Previous
Personification
Definition of Setting
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the city of New York, or it can be an imagined... read full definition
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the city of New York, or... read full definition
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the... read full definition
Setting
Explanation and Analysis:
North and South takes place primarily in the city of Milton-Northern, a fictionalized version of Manchester, England, in the mid-19th century. The Hale family lives in the fictional suburb of "Crampton," a name that Gaskell uses to allude to overcrowded living and working conditions in much of the working-class metropolis during this time. Gaskell, a Unitarian minister's wife, lived in Manchester during its industrial boom and did relief work there, so she was very familiar with and concerned about the plight of the working poor there. The rise of industry had transformed life in Manchester so dramatically (the number of cotton mills peaked in the city when Gaskell wrote North and South in the 1850s) that it was nicknamed "Cottonopolis."
Related Themes:
