationality between people and caring responsibilities to each other.
Unlike patriarchal mothering which is oppressive to women, the concept of social mothering
proposed in the novel is empowering not only women, but also humanity in general.
The subversion of the patriarchal concept of biological mothering into social
mothering in the novel can be considered as progressive and proto-feminist act because it
precedes the attempt of several recent feminist thinkers in theorizing mothering as social
political category, such as Sara Ruddick‘s definition of maternal thinking, Jean Bethke
Elshtain‘s social mothering, Carol Gilligan‘s and Virginia Held‘s theory on ethics of care. The
theorization of mothering as social political category by feminist thinkers initiates the
movement of politicizing the personal for social transformation.
Feminists criticize the patriarchal dualistic thinking that is responsible for the rigid
separation between the personal and the public or political. This patriarchal dualistic thinking
goes further by fragmenting and distorting human reality into exclusive and oppositional
binaries in which the pairs are set into tension to determine dominance and subordinance. This
dualistic thinking is responsible for the gender division of masculine/feminine and separation
of public domain as masculine sphere from private domain as feminine sphere, and separation
of human reason from human heart, passions from ideas, justice from love, and assignment of
the matter of reason only to men and the matter of human heart exclusively to women.
Consequently, mothering and caring values are always considered as something personal,
7
separation of human heart from human reason consequently results in the supremacy of liberal
discourse of rights which justifies liberal rights-based ethics of justice as universal human
morality, while ethics of care are seen as irrelevant and marginalized in governing public
relationship. Moral capacities associated with care are devalued and are not seen among the
most important ethical values. Liberal rights-based ethics of justice become the dominant
ethical system both in patriarchal and capitalist society. Rights-based ethics of justice, which
posit individuals as opponents in contests of rights, use a hierarchy of rights and rules to
resolve moral conflicts. Consequently, human relationship becomes purely contractual,
distanced, abstract and dominated by antagonism and aggression that inhibit meaningful and
compassionate social relationship.
Feminists believe that patriarchal dualistic thinking as manifested in the dichotomy of
male/female, public/private, personal/political, reason/emotion, body/mind, and subject/object
is impoverishing humanity. The exclusive assignment of human heart to women is seen as
tragic for the dominant group which holds the power in society because they are alienated
from fundamental human experience. Both reason and love are equally necessary for
humanity. Therefore, for the feminists it is very important to politicize mothering or care,
which are always assumed as personal, private and apolitical, as public ethics not only to
empower women, but also humanity in general.
The similar aim of politicizing the personal for social transformation might also be
found in Gaskell‘s North and South. The proposal of the importance of social mothering to
alleviate industrial conflicts and transform industrial relations beyond financial relationship in
the novel can be interpreted as an attempt to reclaim the denigrated caring values and to
politicize care as public ethics in order to break the antagonism in public life.
To advocate the acknowledgment of caring values as public ethics, the patriarchal
8
political/personal, subject/object, self/other are needed to be broken down. The challenge to
patriarchal dualistic thinking is discussed in this research by discussing how the notion of
stable and authentic self grounded on patriarchal dualistic thinking is challenged in the novel
through the depiction of dialogic representation of the characters‘ subjectivity. The challenge
to the notion of stable and authentic identity is important in the politicization of care as public
ethics to eradicate politics of exclusion, discrimination and marginalization. The
acknowledgment of the contingency of self will prevent human tendency to convert
differences into ‗othernesss‘ and thus promote the interrelationality and interdependence
between human beings.
One persisting objection to the politicization of ethics of care as public ethics is that
they are incompatible with liberal principles of independence, freedom, autonomy, and justice
on which public sphere is grounded. It is acknowledged that caring practice may have
potential to lead to paternalism, favoritism, nepotism and parochialism. However, it is not
unavoidable limitation of care to be acknowledged as a part of public morality. North and
South in its politicization of care as public ethics depicts how care may be practiced ethically
and democratically in consistent with the values of justice, equality and freedom. Ethical and
democratic caring relations depicted in the novel may contribute to the current theorization of
ethics of care and improve the understanding about their application in the public life.
