Author(s)

Ren Xiao ¹

Affiliation(s)

¹ Tianjin Public Security Police Officer Professional College, Tianjin, China

Corresponding Author

Ren Xiao

ABSTRACT

In a dynamic process of social changes, both the writer Elizabeth Gaskell and main characters in her novel attempt to find out their own identities which are different from others. This chapter is mainly about the major manifestations of cultural conflicts reflected in North and South and self-assertion of main characters in their identity construction. As an emerging industrial nation, it must reconsider its aristocratic, paternalistic past, and at the same time must take on new responsibilities in order fully to mature. This thesis is divided into three sections to analyze three subjects that are gender, class and religious belief in order to elaborate the cultural conflicts. The emphasis here is on the multiplicity of identities and differences which lead to cultural conflicts. I try to reveal their true social and cultural identities in North and South through detailed analysis of the main characters by discussing the differences of behaviors and ways of thinking among the main characters in North and South.

KEYWORDS

Elizabeth Gaskell; cultural conflicts; cultural identities; North and South

CITE THIS PAPER

Ren Xiao, A Study of Cultural Conflicts in Mrs. Gaskell's North and South. Lecture Notes on Language and Literature (2024) Vol. 7: 22-31. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.23977/langl.2024.070704.

REFERENCES

[1] Edgar, Andrew and Sedgwick, Peter, eds. Key Concepts in Cultural Theory, London and New York: Routledge, 1999. 
[2] Gaskell, Elizabeth. North and South. London: Wordsworth Editions Limited, 1994. 
[3] Williams, Linda L. Nietzsche's Mirror: The World as Will to Power, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2001.
[4] Raynor, John. The Middle Class. London: Longmans, Green and Co, 1969.
[5] Parsons Gerald, Moore, James Richard. Religion in Victorian Britain: Controversies. Manchester: UP of Manchester, 1988.
[6] Oulton, Carolyn. Literature and Religion in Mid-Victorian England. New York: Palgrave, 2003. 
[7] Weyant, Nancy S. Elizabeth Gaskell: An Annotated Guide to English Language Sources, 1992- 2001. Lanham: Scarecrow Press, 2004.

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