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Chapter 23
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Mary Barton, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Employers vs. Workers
Sexuality and Danger
Christianity
Poverty and Morality
Empathy vs. Ignorance
Summary
Analysis
To distract herself from her fears, Mary decides to go help Mrs. Wilson. She finds Mrs. Wilson at home, sitting dumbfounded with a piece of paper in her hands, asking what the paper is. Mrs. Davenport, also present, tells Mary that the paper is a subpoena and that Mrs. Wilson is devastated that she must testify to the ownership of the gun. Mary gently takes the subpoena from Mrs. Wilson and tells Mrs. Davenport that they should try to get her (Mrs. Wilson) to rest. They guide Mrs. Wilson to a pallet in Alice’s room, where she falls asleep. Mary spends the night watching over her and Alice, taking some imperceptible comfort from Alice occasionally singing religious songs from her childhood.
In this scene, too, the novel emphasizes working-class morality and mutual aid by having Mary and Mrs. Davenport help Mrs. Wilson in her distress and Alice in her illness. Meanwhile, Mary also derives comfort from Alice’s religiosity, bolstering the importance of religious faith to the Christian characters’ peace and happiness in the novel.
Themes
In the morning—it’s now Sunday—Mrs. Wilson wakes and asks Mary whether all her troubles have been a dream. Mary quietly says no. She makes Mrs. Wilson breakfast and explains about Jem’s lawyer, Mr. Bridgnorth, and about her plan to find Will to provide Jem’s alibi. Mrs. Wilson bemoans that she, Jem’s mother, isn’t doing more to help him. Mary wonders whether there might be a way to spare Mrs. Wilson from having to testify and resolves to ask Mr. Bridgnorth about it.
Mary tries to help Mrs. Wilson as well as Jem, thus revealing not only her love for Jem but also her practical goodness and moral uprightness.
Themes
When Mrs. Davenport returns from church, Mary goes to fetch Alice’s doctor to check on Mrs. Wilson as well as Alice. The doctor comes, intimates sadly that Alice will soon die, and then examines Mrs. Wilson. Afterward, the doctor—unsure what Mary wants to hear—says that it’s natural for Mrs. Wilson to be weak after the shock of her son Jem having murdered Harry Carson. Angrily, Mary tells the doctor that people who know Jem are sure he’s innocent.
The doctor’s casual claim that Jem murdered Harry reinforces the readers’ sense that Jem is in real danger of execution: most bystanders seem to assume that the romantic intrigue among Harry, Jem, and Mary—though it’s only circumstantial evidence—is enough to confirm Jem’s guilt.
Themes
Mary asks whether Mrs. Wilson is healthy enough to travel to Liverpool. When the doctor says yes, Mary bursts into tears and admits she’d hoped Mrs. Wilson was too weak to travel. The doctor, rather confused, says of course travel might be a risk. Mary eagerly asks him for a certificate saying as much that she could give to a lawyer. The doctor agrees that she can come get a certificate from him any time. Then he leaves. Afterward, Mary visits Job to explain what she’s done. Job worries that it may harm Jem somehow if Mrs. Wilson doesn’t testify and says he’ll ask Mr. Bridgnorth.
In her eagerness to help Mrs. Wilson, Mary persuades the vacillating doctor to excuse her from testifying at Jem’s trial. This incident shows Mary’s practical morality and goodwill toward others, but it may also reveal her legal naivety, as Job worries that Mrs. Wilson’s non-appearance at the trial might hurt Jem’s chances of acquittal.
Themes
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