Therefore, ethical and democratic caring relation as a precondition for the politicization of
care as public ethics is also discussed in this research.
In proposing the concept of social mothering, North and South applies the literary
strategy of polyphony and dialogism. The dialogism of the novel can be seen from its
openness in dealing with tensions, contradictions, and ambiguity. The structure of the novel
9 plot of ambition‘.9 The characteristics of this ‗male plot of ambition‘
are: firstly, clear
temporal sequence that does not disrupt the perception of real world chronological order,
enabling the characters and readers to grasp past, present and future in a significant shape;
secondly, consistent and coherent characterization, typically focused through a central
protagonist who is usually male; and lastly, problem-solution pattern.10 Besides that, male
narrative tends to be monologue which only allows one version of truth with final
authoritative conclusion that submerges and silences other voices.
In contrast to male literary plot, the plot applied in North and South is digressive and
disruptive. First, the plot is frequently disrupted and diverted by recollection of past,
reflection and dream. Second, the characters are rarely consistent and coherent to particular
gender and class identity. Third, narrative applied in North and South allows the plurality of
voice of the narrator and characters to be present however contradictory it is. Fourth, the
novel does not provide any narrative closure. This kind of plot might reflect that Gaskell
challenges male literary plot. By accommodating plurality of voices that interact in dialogue,
Gaskell creates multi-voiced text that can present dominant discourse and subversive
discourse in the same time. According to Showalter it is a typical characteristic of
double-voiced women‘s writing in which it always embodies the social, literary and cultural heritages
of both the muted and the dominant.‖11
By creating this multi-voiced text, Gaskell is able to
challenge hegemonic discourse of patriarchy and capitalism with feminine voice. It is only
through this dialogic interaction that Gaskell can release feminine voice to infiltrate and
challenge univocal male discourse to interact with the marginalized feminine voice and in the
same time suggests the potential resistances and destabilization of oppressive discourse.
9
Page, Ruth, E. Literary and Linguistic Approaches to Feminist Narratology. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006, p. 21.
10
Page, p.26.
11
10
The dialogic interaction in North and South can be found in the interaction between
Margaret, Mr. Hale, Higgins and Thornton about the relation between masters and workers.
All of the characters are allowed to express their agreements and disagreements in their own
voices, dialects and style of language. The discourse of liberalism, paternalism and social
mothering of the characters are engaged, challenged, and modified one another. Plurality of
voices is accommodated fairly in North and South. Though the narrator‘s views are much
closer to Margaret‘s than to Thornton‘s, this fact does not interfere with the text‘s dialogic
fairness. All of the ideas, values and experiences voiced by the characters are equally
weighted and given their dues.
The consequence of plurality voices without privileging any voices is an open ending
story. Different from male plot, Gaskell‘s plot is resistant to narrative closure. Even though,
North and South urges that the treatment of class conflict through interpersonal and ethical
caring relationship, it does not suggest that it will eliminate class struggle, though it may be
alleviated. Thornton‘s transformation into humane master and his marriage with Margaret
does not significantly resolve the clashes between classes. Therefore, there is no definite
solution offered in North and South to resolve social antagonism. The use of dialogic,
open-ended and inconclusive narration can be discerned as an attempt to undermine patriarchal
claim of absolute monological truth and dualistic thinking that underpin the ideology of
gender and separation of sphere.
Based on the above explanation, this research is conducted by focusing on the
challenge to patriarchal dualistic thinking, such as self/other, male/female,
masculine/feminine, body/mind, reason/emotion, subject/object, private/public or
personal/political that underpins gender difference and separation of sphere. The challenge to
patriarchal dualistic thinking is done by destabilizing the notion of stable and authentic self.
11
dialogically, in a sense that how the characters perpetually undergo transformations to reveal
the contingency of their selves. This transformation happens in and due to the encounter with
others characters. The dialogic subversion of patriarchal dualistic thinking is necessary as the
ground from which the concept of social mothering is proposed in the novel. After the
dialogic subversion is discussed, the analysis on how caring values are politicized as public
ethics through the concept of social mothering will be discussed. The characteristics of social
mothering in the novel are analyzed with feminist theories of maternal thinking and ethics of
care to show that the concept of social mothering is a truly ethical and democratic caring
relationship, and in accordance with the principles of justice, freedom and equality. Social
mothering is potentially empowering not only women, but humanity in general from social
inequality, social injustice, dominance and oppression.
