Well, that was a downer. I prefer Gaskell's other novels (North & South, Mary Barton), but appreciate what she was trying to do with this one. The main takeaway from this book is 'Mind your business. What other people do or have done is no concern to you.' ( )

Ruth is Elizabeth Gaskell’s tale of an orphaned girl who falls into the hands of an unscrupulous man and finds herself in the usual predicament that such girls face. What might, in our time, be a difficulty but barely raise an eyebrow, was, in Victorian times, a serious path to ruin for both the girl and her resultant child. Illegitimacy was not just a mistake, it was a sin, and the attitude of society was particularly cruel toward the woman involved, regardless of age, in this case 16, or circumstance, alone in the world and innocently naive.

There were, however, even in those times, those who were good and kind and wanted to see such a girl redeemed and not punished, and this story contains those souls as well. One of my favorite characters is Mr. Benson, the crippled gentleman who offers Ruth a chance to survive and make a better life. Ruth, in fact, becomes a story largely about redemption, the cost of judgmentalism, the hypocrisy of some professed Christians, and the value of truth when a lie seems the kinder route. No one could blame Ruth for anything other than desperation and poor judgment, but you could not say the same for many of those who have influence over her life.

This is not a perfect novel. One would wish to see Ruth as a more realistically flawed person, but to make the point Gaskell is pushing home requires her to be better than human and almost angelic. This is Victorian England, strictly religious, male dominated and wholly dismissive of the fallen woman; that Gaskell is brave enough to tackle the subject and point out the un-Christian tenets involved in shaming and shunning both these women and their children is remarkable. She holds up a mirror to society in a way that was sure to make a large sector uncomfortable. To do this, she makes Ruth not only pitiable, but good and overly repentant of her faults, which soon seem scarcely as bad as those of the men and women who condemn her.

This book was published a scant three years after [b:The Scarlet Letter|12296|The Scarlet Letter|Nathaniel Hawthorne|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1404810944l/12296._SY75_.jpg|4925227], some 30 years before Hardy’s [b:Tess of the D'Urbervilles|32261|Tess of the D'Urbervilles|Thomas Hardy|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1434302708l/32261._SY75_.jpg|3331021] and three years after Dickens’ [b:David Copperfield|58696|David Copperfield|Charles Dickens|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1461452762l/58696._SY75_.jpg|4711940] in which he also addresses the dangers to young women swept into the circle of unscrupulous men. It is significant that society was beginning to turn its face toward this problem and that this book was among the early efforts to highlight the problem and decry the unfair prohibitions that kept fallen women from ever reclaiming useful lives. ( )

listening to a librivox recording on my walks to and from work. so far so awesome!

***

while still 19th-century brit lit, and therefore made of win, this was a little melodramatic for me. north & south et al are much better. ( )

Well, that was a downer. I prefer Gaskell's other novels (North & South, Mary Barton), but appreciate what she was trying to do with this one. The main takeaway from this book is 'Mind your business. What other people do or have done is no concern to you.' ( )

This one was mostly just depressing. There is an extremely funny moment where Faith Benson realizes she likes making up stories, which was definitely my favorite bit of the whole book, though. ( )