Interesting comparisons can be made between Mrs. Gaskell’s work here and Sinclair’s “The Jungle”. While Sinclair’s work focuses almost solely on the working class in Chicago, Mrs. Gaskell attempts a more even-handed treatment of mill life from multiple perspectives. Miss Hale, giving the outside, and attempted unbiased perspective, can seem a bit posh in her snubbing of different groups for different preconceived reasons.
Another 20th century work that “North and South” brought to mind was “Atlas Shrugged”, but not in a positive aspect. The looong self-congratulating discussion between Miss Hale and Mr. Thornton during their first in-depth conversation served to make both characters fairly unlikable. Very similar to the radio lecture at the end of Rand’s novel, I thought it too heavy handed for the characters’ sympathy to survive.
Less 1 star because of the oh so predictable, required ending of a Victorian novel. The rest remain because Mrs. Hale did redeem Miss Hale as a sympathetic character through thorough development.