1.2. Research Questions
This research addresses two research questions as follows:
1. How does Gaskell depict the development of the main characters‘ dialogically
subjectivity in North and South in order to challenge patriarchal dualistic thinking that
underpins gender identity and separate sphere ideology?
2. How does Gaskell redefine the traditional notion of motherhood into social mothering
in order to politicize caring values as public ethics in North and South?
1.3. Goals and Significance of the Study
This research is conducted with the aim to read Gaskell‘s North and South critically
from feminist perspective. The research aims to reveal how patriarchal dualistic thinking that
underpins the ideology of gender difference and separation of sphere is challenged
12
underpins the ideology of separate sphere and gender difference becomes the ground in which
the politicization of care as public ethics is proposed in the novel. This politicization will
necessary bring the empowerment of women and humanity in general from social inequality,
social injustice, dominance and oppression.
This research also aims to reveal how the concept of social mothering is proposed in
North and South to advocate the acknowledgment of caring values as public ethics.
Politicization of caring values as public ethics is an attempt to enrich public life where both
male and female internalize and practice ethics of care to alleviate social conflict, foster
cooperation, reconciliation and peace.
The significance of this research is that by analyzing the subversiveness of Gaskell‘s
North and South to the ideology of patriarchy and capitalism, this research contributes to the
re-evaluation and re-appreciation of Gaskell‘s North and South as feminist work. Gaskell‘s
North and South has been undervalued by feminist critics because the novel‘s emphasis on
feminine nurturance is considered as traitorous to the feminist stance. The novel is considered
celebrating feminine virtue of caring and mothering as natural feminine traits rather than
challenging the patriarchal ideology. Gaskell‘s North and South has to be read with deeper
insight. Instead of celebrating patriarchal ideology, North and South subverts patriarchal
institution of motherhood into social mothering. The concept of social mothering proposed in
North and South does not leave the heroine be totally powerless and oppressed under male
domination, but it empowers her to initiate social change and alleviate industrial conflicts.
Moreover, social mothering does not only empower woman, but also humans in general.
North and South proposes how caring relations can be practiced ethically and democratically
in consistent with the values of justice, freedom and equality as public ethics.
Another significance of this research is to enrich readers‘ understanding about the
13
care through social mothering to alleviate social conflict in Gaskell‘s North and South, the
reader can gain insight that ethics of care are not merely personal ethics, but political ethics
necessary to transform society, especially economic and political institutions away from the
ideology of patriarchy and capitalism that have impoverished public life by separating human
reason from human heart. Social mothering and ethics of care can bridge social division in the
society which is divided by gender, class, religion, ethnicity, political affiliation and so on. By
practicing social mothering and expanding ethics of care into public sphere, society can
experience a genuine humane, ethical and democratic public life. Social mothering and ethics
of care practiced in public sphere can be useful to improve the management of social conflict.
In Indonesian context, Gaskellian care approach in industrial dispute resolution provides an
insight for the readers about an alternative model of non-litigation industrial dispute
resolution that is truly ethical and empowering the labors as the vulnerable party in the
industrial conflicts.
1.4. Chapter Outline
In order to provide a systematic writing, this thesis is divided into six chapters. The
first chapter concerns about the introduction of the background of this study, problem
formulations, goals and significance of the study and chapter outline.
Chapter Two, Review of Related Studies includes an overview of previous literary
studies and criticisms on Gaskell‘s North and South which are related to and supporting this
study.
Chapter Three, Review of Related Theories is divided into three sub-chapters. The
first sub-chapter examines patriarchal dualistic thinking by historicizing patriarchal ideology
that underpins gender and separate sphere ideology. This sub-chapter is concluded with the
14
domesticity, and its significance for supporting capitalist relations. In the second sub-chapter,
feminist criticism to patriarchal ideology is discussed. This sub-chapter provides an overview
of feminists‘ theorization of ethics of care as their attempt to politicize care as public ethics.
