North and South Papers & Assignment Topics

Essay Topics/Writing Assignments

These 20 essay questions can be used as essay questions on a test, or as stand-alone essay topics for a take-home or in-class writing assignment. Students should have a full understanding of the text in order to answer these questions. They ask for a thorough analysis of the text.

1. Compare and contrast Margaret and her mother. Make sure to use direct quotations from the text.

2. Analyze the scene of Henry Lennox' first romantic confession to Margaret and what happens afterward. What does Gaskell do to create the tone? What do the different characters' reactions immediately after tell us about their personalities? How does what happens afterward foreshadow what happens later in the text, if at all?

3. Compare and contrast the character of Margaret at the beginning of the novel with the character of Margaret at the end of the novel. What is...
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