Today we took a walking tour of Bloomsbury – a more upper class area of London.  Since we just toured the extreme opposite of living environments yesterday in South Wark, it was shocking to visit such a drastically different area in close proximity.  The buildings in Bloomsbury are immaculate, much taller, and built with what seems like better materials.  We walked through many parks in Bloomsbury, yet in South Wark, it seemed like there were close to zero.  By being able to physically witness these disparities through the walking tours, it is easier to identify the great gap in between the lower and upper classes in North and South that Gaskell represents.

Also, our class discussion centered around the topic of gender in North and South.  Our discussion opened my eyes to how interesting Margaret is for a female of her time period.  I particularily enjoyed talking about the “2 1/2” proposals, paying close attention to the detailed action and description of the text.  For example, when Henry Lennox proposes, he takes “sudden possession of her hand,” presumably in order to gain some kind of influence or power over her answer (Gaskell 30).