Before discussing the feminist‘s theorization of ethics of care as public ethics, firstly
feminists‘ non-dualistic thinking as the critique and revision to patriarchal dualistic thinking is
explained. The discussion then turns into the overview of the theorization on the
characteristics and socio-political implications of ethics of care. The last sub-chapter
discusses Mikhail Bakhtin‘s theory on polyphonic novel to elucidate the dialogic structure of
Gaskell‘s North and South in undermining patriarchal claims of monological truth and
dualistic thinking that underpins the ideology of gender and separation of sphere.
The following two chapters, Chapter Four and Five are critical analyses of the novel.
The two research questions are answered thoroughly in Chapter Four and Five consecutively.
Chapter Four provides thorough analysis on how the characters‘ subjectivity are dialogically
represented in North and South to challenge patriarchal dualistic thinking on gender identity
and separate sphere ideology. Chapter Five analyzes how the politicization of care as public
ethics is proposed in the novel through the concept of social mothering. The analysis is
deepened with the thorough examination on the characteristic of social mothering and its
compatibility to be applied as public ethics in democratic society.
The last chapter, Chapter Six is a closing section of this thesis. It includes the
conclusion of the analysis and relevance of the study to the Indonesian context, especially for
15 CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED STUDIES
The emphasis on the importance of nurturance, sympathy and interpersonal
relationships to alleviate the class conflict in North and South are commonly interpreted as
preserving feminine values rather than subversive toward patriarchy. Nevertheless, recently
there are some critics who start to re-evaluate the novel‘s emphasis on the nurturance from
different perspective. The emphasis on feminine values is no longer seen as the celebration of
feminine values whereby women are oppressed by patriarchy. The highlighted feminine
values in the novel are seen instead as the subversion toward patriarchal dominance which is
done by challenging patriarchal dualistic thinking on gender identity and separate sphere, and
criticizing patriarchal construction of motherhood and the gender biased ethical values of
justice in public sphere, as well as the restriction of ethical values attributed to the feminine
qualities like caring, compassion and sympathy in the private sphere.
Literary critic who takes maternal stance as the point of departure and sees that
maternal stance as subversive is Patsy Stoneman. In Elizabeth Gaskell (2006), Stoneman sees
that Gaskell‘s concept of motherhood is not necessarily conservative and female. She states
that Gaskell‘s motherhood involves, ―maternal imperatives to preserve life and educate the
young as autonomous and social beings require an energy and attentive intelligence which
makes it a political force.‖12 Thus, Gaskell‘s concept of motherhood in her work is no longer
characterized with passivity, subservience, selflessness, and conformity, but as activity that
involves what Ruddick calls maternal thinking that requires thoughtful practice, dedication
and courage. Deanna L. Davies‘ in ―Feminist Critics and Literary Mothers: Daughters
Reading Elizabeth Gaskell‖ (1992) also holds similar view to Stoneman that the concept of
12
16 motherhood in Gaskell‘s novel is not necessarily conservative. According to her, the concept
of motherhood in Gaskell‘s novels is metaphorical concept that can be extended far beyond
the boundaries of mother-child relationship and beyond the private and public.13 Hence
motherhood becomes social rather than biological category. As social category motherhood
can be applied beyond private sphere into public sphere. It is in this aspect that the concept of
motherhood in the novel is subversive toward patriarchal notion of motherhood as a restricted
practice in private sphere.
Davies realizes that the abstraction of the concept of motherhood as social category
beyond private realm tends to produce utopian account because it neglects the real details of
the mothering process. However, Davies argues that Gaskell‘s metaphorical mothering does
not neglect the real details of the mothering process because Gaskell‘s metaphorical
mothering allows the heroine to break down and become infantile for a while in order to
regain their strength.14 Davies‘ argument helps the writer to come to the recognition that
Gaskell‘s subversiveness on the patriarchal concept of motherhood is not merely by extending
it to social category, but also by deconstructing the concept of self-sacrifice and self-less
embodied in the Victorian concept of motherhood.
