es and machinery to the dominions of the Czar and the Sultan. The historical situation surrounding Mary Barton is closely interwoven with the social themes of the novel. The sudden upsurge of the Industrial Revolution with its economic laws of supply and demand made it almost impossible for the industrial cities like Manchester to provide adequate housing for the country people who came to the city to work in the mills and the factories. It was also, so they thought, impossible to raise workmen’s wages without at the same time raising the prices of their products and thus pricing themselves out of business.This basic situation made it easy for industrial bosses like Carson to take advantage of conditions and become right through the hard work of the laboring class. Carson himself had come from the laboring class, but this, according to Mrs. Gaskell, only made him harder on those in his employ. He was unsure of his wealth and of the future of his position, and this drove him to achieve as much as possible in a short time.The final scene of the novel in which Jem and Job confront Mrs. Carson with the true facts concerning Harry Carson’s death revel the basic feelings of the lower class concerning the relationship between worker and management. They are aware that capitalism is good and necessary and that equal distribution of goods would be folly. What the Chartist Movement was all about, as described in this scene, is the restoration of a basic, humane existence and an attitude of human concern on the part of employers. The strong (employers) must help the weak (laborers) in the matters of concern and subsistence.What we have here is the reconciliation of the industrial movement with the elements of Christianity that the Chartist action was geared toward accomplishing. Job Legh emphasizes this fact in his insistence that the laboring class would be more than placated if only the employers would try to find a solution ...
