Chapter 17
The Strike Explained
WHAT IS A STRIKE? “There are briars besetting every path, Which call for patient care; There is a cross in every lot, And an earnest need for prayer.” ANON. Margaret went out heavily and unwillingly enough. But the length of a street—yes, the air of a Milton Street—cheered her young blood before she reached her first turning. Her step grew lighter, her lip redder. She began to take notice, instead of having her thoughts turned so exclusively inward. She saw unusual loiterers in the streets: men with their hands in their pockets sauntering along; loud-laughing and loud-spoken girls clustered together,…
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Now let's explore the literary elements.
Key Quotes & Analysis
"I wish I were there,” said Bessie, wearily. “But it’s not for me to get sick and tired o’ strikes. This is the last I’ll see. Before it’s ended I shall be in the Great City—the Holy Jerusalem."
Context: Bessy's response when Margaret asks about the strike: she is too tired to care about it any longer
Bessy's 'I wish I were there' is not a comment on the strike's merits but a statement about her own exhaustion. She has watched too many strikes to believe in this one, and she is using the occasion to point toward something beyond life rather than to engage with the labor question. The Holy Jerusalem is not irony; it is the only place she believes will be different from the grinding sameness of Milton.
In Today's Words:
The colleague who has seen too many rounds of the same argument to get invested in this one. They are not being cynical; they have simply reached the end of a particular kind of hope. Their disengagement is the record of how many times the same battle has been fought, at the same cost, with the same result. Bessy's version of this is extreme, but the pattern is recognizable in any long institutional struggle.
"We just take our hands fro’ our looms, and say, ‘Yo’ may clem us, but yo’ll not put upon us, my masters!"
Context: Higgins explaining to Margaret the workers' position in the strike: they will not be put upon
Higgins makes a distinction that the south-country field labourers Margaret comes from do not make: the Milton workers know when they are put upon, and they have enough blood to refuse it. The action described is the simplest form of industrial power: stopping. What makes the statement memorable is its pride. This is not desperation but collective self-respect finding its expression in the most direct available action.
In Today's Words:
The collective refusal that begins not from strategy but from a baseline of self-respect: we will not accept this. The simplest form of industrial action is just stopping, and Higgins names what precedes it: the shared conviction that the people involved have enough regard for themselves not to absorb a reduction they consider unjust. The blood metaphor is the key: this is a response of the body, not just the ledger.
"I came here very sad, and rather too apt to think my own cause for grief was the only one in the world. And now I hear how you have had to bear for years, and that makes me stronger."
Context: Margaret telling Bessy, as she is about to leave, what visiting her has given her
Margaret arrived sad and self-occupied, and is leaving with a different perspective. The admission, to Bessy, is generous in both directions: she is saying that Bessy's suffering has done something for her, which also means she is acknowledging that Bessy's life matters not as an object of pity but as something she can actually learn from. The mutuality is what Gaskell is after, and Margaret names it directly.
In Today's Words:
The acknowledgment that visiting someone you came to help has actually helped you: not as a polite convention but as a real statement about perspective. Seeing someone who has borne more than you, longer than you, without the resources you have, does recalibrate your own sense of your situation. Naming this honestly is a different thing from saying it to be kind.
"She freshens me up above a bit. Who’d a thought that face—as bright and as strong as the angel I dream of—could have known the sorrow she speaks on?"
Context: Bessy's closing reflection after Margaret leaves, musing on her effect on those who know her
Bessy's image is kinetic and visual: Margaret as country air and moving light, her face bright and strong as the angel of the dream, carrying sorrows that should be impossible for someone with her appearance to carry. The final question is the one the novel keeps asking about her: how can someone who looks like that know that kind of sorrow? Gaskell uses Bessy's wondering to illuminate what no direct narration could.
In Today's Words:
The perception of someone who seems to carry more than their appearance would suggest: the person who looks untroubled and is not, who looks as if their life is easy and it is not. Bessy's wonder is not about deception but about depth: she cannot reconcile the bright face with the grief behind it, and she does not resolve the puzzle, which is exactly right.
Thematic Threads
Class
In This Chapter
Nicholas sees the strike as workers versus owners, with clear moral lines drawn between oppressed and oppressor
Development
Deepening from Margaret's initial shock at industrial conditions to active class conflict
In Your Life:
You might feel this divide between management and staff, or between different income levels in your community
Identity
In This Chapter
Nicholas defines himself as a soldier fighting for justice, while Margaret struggles with her role as an outsider observer
Development
Building on Margaret's earlier identity crisis about fitting into industrial society
In Your Life:
You might find yourself questioning who you are when your values clash with your circumstances
Human Connection
In This Chapter
Margaret and Bessy bond through shared vulnerability about hidden pain and family suffering
Development
Evolving from polite visiting to genuine friendship across class lines
In Your Life:
You might discover that sharing your real struggles creates deeper connections than maintaining a perfect facade
Suffering
In This Chapter
Both families hide their pain, Bessy's illness, Margaret's dying mother, while dealing with public conflicts
Development
Introduced here as a parallel between different types of hardship
In Your Life:
You might find that everyone around you is carrying hidden burdens while managing their public responsibilities
Power
In This Chapter
The strike represents workers' attempt to claim power through collective action against individual mill owners
Development
Escalating from earlier discussions of mill owner authority to active resistance
In Your Life:
You might recognize this dynamic in any situation where you feel powerless and consider organizing with others for leverage
You now have the context. Time to form your own thoughts.