Besides challenging the traditional patriarchal notion of motherhood, the
subversiveness of the novel can also be seen in the aspect that the novel challenges the
patriarchal gender dualism that leads to gender inequality and separation of public sphere as
masculine domain from private sphere as feminine domain. In her analysis on North and
South, Stoneman leads the analysis to shows how Gaskell‘s depiction of feminine qualities in
Margaret and masculine qualities in Thornton are not innate, but socially constructed and how
both of them challenge the ideological lies that polarize the gender identity. This can be seen
in the aspect that despite being described as a ―hard man‖ in the novel, Thornton is not lack of
13
Davies, p.513.
14
17
maternal affection or longing to give comfort. Different from Stoneman, John Kucich in
―Transgression and Sexual Difference in Elizabeth Gaskell‘s Novels‖ (1990) denies that
Gaskell attempts to "strengthen" women and "soften‖ men as subversion toward patriarchal
hegemony. He states that, ―thematicof sexual liberation…simply reinstates the Victorian cult
of domesticity, in which a compassionate femininity is affirmed as an active principle of
social redemption and as an improving influence on overly aggressive men.‖15 He sees that
Gaskell attempts to "strengthen" women and "soften‖ men and ―such a program of
amelioration fits quite comfortably with traditional notions about the separation of spheres‖.16
Kucich states that critics tend to fall into the trap by beginning their criticism with the
assumption of sexual change, in their attempts to describe Gaskell as subversive.17 Kucich
also argues that sexual disorder is understood as pathological by Gaskell, rather than
liberation.18 This research takes different stance from Kucich. Gaskell‘s depiction of her
characters with ambivalent and transgressive sexual characteristics, for instance the feminine
Mr. Hale and Higgins or the aggressive Margaret, should not to be seen as a pathology that
has to be remedied, but as liberation from the dominance of patriarchal gender ideology and
the impoverishment of humanity due to the prevalent ideology of separate sphere. Depiction
of transgressive sexual characteristics in the novel shows that there is no natural correlation
between sexuality and gender identity. Both sex and gender are not something innate but
socially constructed. The depiction of transgressive characters might be construed as a
critique that human beings should not be hindered to embrace preferable human traits and be
fully human just because of their sexual anatomy and gender roles assigned to them. Here,
patriarchal ideology of gender identity that has been used to create gender inequality and the
15
Kucich, John. Transgression and Sexual Difference in Elizabeth Gaskell's Novels. Texas Studies in Literature and Language 32.2 Late Nineteenth-Century English and American Literature (Summer, 1990): pp.188-189. JSTOR. Web. 23 Mar. 2015.
16
Kucich, p.189.
17
Kucich, p.189.
18
18
ideology of separate sphere that has impoverished public sphere from caring values are
challenged in the novel. By defying and deconstructing patriarchal ideology of gender and
separate sphere, the subjectivity and agency of Margaret in the public sphere are empowered
to promote the application of ethics of care in the public sphere which eventually will be
practiced by Thornton to alleviate the industrial conflict. In this way, the employment of
transgressive sexual characteristics in the novel‘s characters is liberation, not pathology as
proposed by Kucich.
The crossing of gender, sphere and class boundaries has been a remarkable feature of
the subversiveness of North and South. The crossing of gender, sphere and class boundaries in
the advocacy of social mothering in the novel is prompted by the characters‘ encounter with
the death. Death affirms a shared humanity that connects individual despite their gender and
class identity. As argued by Mary Elizabeth Hotz in ―Taught by Death What Life Should Be:
Elizabeth Gaskell‘s Representation of Death in ‗North and South‘‖ (2000) the notion of death
is very important in Gaskell‘s novel that the representation of the working class death can be
an opportunity for the masters, ―to fathom the causes of death among the poor, to seek
remedies for their cure and to affirm local kinship networks and communities as entities that
negotiate class collaboration.‖19
Individual contact with death can foster understanding and
sympathy of human condition that transcends class hierarchy and provoke action to improve
human life degraded by industrialization. Hotz claims that it is through constant confronting
with working-class‘ death that the masters can pursue their interest through collaboration
rather than conflict with the working class.20 In the analysis of the novel Hotz shows that it is
through the exposure to the her dying working class friend Bessy that provides the
opportunity for Margaret to realize the harshness of working world of Milton and sympathize
with the working class. The contact with the death encourages Margaret to cross the
19
Hotz, Mary Elizabeth. Taught By Death What Life Should Be: Elizabeth Gaskell’s Representation of Death in ―North and South‖. Studies in the Novel 32.2, Death in the Novel (Summer, 2000), p. 168. JSTOR. Web. March, 23, 2015.
