Oh Mother

     Her mother - her mother always so kind and tender towards her - seemed now and then so much disconnected with their situation; thought that the bishop strangely neglected his episcopal duties, in not giving Mr Hale a better living; and almost reproached her husband because he could not bring himself to say that he wished to leave the parish, and undertake the charge of a larger. Her would sigh aloud as he answered, that if he could do what he ought in little Helstone, he should be thankful; but every day he was more overpowered; the world became more bewildering.... Mrs Hale said that the near neighbourhood of so many trees affected her health... [Margaret] was sure that her mother had accustomed herself to much to an in-dor life.

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 Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South, Volume 1 ch. 1 (pg) 19

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     Margaret's mother is so confusing to me. I wish Gaskell had spent more time forming her character before the move. If she did not like the trees in the country, why was moving to town so difficult on her health? As the book says, she was use to staying inside the home. That is how it was in the North, yet she hated it. Mrs. Hale, originally a beautiful party girl, did not seem to be what she was before the move, so she must have been getting sick before she left Helstone. Maybe she had some disease, perhaps genetic, that she took with her to the North, which would mean that it was not Mr. Hale's fault, for which he blamed himself and agonized over, that she died. Also, when was Mrs. Hale nice to Margaret. I so would have liked to see that side of her, but all I see in the book is that Margaret is just another person to her mother, whereas the maid is a dear friend. Supposedly, Mrs. Hale was nice, or perhaps it is simply Margaret's blindness and optimism that makes her think that her mother actually loved her.