The Old Nurse's Story

What literary strategies does Gaskell employ to establish Hester’s authority as a narrator?

Analyze how Gaskell’s language suggests that she is educating London readers, or a “southern” audience about life in the north of England.

We know that this tale first appeared as part of one of Charles Dickens’s “Christmas Numbers” for his popular periodical Household Words. Given that context, draw on elements in the story to explore how we might see it as a “Christmas story.”