North and South

by

Elizabeth Gaskell

Nicholas Higgins Character Analysis

Higgins, Bessy and Mary’s father, is a careworn, middle-aged millworker whom Margaret encounters in the streets of Milton. He tolerates Bessy’s colorful faith, but personally believes only in what he knows firsthand (though he eventually admits that he does believe in the existence of God). He is a committee-man for the millworkers’ strike and often argues with his impoverished neighbor, John Boucher, over the union’s coercive tactics. He tends to drink to excess sometimes and to become belligerent, but he is not habitually drunk. After Margaret stops him from going to the gin-shop after Bessy’s death, he strikes up an unlikely friendship with Mr. Hale. After Boucher’s suicide, Higgins feels responsible for driving him to despair and decides to help care for his orphaned children. Motivated by this, he stubbornly seeks a job from Thornton, and the two slowly gain respect for one another and eventually collaborate on factory projects.

Nicholas Higgins Quotes in North and South

The North and South quotes below are all either spoken by Nicholas Higgins or refer to Nicholas Higgins. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Nostalgia and Identity Theme Icon
).
Chapter 11 Quotes

“…[P]oor old wench,—I’m loth to vex thee, I am; but a man mun speak out for the truth, and when I see the world going all wrong at this time o’ day, bothering itself wi’ things it knows nought about, and leaving undone all the things that lie in disorder close at its hand—why, I say, leave a’ this talk about religion alone, and set to work on what yo’ see and know. That’s my creed. It’s simple, and not far to fetch, nor hard to work.”

Related Characters: Nicholas Higgins (speaker), Margaret Hale, Bessy Higgins
Page Number: 92
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 19 Quotes

“Yo’ know well, that a worser tyrant than e’er th’ masters were says. ‘Clem to death, and see ‘em a’ clem to death, ere yo’ dare go again th’ Union.’ Yo’ know it well, Nicholas, for a’ yo’re one on ‘em. Yo’ may be kind hearts, each separate; but once banded together, yo’ve no more pity for a man than a wild hunger-maddened wolf.”

Related Characters: John Boucher (speaker), Nicholas Higgins
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number: 154
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 28 Quotes

“As I was a-saying, sir, I reckon yo’d not ha’ much belief in yo’ if yo’ lived here,—if you’d been bred here. I ax your pardon if I use wrong words; but what I mean by belief just now, is a-thinking on sayings and maxims and promises made by folk yo’ never saw, about the things and the life yo’ never saw, nor no one else…There’s many and many a one wiser, and scores better learned than I am around me,—folk who’ve had time to think on these things,—while my time has had to be gi’en up to getting my bread.”

Related Characters: Nicholas Higgins (speaker), Margaret Hale, Mr. Richard Hale
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number: 222
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 37 Quotes

“North an’ South have each getten their own troubles. If work’s sure and steady theer, labor’s paid at starvation prices; while here we’n rucks o’ money coming in one quarter, and ne’er a farthing th’ next. For sure, th’ world is in a confusion that passes me or any other man to understand; it needs fettling, and who’s to fettle it, if it’s as yon folks say, and there’s nought but what we see?”

Related Characters: Nicholas Higgins (speaker)
Page Number: 300
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 39 Quotes

“Yo’ve called me impudent, and a liar, and a mischief-maker, and yo’ might ha’ said wi’ some truth, as I were now and then given to drink. An’ I ha’ called you a tyrant, an’ an oud bull-dog, and a hard, cruel master; that’s where it stands. But for th’ childer. Measter, do yo’ think we can e’er get on together?”

“Well!” said Mr. Thornton, half-laughing, “it was not my proposal that we should go together. But there’s one comfort, on your own showing. We neither of us can think much worse of the other than we do now.”

Related Characters: John Thornton (speaker), Nicholas Higgins (speaker)
Page Number: 319
Explanation and Analysis:
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Nicholas Higgins Quotes in North and South

The North and South quotes below are all either spoken by Nicholas Higgins or refer to Nicholas Higgins. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Nostalgia and Identity Theme Icon
).
Chapter 11 Quotes

“…[P]oor old wench,—I’m loth to vex thee, I am; but a man mun speak out for the truth, and when I see the world going all wrong at this time o’ day, bothering itself wi’ things it knows nought about, and leaving undone all the things that lie in disorder close at its hand—why, I say, leave a’ this talk about religion alone, and set to work on what yo’ see and know. That’s my creed. It’s simple, and not far to fetch, nor hard to work.”

Related Characters: Nicholas Higgins (speaker), Margaret Hale, Bessy Higgins
Page Number: 92
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 19 Quotes

“Yo’ know well, that a worser tyrant than e’er th’ masters were says. ‘Clem to death, and see ‘em a’ clem to death, ere yo’ dare go again th’ Union.’ Yo’ know it well, Nicholas, for a’ yo’re one on ‘em. Yo’ may be kind hearts, each separate; but once banded together, yo’ve no more pity for a man than a wild hunger-maddened wolf.”

Related Characters: John Boucher (speaker), Nicholas Higgins
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number: 154
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 28 Quotes

“As I was a-saying, sir, I reckon yo’d not ha’ much belief in yo’ if yo’ lived here,—if you’d been bred here. I ax your pardon if I use wrong words; but what I mean by belief just now, is a-thinking on sayings and maxims and promises made by folk yo’ never saw, about the things and the life yo’ never saw, nor no one else…There’s many and many a one wiser, and scores better learned than I am around me,—folk who’ve had time to think on these things,—while my time has had to be gi’en up to getting my bread.”

Related Characters: Nicholas Higgins (speaker), Margaret Hale, Mr. Richard Hale
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number: 222
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 37 Quotes

“North an’ South have each getten their own troubles. If work’s sure and steady theer, labor’s paid at starvation prices; while here we’n rucks o’ money coming in one quarter, and ne’er a farthing th’ next. For sure, th’ world is in a confusion that passes me or any other man to understand; it needs fettling, and who’s to fettle it, if it’s as yon folks say, and there’s nought but what we see?”

Related Characters: Nicholas Higgins (speaker)
Page Number: 300
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 39 Quotes

“Yo’ve called me impudent, and a liar, and a mischief-maker, and yo’ might ha’ said wi’ some truth, as I were now and then given to drink. An’ I ha’ called you a tyrant, an’ an oud bull-dog, and a hard, cruel master; that’s where it stands. But for th’ childer. Measter, do yo’ think we can e’er get on together?”

“Well!” said Mr. Thornton, half-laughing, “it was not my proposal that we should go together. But there’s one comfort, on your own showing. We neither of us can think much worse of the other than we do now.”

Related Characters: John Thornton (speaker), Nicholas Higgins (speaker)
Page Number: 319
Explanation and Analysis: