At a time when England was experiencing considerable growth and change, Elizabeth Gaskell began her first novel, North and South, highlighting the condition of industrial England. Staggering poverty combined with immense prosperity offered a duality unmatched in any other period in England's economic history. “The whole building is commonly called Manchester, and contains about four hundred thousand inhabitants, rather more than less” (Broadview 58). Manchester, England presented a stark contrast between the middle and lower classes, with men becoming not only masters, but masters of men. A natural division between masters and men prevailed and problems began to arise within the class system: “the working-class neighborhoods were sharply separated from the middle-class areas of the city; or if this does not succeed, they are hidden under the cloak of charity” (59). As expected, upheaval and unrest in the form of strikes and riots became the mainstay, and the English people were left wondering how to appropriately deal with the problem of the working class and class lower. Elizabeth Gaskell lived in Manchester, in the heart of the manufacturing district where the majority of strikes took place, and it is known that "North and South were her explicit contribution to discussions of strikes and industrial disputes" (Elliot 28). By openly declaring his "sympathy for the working class, (Gaskell) felt a moral responsibility to mitigate the negative side effects of industrial capitalism and to promote class harmony" (29). If North and South were created to act as Gaskell's explicit contribution to righting wrongs between classes and mitigating the side effects of capitalism, it may also be... middle of paper ...... the nature. Thornton's love for Margaret Hale inspires him to become a better, more loving employer, ever more conscious of his social responsibility towards his workers. Margaret Hale is associated with the good life as it relates to the principles of truth, justice, and selflessness, and she comes to possess a greater degree of individuality. She enters Milton as an independent, self-reliant woman and aptly demonstrates the value of female mediation between classes. The relationship between Margaret and Thornton shows that familiarity with each other's language leads to understanding, which leads to affection and cooperation. Ultimately, she is able to rejoin her younger self with the older, wiser woman she has become by observing and analyzing the behavior of her acquaintances, to form the type of woman needed to successfully deal with the changes occurring in society..