North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell chapter 36 | Audiobook

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell chapter 36 "Union Not Always Strength" narrated by Isaac BirchallSubscribe on YT or Join the Book Club on KO-FI and support me as an independent creator :D⁠https://ko-fi.com/theessentialreads⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfOFfvo05ElM96CmfsGsu3g/join⁠Summary:Margaret and her father go to the Higgins residence. Nicholas is sitting by himself by the fireplace. Higgins is unshaven and wearing a hole ridden jacket. Mr. Hale says that each family is going through many sorrows at that time. Higgins agrees and says that they can always find him at home, as he is out of work. Mr Hale says that they owe his daughter money for helping them around the house, which Higgins refuses, saying that if Mr. Hale pays Mary, then he would have to pay Margaret for her help with Bessy. Higgins has apparently not asked for work. Apparently, the Masters are refusing to hire workers who are associated with the Union, forcing them to sign contracts that force them not to give tithes to the union. Higgins feels so strongly for the Union that he refuses to work for anywhere that would force him to sign such a contract. Margaret dares to ask, in her non-confrontational way, if he remembers Boucher saying that the Union is a tyrant. Higgins says that he understands that the Union can be cruel, but that it is needed for the betterment of the whole. Higgins then goes to say that the Strike was over, the moment the Boucher started a riot. Margaret asks if it would not have been better to not have people like Boucher in the Union. Mr. Hale tries to stop her daughter from pressing him further, but Higgins tells him that it is okay, he likes Margaret. Apparently after the Riot, Boucher went into hiding and didn’t show himself for a few days, then he tried to ask for work at one of the factories, but he was refused everywhere he went. Outside, the sound of marching feet can be heard moving towards the house, they are carrying a heavy burden. When they arrive at Higgins’ house, it is revealed to be Boucher, drowned in the river. They have come to Higgins to announce the death to Mrs. Boucher. Higgins says that he cannot go, he didn’t like the man and doesn’t know his wife well enough. Margaret suggests her father go but then decides to go herself. Mrs. Boucher is sitting in a chair, and the house looks very dirty. Margaret asks the woman how she is, and the women replies that she is upset with her husband for having left her alone with the children. He has been gone for four days and has sent no word to her. Margaret goes to the woman and announces Bouchers death without any words. Mrs. Boucher asks if Margaret is certain, going to the extent of claiming that people have been brought round after having drowned. Margaret holds the woman, and slowly the children start to understand too. A sound at the door is heard and Margaret asks one of the children to open it. It is her father and a woman. The woman takes over for Margaret in caring for Mrs. Boucher, and Margaret sets to getting rid of the bystanders. The children are taken away by some of the voyeurs and are properly fed. Then, once alone, they try to tell Mrs. Boucher that her husband didn’t die by accident. She understands. Following this, Mr. Hale and Margaret leave, and go to check on Higgins, he doesn’t let them in, only saying that he wishes to be alone on a day like this.SEO stuff I don't want to do. Elizabeth Gaskell's classic, "North and South" sees Margaret Hale's live uprooted as her family moves to the north of England. Initially disgusted by the ugliness of the industrial town of Milton, Margaret develops a strong sense of social justice after seeing the poverty and suffering of local mill workers.