kev67
06-26-2014, 12:32 PM
There were one or two Irish slurs in North and South. For example, Margaret Hales says she thinks the Bouchers had Irish blood in them, which accounted for them not being very resolute, upstanding people. There was a minor slur when she says remarks a statement is Irish because it was a bit self-contradictory. Mr Thornton brings in Irish workers to break the strike, but finds their standard of workmanship is not very good, which is reasonable because they did not have much experience. A bit later, Thornton tells Higgins he could not compete with an Irishman as a navvy. The book was set very shortly after the Irish Potato Famine, which caused so many Irish people to emigrate.
Anyway, I am interested in economics. While I was looking through the GoodReads top 100 books on economics, I noticed Karl Marx's good friend, Friedrich Engels wrote a book called The Conditions of the Working Class in England. This was written between 1842 and 1844 while he was living in Manchester, which was about ten years before North and South was written. Milton was based on Manchester. I was surprised that several of the reviewers referred to Engels' negative comments about the Irish. I could understand an Englishman being racist towards the Irish, but Engels was German.
Anyway, I am interested in economics. While I was looking through the GoodReads top 100 books on economics, I noticed Karl Marx's good friend, Friedrich Engels wrote a book called The Conditions of the Working Class in England. This was written between 1842 and 1844 while he was living in Manchester, which was about ten years before North and South was written. Milton was based on Manchester. I was surprised that several of the reviewers referred to Engels' negative comments about the Irish. I could understand an Englishman being racist towards the Irish, but Engels was German.