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Alice Wilson
Wife to Mr. George Wilson and mother to Jem Wilson, Mrs. Wilson is peevish in small matters but open-hearted in large ones. She suffered a factory accident in her youth that left her with permanent pain and a bad temper. She is frequently spiteful to Mary Barton because she resents Mary for spurning her beloved Jem, who she believes is too good for Mary. Yet once Mary realizes she loves Jem and the two plan to marry, Mrs. Wilson has a change of heart: she comes to love Mary as her own daughter and treats her with uncharacteristic tact and tenderness. When Mary and Jem immigrate to Canada, Mrs. Wilson accompanies them.
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Mrs. Wilson Character Timeline in Mary Barton
The timeline below shows where the character Mrs. Wilson appears in Mary Barton. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1
...John Barton and his weeping, pregnant wife, Mrs. Barton, run into friends, Mr. Wilson and Mrs. Wilson , carrying their twin babies. Mr. Wilson greets John and asks, in a near whisper,...
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Chapter 4
...friends. Jem Wilson gets work at an engineering firm that makes various machines. Mr. and Mrs. Wilson are always praising Jem to Mary—which, she knows, is because he’s silently in love with...
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Chapter 7
...are gravely ill, she goes to visit the Wilsons. Upon entering their house, she sees Mrs. Wilson tending to one deathly ill child while Alice minds the other’s corpse. Alice quietly tells...
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While Mr. Wilson and Mrs. Wilson lay out the bodies upstairs, Alice tells Mary that Jem will be miserable when he...
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Chapter 8
After the visitors have left, John mentions to Mary that Mrs. Wilson has been looking very sickly—though she hasn’t been strong since a factory wheel damaged her...
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Chapter 10
One evening, John asks whether Mary has gone to see Mrs. Wilson and scolds her for not having done so sooner. Mary decides to visit the next...
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Mrs. Wilson , weeping, recollects to Mary what a good husband Mr. Wilson was and how handsome...
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...wife. Though Mary enjoys hearing Jem praised, she blushes and looks piqued. Seeing Mary’s irritation, Mrs. Wilson —annoyed at Mary for not visiting, and thinking Mary inferior to Jem—lies a little to...
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Chapter 11
...has enough money to support a wife, and though their home would have to include Mrs. Wilson and Alice, such arrangements are common among the poor. He knocks on the Bartons’ door,...
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Chapter 12
...believes that Mary will have second thoughts about rejecting him. Only his duty to support Mrs. Wilson keeps him from joining the army or drinking himself insensible. Meanwhile, Harry insists on believing...
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Margaret asks whether Mary has visited Mrs. Wilson recently. Mary says no, explaining that Mrs. Wilson was very annoyed with her on her...
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The next day, Mary visits Mrs. Wilson , who tells her that Alice has gone to the post office looking for a...
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Chapter 17
...back. She went and told Mrs. Davenport what happened, and Mrs. Davenport tended Alice while Mrs. Wilson fetched a doctor. Job laments that Will left just before this happened. Job and Margaret...
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Chapter 19
The next morning, Mary rushes to see Alice before work. At the Wilsons’ house, Mrs. Wilson and Mrs. Davenport say Alice’s condition hasn’t changed, and the latter shows Mary into Alice’s...
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...thinks they are moving too slowly. That afternoon, someone knocks on the Wilsons’ door. When Mrs. Wilson answers, a policeman disguised in workers’ clothes shows her a gun and asks whether it...
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Though the policeman feels a little sorry for Mrs. Wilson , he takes what he’s learned to the superintendent, and soon the police arrest Jem...
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Chapter 20
...about Harry harassing her and that she might see Jem. When she enters, she sees Mrs. Wilson cooking and asks to help. Mrs. Wilson, furious, demands whether Mary knows where Jem is...
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Though Mrs. Wilson is somewhat appeased by Mary’s self-criticism, she reasserts that if Jem is executed, his death—and...
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Chapter 22
...remembers something about Jem escorting Will partway to Liverpool. Mary immediately resolves to go ask Mrs. Wilson about it.
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When Mary reaches the Wilsons’, Mrs. Wilson announces that Jem’s trial is on Tuesday, bursts into tears, and says she’ll blame his...
