The Half-Brothers by Elizabeth Gaskell

The Half-Brothers by Elizabeth Gaskell

This story, The Half-Brothers, written by Elizabeth Gaskell is set in

19th century Cumberland. This story is based on some of things that

happened in Mrs Gaskell's life such as her losing her children. The

half brothers are Gregory and his younger brother whose name we never

find out. Their mother loses her first husband and she re-marries

William Preston. Their mother, Helen, dies in childbirth leaving

Gregory to be brought up by his stepfather. Even though he had been

badly treated by him, Gregory shows throughout that he is a true

Christian.

Mrs Gaskell in this story makes Helen into a very sympathetic

character. The very first sentence 'My mother was twice married' is

made to make us feel sympathy for her because we know that something

bad must have happened in her first marriage but we don't know what it

is until later on in the paragraph. Helen is also made a sympathetic

character by Mrs Gaskell listing a series of dreadful events that

happened to Helen. Saying how young she is 'She was barely seventeen'

makes us feel sympathetic for Helen knowing that she is young and

helpless. We also begin to think from this that she is too young to be

married. The grief occurs when she loses her husband and she is left

to look after a young child on her own. She was only just able to

walk. We begin to think things are getting better for her when her

sister comes to help her. They had a plan. 'They plotted how to make

every penny they could'. Everything goes wrong. 'The farm on her hands

for four years or more by the lease'. We feel sympathy for her knowing

that she has too much to cope with on h...

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...to cope with in such a short space

of time. Another sentimental point is all the things that happened to

Helen, such as her losing most of her family and becoming helpless.

Sentimentality is formed from William Preston's last request. We know

that he really is deeply sorry for the way he treated Gregory. The

description of Gregory's body when he dies is very easy to make a

picture in your head because it is described so detailed.

I don't think the story is over-emotional or exaggerated. It is

written very well and the sentimental parts of the story are brought

out and expressed well. Sentimental means that something is dear to

you and that it means something to you. The things that happen to

Helen in the story are very closely related to things that happened in

Mrs Gaskell's life and therefore are sentimental to her.