John Thornton's Childhood In The Strange Case Of Mr. Thornton

219 Words1 Pages
John Thornton is the male protagonist; he is wealthy and highly regarded mill owner in Milton. Mr. Thornton also gets a “no” from Margaret Hale.
When Margaret throws her arms around Mr. Thornton as an effort to save him from the striking workers, she trucks by a beat on her forehead. Margaret’s action interpreted by everyone who witnesses the scene as a sign of her love for Mr. Thornton (Branthinger and Thesing, 2002:179). Margaret’s action encourages Mr. Thornton to propose marriage to her, but she insists that she was acting maudlinly and she describes her behavior as “woman work” (Baker and Womack, 2002:204):
It was only a natural instinct; any woman would have done just the same. We all feel the sanctity of our sex as a high privilege