Foil
Character Role Analysis
Margaret Hale/John Thornton
As we mention in the "Character Clues" section, the story of North and South revolves around the ways that Margaret Hale and John Thornton deal with their difference of opinion toward the working classes. Margaret feels that the value is measured with compassion. For Thornton, money is the best measure of value.
For Margaret, the upper class has a moral obligation to help the working classes. Thornton, on the other hand, thinks that the workers are responsible for their own poverty and that business owners should be allowed to do whatever they want. It's not until the end of the book that the two of them are able to find some common ground: Margaret realizes that she's a little too proud and Thornton realizes he's a little too prejudiced. Um. Wait: wrong book.
Rewind: Margaret realizes that she's a little too proud and Thornton realizes that he's a little too hard-nosed and capitalist. In short, they both mellow out quite a bit. But don't worry, we bet they're still totally feisty enough to spend a life arguing over what they should watch together on Netflix, or whatever cute couples did back in the 19th century.