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John Barton
Jem Wilson, son of Mr. George Wilson and Mrs. Wilson, nephew to Alice Wilson, is a passionate, brave, guileless young man who has been in love with Mary Barton since childhood. Early in the novel, he proves his bravery by saving his father and another trapped worker from Mr. Carson’s burning mill. After Mr. Wilson dies, Jem becomes his family’s breadwinner. Upon receiving a promotion at work, he decides that he is financially able to support a wife and proposes to Mary. When she refuses him, he begs her to reconsider, claiming—rather disturbingly—that Mary’s rejection could turn him into an alcoholic or a murderer. When she still refuses him, he flees—too quickly to hear Mary, who has just realized she loves him after all, calling after him. Shortly after, out of nowhere, he is approached by Mary’s estranged aunt Esther, who begs him to protect Mary from “ruination” by mill owner’s son Harry Carson. When Jem approaches Harry to ascertain whether Harry’s intentions are honorable, the young men get into a physical altercation. Shortly thereafter, Harry is shot with Jem’s gun. Jem refuses to tell the police that he lent the gun to John Barton because he doesn’t want to implicate Mary’s father. During Jem’s trial, Mary proclaims her love for him. After Jem is acquitted due to an alibi provided by Will Wilson, he and Mary get married and immigrate to Canada with Mrs. Wilson, where they have a son named Johnnie.
Jem (James) Wilson Quotes in Mary Barton
The Mary Barton quotes below are all either spoken by Jem (James) Wilson or refer to Jem (James) Wilson. 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:
).
Chapter 3
Quotes
So with this consciousness she had early determined that her beauty should make her a lady; the rank she coveted the more for her father’s abuse; the rank at which she firmly believed her lost Aunt Esther had arrived.
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Chapter 6
Quotes
“Tell me, Margaret,” said Mary, taking her apron down from her eyes, and looking at Margaret with eager anxiety, “what can I do to bring him back to me? Should I write to him?”
“No,” replied her friend, “that would not do. Men are so queer, they like to have a’ the courting to themselves.”
Chapter 11
Quotes
What were these hollow vanities to her, now that she had discovered the passionate secret of her soul? She felt as if she almost hated Mr Carson, who had decoyed her with his baubles. […] She had hitherto been walking in grope-light toward a precipice; but in the clear revelation of that past hour she saw her danger, and turned away resolutely and for ever.
For, be it remembered, she had the innocence, or the ignorance, to believe his intentions honourable; and he, feeling that at any price he must have her, only that he would obtain her as cheaply as he could, had never undeceived her[.]
Chapter 22
Quotes
The corner of stiff, shining, thick, writing paper she recognised as a part of the sheet on which she had copied Samuel Bamford’s beautiful lines so many months ago—copied (as you perhaps remember) on the blank part of a valentine sent to her by Jem Wilson, in those days when she did not treasure and hoard up everything he had touched, as she would do now.
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Chapter 32
Quotes
I don’t know that he exactly used the term vengeance in his thoughts; he spoke of justice, and probably thought of his desired end as such[.]
Chapter 34
Quotes
“You’ve set up heroine on your own account, Mary Barton. How did you like standing witness?”
Chapter 35
Quotes
The eyes of John Barton grew dim with tears. Rich and poor, masters and men, were then brothers in the deep suffering of the heart; for was not this the very anguish he had felt for little Tom, in years so long gone by that they seemed like another life!
Chapter 37
Quotes
“You say our talk has done no good. I say it has. I see the view you take of things from the place where you stand.”
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Jem (James) Wilson Quotes in Mary Barton
The Mary Barton quotes below are all either spoken by Jem (James) Wilson or refer to Jem (James) Wilson. 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:
).
Chapter 3
Quotes
So with this consciousness she had early determined that her beauty should make her a lady; the rank she coveted the more for her father’s abuse; the rank at which she firmly believed her lost Aunt Esther had arrived.
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 6
Quotes
“Tell me, Margaret,” said Mary, taking her apron down from her eyes, and looking at Margaret with eager anxiety, “what can I do to bring him back to me? Should I write to him?”
“No,” replied her friend, “that would not do. Men are so queer, they like to have a’ the courting to themselves.”
Chapter 11
Quotes
What were these hollow vanities to her, now that she had discovered the passionate secret of her soul? She felt as if she almost hated Mr Carson, who had decoyed her with his baubles. […] She had hitherto been walking in grope-light toward a precipice; but in the clear revelation of that past hour she saw her danger, and turned away resolutely and for ever.
For, be it remembered, she had the innocence, or the ignorance, to believe his intentions honourable; and he, feeling that at any price he must have her, only that he would obtain her as cheaply as he could, had never undeceived her[.]
Chapter 22
Quotes
The corner of stiff, shining, thick, writing paper she recognised as a part of the sheet on which she had copied Samuel Bamford’s beautiful lines so many months ago—copied (as you perhaps remember) on the blank part of a valentine sent to her by Jem Wilson, in those days when she did not treasure and hoard up everything he had touched, as she would do now.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 32
Quotes
I don’t know that he exactly used the term vengeance in his thoughts; he spoke of justice, and probably thought of his desired end as such[.]
Chapter 34
Quotes
“You’ve set up heroine on your own account, Mary Barton. How did you like standing witness?”
Chapter 35
Quotes
The eyes of John Barton grew dim with tears. Rich and poor, masters and men, were then brothers in the deep suffering of the heart; for was not this the very anguish he had felt for little Tom, in years so long gone by that they seemed like another life!
Chapter 37
Quotes
“You say our talk has done no good. I say it has. I see the view you take of things from the place where you stand.”
