Gaskell's Flawed Characters

While reading some of these criticisms most seemed to be more in talks with another critic than Gaskell's novel entirely. The John Lucas essay "Why We Need Mary Barton" offered more confusion than an answer to his initial question and really just helped to befuddle me as a reader. I still have no idea why this book was needed based on Lucas' ideas. The other more tangible essay is Lucas' "Carson's Murder and the Inadequacy of Hope in Mary Barton" where he explains the flawed John Barton became more of a scapegoat and flaw than Gaskell had originally intended.

Mary Barton's Contemporaries

Of all the reviews contained in this Norton Edition, one stands out as just very odd. The Long Strike: A Drama in Four Acts really seems out of place as review for Mary Barton itself because it's more of a retelling only in play form and it seems to have convoluted Gaskell's initial story of the Industrial Revolution. But none of this is really what I want to talk about I just thought it odd. I read a multitude of the first few reviews and they all practically restated the same things about the novel's good points and accurate portrayal of the living conditions in Manchester so nothing of note there, but it was in Leon Faucher's piece that an idea struck me.