Discussion Questions
This is not a test. Five prompts guide you through the chapter, from how it opens to how it closes, so you notice context and rhythm rather than facts to memorize. Sit with each question in your own words. When you see "One way to read it," treat it as a starting point, not the only answer.
- 1
Bessy says 'I wish I were there' when asked about the strike, meaning she wishes she were already dead and in the Holy Jerusalem rather than watching another strike unfold. What does her exhaustion reveal about the difference between her relationship to the labor struggle and her father's?
analysis • surfaceOne way to read it
Higgins is energized by the fight; Bessy has been worn through by too many of them. She has never believed in the strike's outcome the way he does, and her failing health makes the immediate material world feel less worth fighting over. Her longing for the Holy Jerusalem is not passive; it is the only alternative she can see that is genuinely different from what she has known.
- 2
Higgins describes the strike as 'Yo' may clem us, but yo'll not put upon us, my masters!' What distinction is he making between starving and being put upon, and why is the second category the one that finally moves the workers to action?
analysis • mediumOne way to read it
Starving is the condition of the body; being put upon is the condition of the self. Higgins is drawing the line at the point where the reduction becomes not just hardship but insult: an assertion by the masters that the workers have no standing to resist. The strike is the workers' insistence that they do. The blood metaphor confirms it: this is about dignity and self-respect, not just wages.
- 3
Margaret tells Bessy: 'I came here very sad, and rather too apt to think my own cause for grief was the only one in the world. And now I hear how you have had to bear for years, and that makes me stronger.' What is the honest acknowledgment she is making here, and is it respectful or presumptuous?
application • mediumOne way to read it
She is saying that Bessy's suffering has served her own emotional recovery, which is a complicated thing to say to the person who is suffering. What makes it respectful rather than presumptuous is that she names it honestly rather than performing gratitude, and she does not reduce Bessy's life to its utility for her. The directness is what makes it a genuine acknowledgment rather than a social nicety.
- 4
Margaret defends southern agricultural labourers to Higgins when he calls them 'spiritless and down-trodden,' but then later catches herself being 'taken wi' the ways of the South country' and has to admit there is 'good and bad in everything.' What does this moment reveal about her own biases and how she manages them?
application • deepOne way to read it
Margaret instinctively defends what she knows from attack, and then catches herself having presented an idealized version of it. Her correction is honest: she acknowledges she was taken with the south and that she should show Bessy the bad as well as the good. She is able to catch and name her own bias in real time, which requires a degree of self-awareness that the conversation with Higgins is beginning to build.
- 5
Bessy closes the chapter wondering how Margaret, with 'a face as bright and as strong as the angel I dream of,' could have known the sorrow she speaks on. What does Bessy's wonder reveal about her own assumptions, and what does it tell us about what people project onto those who appear composed?
reflection • deepOne way to read it
Bessy assumed, as most people do, that someone who looks well-dressed and composed does not carry serious weight. Margaret's disclosure about her mother and Frederick breaks that assumption without resolving it, because Bessy still cannot quite reconcile the appearance with the reality. The wonder is about depth: she did not know people could look that way and still carry that much.
Critical Thinking Exercise
Rewrite the Conflict from Both Sides
Choose a current conflict in your life - with family, work, neighbors, or institutions. Write a one-paragraph explanation of your position, then write another paragraph explaining the situation from the other person's perspective. Focus on their genuine concerns and pressures, not just their surface arguments.
Consider:
- •What fears or pressures might be driving their behavior that they haven't expressed?
- •What would they need to feel secure enough to compromise?
- •Where might both sides actually want the same outcome but disagree on methods?
Journaling Prompt
Write about a time when you were absolutely certain you were right in a conflict, but later realized you had missed something important about the other person's situation. What did that teach you about fighting for good causes?
Coming Up Next...
Chapter 18: When Fear Speaks Louder Than Words
The strike's tensions are about to explode into something far more dangerous than anyone anticipated. Margaret will soon find herself caught between two worlds as the conflict escalates. The opening of CHAPTER XVIII. will force Margaret to act faster than she expected, and the choice she makes there will echo through every relationship still ahead..
