In the previous blog post, we looked at Margaret Hale’s search for home. But what about John Thornton’s yearning for home? Although Thornton isn’t tossed from house to house like Margaret, isn't he also—in a way—searching for a satisfying sense of home? His quest has nothing to do with location. His search is an almost unconscious desire for a more expansive sense of purpose and deeper personal satisfaction.
His life of work-work-work needs balance. He’s been working hard to build up his mill non-stop for quite a number of years.
I find a conversation he has with Mr. Bell about life-balance and motives intriguing and very endearing:
Mr Bell: “I wonder when you Milton men intend to live. All your lives seem to be spent in gathering together the materials for life.”
Mr Thornton: “By living I suppose you mean enjoyment.”
“Yes enjoyment, - I don’t specify of what, because I trust we should both consider mere pleasure as very poor enjoyment.”
“I would rather have the nature of the enjoyment defined.”
“Well! Enjoyment of leisure — enjoyment of the power and influence which money gives. You are all striving for money. What do you want it for?”
Mr. Thornton was silent. Then he said, “ I really don’t know. But money is not what I strive for.”
“What then?”
“It is a home question. I shall have to lay myself open to such a catechist, and I am not sure that I am prepared to do it.”
I love this answer! Mr. Thornton’s motive in all his work has essentially been to establish a home for his family. This makes sense when you realize what he has been through. His father’s death threw the family out of their home years ago. John has been a rock of security for his family ever since.
But Mr. Bell has hit a soft spot, hasn’t he? And Thornton really has no answer as to why he continues to work so hard, accumulating more wealth. He has been on autopilot for years, spending his efforts on creating a successful and efficient business that will secure comfort and a worthy position for his family.
We do see him, however, take a small step toward slowing down his business-driven life to do something for himself, to take some time for enrichment. Thornton is genuinely interested in reading the ancient classics with Mr. Hale—an expenditure of time of which his mother disapproves. His interest in doing this suggests that he is looking for something deeper and broader than just managing a mill and accumulating wealth. He has finally reached a level of financial security that allows him a sense of freedom to consider what might be missing from his life.
And then Margaret sweeps into his world, and—lo and behold—she appears to have all the qualities of strength and self-confidence he admires AND a mesmerizing blend of gentler qualities that he didn’t even realize he was longing for: tenderness, beauty, and compassion. Margaret’s powerfully presented perspectives open Thornton’s rather closed mind and heart to consider new possibilities. Margaret throws his rigid train of thought off track and stirs up emotions in him like nobody else! She really makes him start to recognize that there may be more to life than what he’s been living!
Then when Thornton comes to tea, he studies the sweet bond of teasing affection between Margaret and her father with a strong yearning for the same open, tactile affection. He feels the warmth and intimacy of the Hale’s more casual and country decor: fruit in bowls for consumption, books left open, worn furniture. At his home, everything is perfectly arranged and immaculate. His mother, although she loves him dearly, creates a home that reflects her strict sense of order.
There’s a very specific comparison of the two homes in the book. Here’s how Margaret perceives the Thornton home, which she feels has an effect of “icy, snowy discomfort.”
There was no one in the drawing-room. It seemed as though no one had been in it since the day when the furniture was bagged up with as much cares as if the house was to be overwhelmed with lava, and discovered a thousand years hence….Everything reflected light, nothing absorbed it….Wherever she looked there was evidence of care and labour, but not care and labour to procure ease, to help on habits of tranquil home employment; solely to ornament, and then to preserve ornament from dirt or destruction.
Thornton is aware of the chilliness of his own home, for he is quite affected by noticing the very different details of the Hale’s little drawing-room.
Somehow that room contrasted with the one he had lately left…[which] was twice—twenty times as fine; not one quarter as comfortable. Here there were no mirrors, not even a scrap of glass…[but] a warm, sober breadth of colouring, well relieved by the dear old Helstone chintz-curtains and chair covers….there was a stand with a tall white china vase, from which drooped wreaths of English ivy, pale green birch, and copper-colored beech-leaves. Pretty baskets of work stood about in different places: and books…lay on one table, as if recently put down….It appeared to Mr. Thornton that all these graceful cares were habitual to the family; and especially of a piece with Margaret.
It would seem he wasn’t really noticing the decor at all…
Mr. Thornton is becoming dissatisfied with the restrictive atmosphere of the home his mother has created. He is yearning to push beyond his mother’s limited ambitions and views. He feels the compulsion to be free to learn and grow, to consider new habits and concepts of purpose. Although Hannah Thornton admires and worships her son, she doesn’t really allow him to expand or express himself in any new way. She doesn’t understand his desire to study the classics or his interest in creating a kitchen for the mill workers.
It is Margaret’s compassion for the mill workers that compels Thornton to think more deeply about his influence over his workers’ lives, and opens his heart to higher motives. Eventually, it becomes all-important to Thornton to continue to explore possible ways that masters and workers can work together to improve business and quality of life.
It would be inevitable that Thornton would want to live in a home where his motives are understood, appreciated, and encouraged. He would like to live surrounded by the support of his family—to have a peaceful place to consider wider responsibilities and a more expansive care for the world around him.
He’s also longing for that warmer sense of home he found in the Hales’ drawing-room, a more openly affectionate and relaxed kind of home. He’s missing softness, touch, tenderness, intimacy. He wants his life to be filled with more expressive and personally tangible love.
Of course, all of these softening qualities that Thornton is reaching for are embodied in Margaret. His home will never be complete without her. He sees in her all that he wants to make a satisfying and endearing sense of home. He wants her to love him and make his home a warm center for affection and care.
John Thornton’s search for “home” is a search for a deeper and more expansive sense of love as well as for a personal longing to love and be loved. He works toward expanding his sense of purpose and care with the mill workers, but without Margaret for his wife, he believes he will never have the ideal home he envisions.
This makes the final moments of the story so rewarding. The last line of the film captures perfectly the joy that overcomes Thornton when he realizes his search for a love-filled home is over:
“You’re coming home... with me?"