Marty South (The Woodlanders)

Marty South seems a more interesting character than I thought at first. She's very skilful, poorly paid and has to work very hard. Giles was surprised that she coud make wooden spars so well, because it was a skilled craft that she had served no apprenticeship for. She said it only took her a couple of hours to master. Incredibly she was able to make 1500 in a day and half an evening to earn two shillings and three pence. In chapter 19, Fitzpiers notes how skilfully she strips the bark from the upper branches of the felled oak trees. She says the men do not have the patience to strip the smaller branches because their time is more precious. I wondered what she meant. I thought she meant that she did not receive the same rate of pay as the men, so that is why she was allocated the smaller branches. Later in the chapter it was made clear that the work folk were paid by weight of bark they collected rather than by the time worked. So was Marty paid the same amount for a pound of oak bark as the men? Was the reason she had to strip the smaller branches because the men wouldn't let her strip the bigger branches?

Marty occasionally earns money in other ways. She reluctantly sells her hair for two sovereigns at the start of the book. Chapter 18 mentions that Fitzpiers had been dissecting Mr South's brain. Did Marty sell her father's brain to Fitzpiers, and if so, how much for? Fitzpiers had previously paid Grammer £10 for the right to remove her brain on her death, but when she became ill, the idea started to weigh upon her mind. Did Fitzpiers pay Marty £10 for her father's brain? Presumably Marty owed him something when she called him out to treat her father, even though his advice was useless, and if anything hastened his death. Maybe he offered to take his brain in lieu of payment.

Marty is admirable, but she is a bit mean sometimes. That was a cruel bit of graffitti that she wrote on Giles Winterbourne's wall when he had lost his inheritance.