In this reading, a good portion of the plot focused entirely around the character’s drama as opposed to the city itself. However, there some key aspects of the city being portrayed in this reading regarding the business cycle. It is notable that during this time, there is a bit of a depression going on in Manchester as well as the areas around it. We are first introduced with a solution to this in some way in chapter 15 in which the masters of the city receive an offer. It is a deal that will provide more opportunities for employment, however, at the same time there is a fear of competition, “It was a large order, giving employment to all the mills engaged in that species of manufacture; but it was necessary to execute it speedily, and at as low prices as possible, as the masters had reason to believe that a duplicate order ha been sent to one of the continental manufacturing towns, where there were no restrictions on food, no taxes on building or machinery, and where consequently they dreaded that the goods could be made at a much lower price than they could afford them for and that, by so acting and charging, the rival …show more content…
Seeing to it as their own concerns, they do not bother trying to explain the benefits in the long run to the workers, “They stood upon being the masters, and that they had a right to offer work at their own prices, and the believed that in the present depression of trade, and unemployment of hands, there would be no great difficulty in getting it done (Gaskell 151).” This quote provides much more than simple opinions, it also goes to reflect the issues of Manchester concerning work, money, and employment of the people. It reveals that the city is currently not in prosperity and that many of the people