Forgive me for going back to Chapter 11. I meant to write this the other day but ran out of time, had to remind myself of my notes at the time, and then had huge technical problems with my Kindle app that wiped all my notes for the whole book!! So this is from dimmer memory, having since read two other books ….
I found this chapter fascinating and totally absorbing. Without knowing at this point what was coming next, it felt immediately to me like it would turn out to be a critical one, the moral crux of the novel - and having got to the end of the novel now, I haven’t changed my mind. The Bensons epitomise slowly reasoned and courageous compassion considering the minister’s role and the community they’re bringing Ruth into. I absolutely loved their brother-sister dynamic, especially the warm, affectionate friction between them, and the way they complement each other. I particularly enjoyed the gentle humour here:
"That's all very fine, and I dare say very true," said Miss Benson, a little chagrined. "But 'a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush;' and I would rather have had one good, hearty 'Thank you,' now, for all I have been planning to do for her, than the grand effects you promise me in the 'sweep of eternity.' Don't be grave and sorrowful, Thurstan, or I'll go out of the room. I can stand Sally's scoldings, but I can't bear your look of quiet depression whenever I am a little hasty or impatient. I had rather you would give me a good box on the ear." "And I would often rather you would speak, if ever so hastily, instead of whistling. So, if I box your ears when I am vexed with you, will you promise to scold me when you are put out of the way, instead of whistling?" "Very well! that's a bargain. You box, and I scold.
Ultimately, as Mr Benson rightly states, they are often “both right“: she’s more human, down-to-earth and better tuned in to the prejudices of their community, whereas he’s more far-thinking, with the radical courage to actually do his spiritual job by putting God’s judgement above the opinions of men. And the result is, they make the best decisions for Ruth. Ironically, despite his sister’s first name, it’s not surprising he’s the one that shows much more faith in the plan to redeem her through her innocent baby.
A couple of details I liked about Gaskell’s narration and attitude to him here at the start of the chapter in her narrative method:
You have now seen the note which was delivered into Mr Benson's hands….
but then she returns to the first person she’s used before. She makes an amusingly ironic comment when Faith tells him Ruth is pregnant, but he fails to compute it, displaying a touching male innocence:
‘I said, "all things possible;" I made a mistake”.
There was also a detail about Faith that tickled me. She’s so resolutely down-to-earth and anti-romantic, she even dislikes mountains (in contrast to her poetry-loving brother and Ruth, of course). In fact, so much that they ‘oppress’ her and she can’t even sleep when thinking of them. I found it subtly humorous because it exaggerates the contrast between the siblings, but mainly because it reminded me of a minor Jane Austen character who says something like she can’t abide mountains, and I always found that comical - whether intended or not (Lizzie Bennett loves them, being more spirited and natural). Help me out anyone who can remember the exact character and comment?