Shirley

Hollow’s Mill on the Fieldhead estate is one of the primary settings of the novel and a symbol of progress and the effects of the Industrial Revolution. The failing textile mill acts as an ideological and literal battleground for the local factory workers and businessmen of Yorkshire. At the beginning of Shirley, Robert locks himself inside the mill as he awaits the delivery of new machinery, separating himself from the outside world and those who want to do him harm. After his machines are destroyed, Robert meets with the perpetrators and other workers he has laid off at the mill, having the ringleader arrested and rejecting the pleas of one of his most honest workers. The mill is a symbol of Robert’s own frustration and his closed-minded attitude at this point. The mill becomes a literal battlefield when two hundred men try to break in and destroy it, in turn destroying many of Robert’s prized machines. Yet Robert cares for the mill above all else and is prepared to take on these men once they break through the gates. Moreover, Robert has great plans for the mill once the business starts improving and once he and Shirley, the owner of the land, become in-laws (i.