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Chapter 23
...silent dinner together. Afterward, Job asks whether Jem has a lawyer. Margaret says he doesn’t— Mrs. Wilson is too distraught, though she’s convinced Jem is innocent.
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...Jem. Margaret suggests that perhaps Mary relies too much on the claim of the distraught Mrs. Wilson that Jem was with Will that night, given the evidence against him: his fight with...
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Chapter 24
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...
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In the morning—it’s now Sunday— Mrs. Wilson wakes and asks Mary whether all her troubles have been a dream. Mary quietly says...
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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...
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Mary asks whether Mrs. Wilson is healthy enough to travel to Liverpool. When the doctor says yes, Mary bursts into...
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Chapter 25
...an evil influence, Job tells Mary that Mr. Bridgnorth thinks it might look bad if Mrs. Wilson doesn’t testify but that if she’s too sick to travel to Liverpool it can’t be...
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Job suggests, in that case, that he should go find Will while Mary and Mrs. Wilson travel together afterwards. Mary hates this idea because she doesn’t trust Job or anyone to...
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Chapter 30
Job goes to the house where Mrs. Wilson is staying and admits that Will has sailed but that Mary went after him to...
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...think what else to do, Job goes back to the lodging house where he and Mrs. Wilson are staying. When Mrs. Wilson asks him whether he found Will, he decides to lie...
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Chapter 32
...to court, where the judge, lawyers, and various spectators have gathered. Job still hasn’t let Mrs. Wilson know he lied about finding Mary and Will; as he enters the court, a clerk...
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...room to look for Mary. He finds her with her head in her arms and Mrs. Wilson sobbing nearby—suggesting that someone has told Mrs. Wilson about Will. Job returns to the courtroom,...
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...him. Finding his voice, he asks, “Where is she?” People lead him to his mother, Mrs. Wilson , who embraces him and says they couldn’t possibly have convicted him after she described...
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Chapter 33
...suggesting Alice will die soon; he proposes that he watch over Mary while Jem accompanies Mrs. Wilson and Will back to Manchester to see Alice. When Jem wants to protest, Job tells...
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...Job, guessing Jem’s thoughts, tells him he has to trust in God. Jem returns with Mrs. Wilson and Will to Manchester, where Alice—still convinced she is back in her childhood—diffuses a peaceful...
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...that John were home. Jem, silently, does not concur. Jem asks Margaret to look after Mrs. Wilson while he is in Liverpool. Margaret doesn’t want to spend too much time at the...
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Once Jem and Mrs. Wilson are alone at home—Will having retired to a bedroom—Jem announces that he plans to return...
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When Mrs. Wilson complainingly asks why Jem can’t just stay home and out of trouble, a frustrated Jem...
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Jem goes to visit Margaret. When he tells her about his conversation with Mrs. Wilson , she comments gloomily that he’s hoping for an engagement on Alice’s funeral day: “the...
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Chapter 34
...place; if she doesn’t come find him in half an hour, he should go to Mrs. Wilson . When Jem protests her coldness, she tells him she loves him as much now...
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...and Job’s again. There she runs into Jem, who lovingly asks her to come visit Mrs. Wilson . She says must return to her father.
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Chapter 35
Jem persuades Mary to visit Mrs. Wilson before going home. When they arrive, Mrs. Wilson is annoyed that Jem didn’t come home...
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After the visit to Mrs. Wilson , Jem and Mary walk to Mary’s house. When they arrive, Mr. Carson and Job...
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Chapter 36
...her and begin planning the funeral. When Jem returns home the evening of John’s death, Mrs. Wilson tells him Job informed her of the death and asks how John passed. Jem realizes...
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Meanwhile, Mrs. Wilson goes to visit the mourning Mary. When Mary, seeing Mrs. Wilson, begins to lament John’s...
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After this moment, Mrs. Wilson almost never vents her temper at Mary. Far in the future, Jem will learn that...
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Chapter 38
Shortly after John’s funeral, Jem finally proposes the Canada-immigration plan to Mrs. Wilson one evening, she agrees to come, saying she’s had no great affection for England ever...
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Once in Canada, Mary, Jem, and Mrs. Wilson live in a wooden cottage with a garden and an orchard. Mary and Wilson have...
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