# XVII: What Is a Strike? explained — North and South

> Chapter companion for North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell.

## What happens

Margaret Hale, seeking a walk to lift her spirits, instead visits Bessy Higgins after noticing unusual unrest in the streets. She engages in a heated debate with Nicholas Higgins about the nature and morality of strikes, contrasting the industrial North's militant labor struggles with the rural South's passive acceptance. Higgins defends the strike as a fight for justice and fair wages, while Margaret questions its logic and human cost. Bessy, weary of conflict, longs for peace and the afterlife.

## Themes in this chapter

### Social Class and Industrial Conflict

The chapter centers on the strike as a manifestation of class struggle between masters and workers, with Higgins articulating the workers' fight for fair wages and justice.

### North vs. South

Margaret's Southern perspective contrasts sharply with Higgins's Northern militancy, highlighting regional differences in labor relations and social attitudes.

### Duty and Sacrifice

Higgins frames the strike as a sacrificial duty to others, like Boucher's family, comparing it to a soldier's death for a cause.

## Character check-ins

### Margaret Hale

Visits Bessy Higgins and debates strike ethics with Nicholas Higgins, representing a Southern perspective.

### Nicholas Higgins

Passionately defends the strike as a fight for justice, comparing it to a soldier's cause.

### Bessy Higgins

Weary of strikes and conflict, longs for peace and the afterlife; expresses concern for her father.

### John Thornton

Mentioned by Higgins as a stubborn master, compared to a bulldog, and a worthy opponent in the strike.

### John Boucher

Mentioned by Higgins as a neighbor with a sickly wife and eight children, whose cause Higgins claims to champion.

## Key lines

> Striking is leaving off work till you get your own rate of wages, is it not? You must not wonder at my ignorance; where I come from I never heard of a strike.

Margaret asks for a definition of a strike, admitting her Southern upbringing left her unfamiliar with such labor actions.

_Highlights Margaret's naivety and the cultural divide between North and South._

> I think a bird i’ th’ hand is worth two i’ th’ bush. So them’s the different views we take on th’ strike question.

Higgins pragmatically values present certainty over future gains, contrasting with Bessy's otherworldly focus.

_Illustrates the generational and temperamental divide within the Higgins family regarding the strike._

> It’s not that we want their brass so much this time, as we’ve done many a time afore. We’n getten money laid by; and we’re resolved to stand and fall together; not a man on us will go in for less wage than th’ Union says is our due.

Higgins explains that the strike is about solidarity and union principles, not immediate financial need.

_Emphasizes the collective action and union strength central to the labor movement._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/north_and_south_se/chapters/xvii-what-is-a-strike
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/north_and_south_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/north_and_south_se/chapters