20
19
boundaries of private sphere into public sphere and empowers her to advocate social reform
and alleviate industrial conflict. As shown by Hotz, it is through Margaret‘s encounter with
the dying Bessy that Margaret is impelled to intervene in the strike. Hotz argues that in this
strike scene it can be seen how ―Gaskell restructures women's identity by depicting Margaret's
"intense sympathy" for the workers and her use of bodily power to enter the public arena and
contribute to new definitions of class relations.‖21
In the strike scene Margaret positions
herself between the laborers and Thornton. Rejecting being confined by Victorian ideology of
women placement in the home, Margaret exerts her power to mediate the conflict between the
master and the workers. Margaret argues against the use of violence, but she fails to appease
the mob. She eventually protects Thornton from the laborers‘ attack with her own body. It is
only through becoming an assaulted woman that she can break up the riot. In Hotz‘s opinion it
is clear that through this riot scene, the notion of women‘s works involve using one's own
body as a political action to enter the public and political arena.22 Hotz‘s argument helps the
writer to realize the importance of the notion of human corporeality in Gaskell‘s novel. As
mentioned before, Margaret starts to perform social mothering when she encounters the death
of the working class. Moreover, it is with her body that she breaks up the riot. The emphasis
on the death and violation of Margaret‘s body can be understood as the novel proposal that
humans can only be an ethical subject when they acknowledge their corporeal vulnerability
and permeability. It is due to humans‘ corporeal vulnerability that humans need the
nurturance from each other. It is due to humans‘ permeability that they can identify others‘
vulnerability. It is through the encounter with humans‘ corporeal vulnerability that humans‘
ethical caring responsibility can be aroused. Here, it is posited in the novel that the
acknowledgement on the permeable and vulnerable corporeal subjectivity is needed to nurture
relationality, interdependence and sympathetic caring relations between individuals. In other
21
Hotz, p. 177.
22
20
words, corporeality becomes the basic paradigm for cultivating social mothering and ethics of
care in Gaskell‘s North and South.
Politicization of caring values as public ethics through the advocacy of social
mothering in the novel does not only suggest revalorization of human corporeality that has
been denigrated in patriarchal ideology, but also a radical challenge to patriarchal dualistic
thinking that underlies the ideology of separate sphere, such as the binary of public/private
and political/personal. To challenge this dichotomy, the romance and social industrial
problem are featured in parallel. The romantic elements, such as marriage between Margaret
and Thornton as the ending of the novel, are seen as evading the social problem question of
social class-struggle and offering personal solutions to class conflicts. Marxist critic Raymond
Williams appreciates Gaskell‘s industrial novel as ―the most vivid descriptions of life in an
unsettled industrial society‖23
, but he criticizes the dominance of the romantic elements in the
closure of the novel as the diversion from what Gaskell has set out to examine.24 The mixing
of the genre is seen as artistic failure. John Lucas considers the love story as one of
extraneous factors.25 Here, the marriage is considered by them as the worst romantic diversion
from industrial theme. Many feminist critics also disapprove the ending of the novel. For
them the union into marriage refers to Margaret‘s surrender under the domination of
patriarchal marriage. Pearl L. Brown in ―From Elizabeth Gaskell‘s Mary Barton to Her North
and South: Progress or Decline for Women?‖ (2000) holds a similar view that the marriage
plot in the novel affirms Margaret‘s dependency on men. Brown argues that the novel shows
the flaw of domestic ideology and the difficulties for the women to exercise any moral
influence when their domestic sphere is so isolated from the public sphere of the men.26
Instead of depicting the cooperation between classes and gender or the interaction between
23
Williams, Raymond. Culture and Society 1780-1950. New York: Anchor Books, 1960, p. 94.
