Some people claim that this is a "Pride and Prejudice" in the age of steam, it is better to say that this is a "Jane Eyre" based on "Oliver Twist" and "Les Miserables". Mr. Thornton is not Mr. Darcy, but has a taste of Rochester. It is undeniable that many audiences are fascinated and fascinated by Richard Armitage's interpretation of Thornton. to incurable. But this terrible lint is not a romantic snowflake, and the story has to find a balance between contradictions. This balance is the love story of Thornton and Margaret.
In Margaret's eyes, the most beautiful place in the world was Helstone, her original home. With her father's choice, the Hale family came to Outward Milton. Different from the rural life in the south, it is cold, dark and fast-paced. She confided to her friend Edith Edith's letter: "How cold and cruel here is, there are contradictions and meanness wherever it goes, and it is a place abandoned by the gods." However, in the end, she fell in love with the industry here, here people. The reason is that she is too lonely. She took the initiative to strike up a conversation with the female worker Bessie, just like her hometown in the south, carrying a gift basket and visiting the door on foot. In Bessie, she saw the precarious and impoverished days of workers and their families. The children were waiting to be fed, and the young were frail, lingering and dying from lung disease caused by inhaling cotton wool as child laborers in their childhood. The crowded and dirty streets, the dark tones, the turbid air, and the toiling workers create a depressing atmosphere. Margaret gradually changed from a bystander to a complainant, and the object of conflict is the manufacturer and administrator John Thornton here.
In the factory where the white cotton wool fluttered in the sky, the factory owner Thornton appeared like a king in the world, and Margaret almost looked up at him. Previously, while she was shocked by the industrialized factory machines, she looked up at the monarch, heard his rough roar, and saw him beat the worker Stephen. Margaret stepped forward to stop it. This time, the unpleasant first meeting left a deep impression on each other. Of course, later on, Margaret learned that the factory was banning smoking, and that Stephen was fired because he made a mistake in smoking. However, she could not change her opposition to Thornton.
Oppression and oppression, either win or be trampled underfoot, this is an unavoidable confrontation situation. Even if Thornton was a serious, sensible, intelligent, and humane manufacturer, he could install hair dryers to improve the operating environment for his workers, and he wouldn't compromise because the workers offered to strike without a raise. When colleagues teased that workers were hungry for installing hair dryers (the less lint they sucked into their stomachs), Thornton said: "I installed hair dryers in all my workshops two years ago, and my workers will Healthier, lungs are not easily blocked, they can work for me longer, their children will also work for me, this is profit.” In his view, this is business, and business cannot always think about ethics and responsibility, factories Not a charity. Be strict with workers and be fair at the same time. Therefore, he believes that the wages he pays his workers are fair, with a clear conscience, and he will never compromise. He even rationally thought of a countermeasure, letting migrant workers (Irish) replace the striking workers. The strike lasted for four weeks, with workers starving to death because they had no source of pay. Angry workers gathered in front of Thornton's house, the place where the Thornton family felt that the factory was the source of power and wealth, and the mansion that looked down upon the workers and Margaret's mansion many times.
The conflict is about to erupt, and Margaret encourages Thornton to face it bravely and not let this tragic situation become more tragic. At the same time, she is worried that Thornton will be hurt by facing the desperate workers alone. She stood at the center of the conflict, the demands of the workers on the one hand, and Thornton's categorical refusal on the other. In this furious situation, the desperate people ended up with a stone falling on Margaret's head, this immoral act saved the factory owners, the workers' strike ended, and everything was back to normal. Under the prompting of his mother, Thornton, who is high above, realizes Margaret's affection for him. Although they treat class differently, although he thinks that she will not like him, he still wants her and expresses his love. I mean, put forward a marriage proposal. In this segment, it is indeed vaguely seen that Darcy proposed to Elizabeth for the first time, and Margaret, like Elizabeth's trajectory, seemed to disagree on the surface and categorically rejected him. But she began to realize in her heart, and later accepted this emotion. She was no longer antagonistic in her heart, or, as early as the moment she stood beside Thornton and faced the workers, she was no longer antagonistic. She found out that this northern factory owner, he was not a child born with a golden key, his father committed suicide because he was tricked into speculating, he dropped out of school at the age of sixteen, and earned his present industry by his own struggles, he has his principles, Self-discipline, at least he can give workers fair treatment. The original businessmen who were eager for quick success and quick profits have now become hard work. She thought he would not speculate, he loved the factory, and he would not gamble on the future of the workers. Margaret's confidence in Thornton was conveyed through Bessie's father, Nicholas Higgins, that she believed him to be gracious and kind.
On the surface, the contradiction of class is no longer the theme, and the emotional twists and turns of Thornton and Margaret have become the main line. The seemingly gloomy and dignified Thornton always has a deep affection in his heart. This affection was sprouted as early as the first encounter between factories. He was amazed at her bravery, and no one dared to defy him! It happened that such a beautiful woman appeared in his life to wake him up. He went to Mr. Hale's house rain or shine to talk about Plato. Under the mild light, Margaret fell asleep because of the housework during the day. The contact between pouring tea and handing a cup, all of which comes from a man's infatuation with a woman. After conversations again and again, he was amazed at her beauty and kindness, bravery and tenacity. In her, he saw the morality that he wanted to do but couldn't do. After the failed marriage proposal, he felt the trust and resonance of Margaret many times, and he learned in his heart to try to stand in her point of view to contact the opposite class. He became an orphan who personally walked into the working class, cared for the workers, and helped the workers build a canteen to keep them fed. He learned to care, learned to smile, all of which stemmed from an unstoppable love. To love her is to be someone she admires. To love her should be equal to her spirit. There are two silhouettes of Thornton walking among the factories with fluttering cotton wool. The first time it feels cold and grim, and the second time it appears in Margaret's memory, it feels warm and lonely. The dignity and face of a man made him show an attitude of escaping and act like a gentleman, but his heart was even more looking forward to "Look back. Look back at me" in the white snow, staring deeply, eagerly looking forward to it, only Lost and sad.
After her parents died and her brother was far abroad, Margaret returned to the south and began to miss the romance of the north. There was Mr. Thornton in the far north. It's just that what makes her uncomfortable is that there is a misunderstanding between them, a misunderstanding that she can't explain for the safety of her brother. Obviously love each other, but the bridges of separation are everywhere. No matter what, as long as you think about each other, you will be together eventually. Mr. Lennox, the always-on-hand Mr. Lennox, once again lost love. The fatherly Mr Bell bequeathed the estate to Margaret. At the railway station where the north and the south meet, Margaret and Thornton meet again. He brings Helstone's little yellow flower, and she brings Outward Milton's cotton wool, and they come together hand in hand. The camera again turns to Mr. Lennox, the one who had given her the little yellow flowers first, wondering if Margaret had considered him and the terminally ill Mr. Bell. Not everything is perfect, and it is only a romantic ending for lovers to get married. I believe that if there is a sequel, Mrs. Thornton, who loves her son deeply, will not let her go easily. But Margaret has money, she can help the factory, help the workers, and join hands with the administrator John Thornton to create the future, what an ideal country, where it will no longer be a white hell, but a paradise on earth.
In the aftertaste, there is always the feeling that Jean Valjean met Jane Eyre, and there is no hopeless Fantine in the world.
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