The Chronology of North and South

The purpose of this paper in to call critics' attention to the effectiveness of a chronology as a means for objective understanding of Elizabeth Gaskell's meaning in North and South. Modelled after C.P. Sanger's chronological analysis of the structure of Wuthering Heights and Karl Kroeber's statistical investigation into styles in fiction, a comprehensive chronology is composed for North and South first by dividing the narrative into scenes in accordance with the shift of time, and then by examining main characters' frequency of appearance and the change of locations scene by scene. Elucidating its construction procedure together with some contradictions which are uncovered during the process, this paper eventually displays "The Comprehensive Chronology of North and South." This is a device to pinpoint Gaskell's meaning for her novel as well as to take a bird's-eye view of its structure