24
Williams, p. 98-99.
25
Stoneman, p. 45.
26
21
public and private sphere, Brown claims that the novel depicts how each character is isolated
due to industrialization and the absence of genuine solidarity within class.27 Besides that
Brown also notices how the private sphere is becoming more isolated and women become
more dependent on men. In Brown‘s opinion Margaret‘s legacy from Mr. Bell and her
marriage to Thornton in the novel affirm Margaret‘s dependency to male.28 Different from
Brown, this research proposes different argument that the marriage does not affirm Margaret‘s
dependency on Thornton, because the marriage takes place only after Margaret has some
power over Thornton which is grounded in the economic alliance. This economic alliance is
established when Margaret offers a loan to save Thornton from bankruptcy. The economic
alliance which is transformed into matrimonial alliance turns Margaret into Thornton‘s
powerful partner and gives her power to transform industrial relations. The marriage must be
seen as the metaphor for the reconciliation between gender and class based on ethics of care.
Dorice Williams Elliott in ―The Female Visitor and the Marriage of Classes in Gaskell‘s
North and South‖ (1994) holds similar view that the marriage becomes a metaphor for newly
constructed social sphere that links the separation of public and private sphere which is
grounded in mutual understanding, caring, affection and cooperation.29 In relation with the
concept of social mothering, marriage can be seen as a rite to establish long-term commitment
to practice social mothering and ethics of care to overcome gender and class division. In
North and South, neither the metaphor of marriage between Margaret and Thornton or Master
and Workers is characterized as complete victory on the one side or as complete submission
on the other. Hence, the symbolic marriage establishes common ground where gender and
class difference can be managed openly, tolerantly and democratically. This research shares
Elliott‘s view which sees that though the marriage solution does not totally eliminate the class
27
Brown, p. 353.
28
Brown, p. 349.
29
22
conflicts, it is for sure that the class conflicts will become more respectable as it is managed
within ethical and sympathetic interpersonal caring relationship.
Offering marriage as the closure of the novel might be interpreted as a refusal to give
any definite solution to the social problem addressed in the novel because it is depicted in the
end of the story that the marriage does not eliminate industrial conflict. Here, the dynamic
dialogue between genders and classes continue without being intervened by the imposed
resolutions from the authoritative authorial voice. Rosemarie Bodenheimer in ―North and
South: A Permanent State of Change‖ (1979) defends this irresolute ending not as the
weakness of the novel but as the strength of the novel because for Bodenheimer North and
South is a novel about irrevocable change.30In Bodenheimer‘s opinion North and South is not
really organized as a system of contrast, nor is it exactly a social-problem novel with a clear
vision of industrial issue and cry for solution.31 North and South is constantly questioning the
dynamics of authority-dependence and depicting the centrality of change in human
experience. Bodenheimer also shows how the consistency and openness of the narrator to
depict the change without judgment and falling into authoritative or didactic role.32
Bodenheimer‘s criticism gives new light in seeing Gaskell‘s textual strategy in North and
South. Writer comes to recognition that Gaskell‘s textual strategy in North and South
embodies the characteristics of female writing that denies any authoritative voice, rigid
polarization and conclusive closure, which are generally found in phallic writing. The novel‘s
subversiveness can also be analyzed in the level of textual strategy which can be seen as her
challenge toward male literary tradition. As proposed by Bodenheimer that Gaskell‘s North
and South is not organized as a system of contrast, but a state of permanent change, this
research assumes that the novel must be grounded in dialogical interaction rather than
30
Bodenheimer, Rosemarie. North and South: A Permanent State of Change. Nineteenth-Century Fiction 34.3 (Dec., 1979): p. 282. JSTOR. Web. 23 Mar. 2015.
31
Bodenheimer, p. 281.
32
