SOURCE: "The Social Problem," in The Fallen Angel: Chastity, Class and Women's Reading, 1835-1900, Bowling Green University Popular Press, 1981, pp. 22-43.
In the essay that follows, Mitchell discusses Gaskell's Ruth as a novel that attempts to respond to the problem of prostitution, in part by criticizing the presupposition that "fallen women" should be ostracized from society and by suggesting that the general public has a certain responsibility for this problem.
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