Essay Worlds Of Upheaval w/Feedback

Resource Description

When composers construct texts that interrogate contextual values, we are positioned to consider the complexity of the world. (Two prescribed, one related)

The world of upheaval that authors construct within their novels offer unique insight into their contextual values and important aspects of their lives, forcing the audience to interrogate their own values, how they compare, and how those beliefs change over time. Exemplified throughout centuries of literature, these forms of identity and fear are communicated through characterization, symbolism, and careful language, still allowing readers to form their own opinions in regard to the politics and themes. Elizabeth Gaskell’s North and South and Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot both highlight this, reflecting the perilous times of uncertainty in which they were written. These examinations into the human condition are also illustrated in Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy, tying in with timeless morals of humanity, and how they can be manipulated and twisted through unsavoury means. Tensions affecting Gaskell’s personal and socio-political life inspired her Industrial romance, the heart of the novel bringing to light the concerns of belonging, labour rights and class in 1800s England. Challenging status-based structures, Gaskell analyses the diffraction within worker populations, amplifying upheaval by using intertextual references to the Preston Strike, a strike that did not lead to wages or rights, rather forced unionism and a lack of passion. Gaskell’s opinion is apparent through her characterization of Boucher, a poor mill worker, who was “driven into the union against his will [and thus,] is a worker that causes [it] harm.” Her beliefs are strongly associated with equality and compassion, in direct contrast with the harsh masters, who instead refuse to see the workers as individuals or people, instead a “humming hive of bees”. This highlights how Gaskell explores the question of whether masters and men can truly work together, or whether they are to be at fundamental odds throughout existence. The unifying marriage of Margaret and Thornton at the end of the novel pushes for the possibility of forming links beyond class fault lines, highlighted again through Thornton’s progressive change towards equality, himself stating that “individuals of different classes must have contact, such intercourse the very breath of life.” Highlighting to readers Gaskell’s beliefs surrounding positive change, the novel positions the audience to consider their own ‘masters and men’ relationships and how class still interacts heavily with different aspects of life. Thus, North and South challenges the reader’s political views by examining Gaskell’s time period closely, and how in reality, nothing much has changed.