Review dan Ulasan Novel Mary Barton – Elizabeth Gaskell

Mary Barton, a poignant novel and the first Elizabeth Gaskell work that was published in 1848. This is the second novel that I have read from her. As always, her narrative is well constructed and easy to read. Elizabeth Gaskell is good at mixing romance with social critique and political commentary, so, she has never disappointed me so far.

The original title of this work is Mary Barton: A Tale Of Manchester Life. True to the title, the work portrays the lives of people in Machester as an industrial town. Gaskell underscores their working class, poor people, their starvation, their slumming area, their pride, their social gap, also the way of living between workers and masters. The author realistically depicts the conditions in the city of Manchester during The Great Depression in 1839.

The titular character, Mary Barton, is Gaskell’s heroine. A young and beautiful woman from working class family, ambitious become a “lady”, and want to marries whealty men who can escaped her and her family from poverty. When her mother died, Mary lives with her only father, John Barton as a workers at the mill and the representative for workers’ rights and joining Chartism movement.

What had happened to the life of Mary Barton, had changed her personality. Her bold and her integrity win the hearts of the readers, and she deserves the title of heroine. Mary is surrounded by her neighbors and friends who are loyal and support her. There are many subplots which are told about Mary’s blind friends, Margaret, who has a beautiful voice, Alice Willson who become the mother role model for Marry, and the mysterious disapperance her aunt, Esther.

All the thematic expositions, of birth, death, social class, and love, are centered on Mary Barton. The tale about master vs workers as if it never ends. From The Movement of Chartism through this day, workers are getting better rights from year to year. This book is an interesting read, made me a little bit smarter. Sadly, because too many characters died, nevertheless, it ended up beautiful.