North and South, Chapter 36 summary
Chapter 36 of 52 · 18 min to read the chapter
In Chapter 36, Margaret and Mr. Hale visit Nicholas Higgins, whose refusal to accept restrictions on Union support keeps him from seeking work, and Margaret challenges the Union’s treatment of Boucher. When John Boucher’s drowned body arrives, Margaret helps his devastated family, while Higgins refuses both the task of telling his wife and his visitors’ comfort.
What happens
- Nicholas Higgins explains that he refuses his former mill’s condition against supporting the Union or helping strikers.
- Margaret challenges the Union’s coercion, while Higgins defends collective power and angrily condemns Boucher’s attempt to obtain work.
- Six men bring John Boucher’s drowned body down the street, and Margaret covers his face.
- Higgins and Mr. Hale cannot tell Mrs. Boucher, so Margaret enters her house and breaks the news.
- A helpful neighbor clears the crowd, arranges food and care for the children, and helps the widow face her loss.
- Margaret and her father stop at Higgins’s house, but he refuses to admit them and asks to remain alone.
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In this chapter
What to notice
Margaret challenges Higgins’s defense of compulsory solidarity. The arrival of Boucher’s body immediately turns their argument toward the suffering of an individual and his family.
Quick check
Why does Higgins refuse to seek work at his former mill?
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