| Elizabeth Gaskell(1810-1865)was a famous writer in the Victorian era.Mary Barton is one of Gaskell’s two industrial novels,which was published in 1848.With the help of the theories concerning community,this thesis is aimed to explore the construction of these communities,values in these communities,the class issues the different communities face,and the reason why Elizabeth Gaskell constructs these communities in the novel.Apart from Introduction and Conclusion,there are four chapters in the thesis.The Introduction presents the life of Elizabeth Gaskell,the plots of Mary Barton,the researches at home and abroad,and the significance of this research.Based on the previous researches,this thesis further analyzes the construction of community,and the class issues in the laboring classes and between the laboring classes and the middle classes respectively in Mary Barton.Chapter One introduces the concept and development of community and the development of the class issues in the nineteenth-century Britain.The theory concerning community experiences the development from Ferdinand T?nnies to Raymond Williams to Benedict Anderson and to Steven Brint.Yin Qiping’s view on community further contributes to the development of this theory.There was class stratification in the nineteenth-century British society and “class” became an issue at that time.This chapter shows that the studies of community and class issues are interrelated,and proves the feasibility of studying Mary Barton from the perspectives of community and class issues.Chapter Two illustrates the family communities and the class problems in each of them in Mary Barton.The three family communities have the same characteristic:members share mutual understanding.The Bartons are intimate;the Wilsons are responsible;the Jennings are caring.However,every community faces problems: the death of Mrs.Barton disintegrates the family;the death of the twins and George Wilson makes the family vulnerable;the death of the Jennings makes the family instable.By analyzing the class problems in the family communities,this chapter shows the negative influence exerted by class problems on the family communities.Class problems push the family communities to the verge of disintegration.Chapter Three explores the village community and class plights in Mary Barton.The village community also has the same characteristic: members are sympathetic with others.Male workers help each other and value authority;female workers support each other;villagers are concerned about each other.The village community consists of the male and female workers.The village community is also a deep community,which connects the family communities and the spiritual community in the novel.At the same time,the village community faces conflicts: different opinions on the Trades’ Union and politics render the male workers in the village disharmonious;Mary’s vanity gives rise to the misunderstandings between herself and other female workers in the village;a murder in the village makes the villagers lose trust in each other.Class plights also exert a bad influence on the village community,which brings the peaceful village life into disorder.Chapter Four explores the spiritual community and class reconciliation between the laboring classes and the middle classes in Mary Barton.The characteristic of the spiritual community is that members of it share common values and beliefs,based on which the laboring-class community comes into being.The common values and beliefs render the laboring classes united and inclusive.As a turning point in the novel,the murder not only is a manifestation of the conflicts between the two classes,but also changes the opinions of the two classes to each other,two of whom finally reach reconciliation.Since then,the spiritual community also include the middle classes.The research concludes that in the Victorian era,Industrial Revolution contributes to the social transformation of Britain from an agricultural society to an industrial one.The class issues emerging in the social transformation pose challenges to the traditional family communities and village community.By establishing a spiritual community,Elizabeth Gaskell tries to relieve serious class issues. |
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