Cranford

“For keeping the trim gardens full of choice flowers without a weed to speck them; for frightening away little boys who look wistfully at the said flowers through the railings; for rushing out at the geese that occasionally venture into the gardens if the gates are left open; for deciding all questions of literature and politics without troubling themselves with unnecessary reasons or arguments; for obtaining clear and correct knowledge of everybody’s affairs in the parish; for keeping their neat maidservants in admirable order; for kindness (somewhat dictatorial) to the poor, and real tender good offices to each other whenever they are in distress, the ladies of Cranford are quite sufficient. ‘A man,’ as one of them observed to me once, ‘is so in the way in the house!’”

The long-winded structure of this passage’s first sentence emphasizes the Cranford women’s commitment to even the most minuscule or trivial of details. Following the lengthy sentence with a short, pithy exclamation that men are “so in the way in the house” reflects the Cranford women’s belief that men are too simple-minded to attend to such details.

“I imagine that a few of the gentlefolks of Cranford were poor, and had some difficulty in making both ends meet; but they were like the Spartans, and concealed their smart under a smiling face. We none of us spoke of money, because that subject savoured of commerce and trade, and though some might be poor, we were all aristocratic.”

Gaskell employs another allusion in comparing the Cranford women to the Spartans: warriors of one of the most powerful city-states in Ancient Greece. The Cranford women, regardless of their financial difficulties, stand strong and proud like they are aristocrats of the old era. The passage also hints at the tension between tradition and modernization, as the Industrial Revolution would pit a rising capitalist class against the gentry and aristocracy who had traditionally wielded power in England.

“‘Elegant economy!’ How naturally one falls back into the phraseology of Cranford! There, economy was always ‘elegant’, and money-spending always ‘vulgar and ostentatious’; a sort of sour-grapeism which made us very peaceful and satisfied.”

“Elegant economy” is one of Cranford’s most important rules and plays a pivotal role in Cranford society. The Cranford women are morally opposed to wastefulness—from wasting money to wasting time. More than just a habit, “elegant economy” is a mindset that encompasses the Cranford women’s ability to transform their low incomes into elegant simplicity and practicality.

“Death was as true and as common as poverty; yet people never spoke about that, loud out in the streets. It was a word not to be mentioned to ears polite.”

A common theme in Cranford is the women’s longing for a life they could have had. The Cranford women spend all their time obsessing over trivial matters and actively avoiding talking about or participating in major life events such as marriage and death. Their avoidance of these topics reflects the nature of Cranford—the women live in their own bubble, hidden from the outside world of modernization and change.

“Miss Jenkyns wore a cravat, and a little bonnet like a jockey-cap, and altogether had the appearance of a strong-minded woman; although she would have despised the modern idea of women being equal to men. Equal, indeed! she knew they were superior.”

Miss Jenkyns’s attire is symbolic of her status as Cranford’s matriarch, a role analogous to the leadership position that a man would traditionally fill. Miss Jenkyns’s clothing reflects this gender reversal, as cravats and jockey-caps were traditionally part of a man’s wardrobe. Miss Jenkyns believes in tradition, but not when it comes to gender roles—women are not simply equal to men but superior.

“My next visit to Cranford was in the summer. There had been neither births, deaths, nor marriages since I was there last. Everybody lived in the same house, and wore pretty nearly the same well-preserved, old-fashioned clothes. The greatest event was, that Miss Jenkyns had purchased a new carpet for the drawing-room.”

Cranford seems to exist in its own static bubble, safe from the outside world of innovation. The Cranford women pride themselves on their sustainability, which also contributes to a noticeable lack of change and progression. So little changes in Cranford that when Mary returns to Cranford, the only “great” event that took place in her absence is that Miss Jenkyns bought a new carpet.

“Many a domestic rule and regulation had been a subject of plaintive whispered murmur to me during Miss Jenkyns’s life; but now that she was gone, I do not think that even I, who was a favourite, durst have suggested an alteration.”

Mary shares in the beginning of Chapter 3 that Miss Jenkyns has died—a surprising turn of events seeing as how Miss Jenkyns played such an important role as the Cranford matriarch in Chapters 1 and 2. Gaskell didn’t originally plan to continue Cranford beyond Chapters 1 and 2, which may explain why she replaced Miss Jenkyns with Miss Matty as the novel’s dominant Cranford woman. Despite her death, however, Miss Jenkyns’s presence influences the rest of the novel through Miss Matty, who still clings to her older sister’s rules and ideals.

“‘It is very pleasant dining with a bachelor,’ said Miss Matty softly, as we settled ourselves in the counting-house. ‘I only hope it is not improper; so many pleasant things are!’”

Miss Matty is one of the few Cranford women who hints at her longing for what might have been had she taken the more traditional route and gotten married and had children. In contrast to a character like Miss Pole, who is outspoken about her disdain for men and marriage, Miss Matty finds many things that Cranford women deem “improper” pleasant. Her wistfulness regarding Mr. Thomas Holbrook reflects the novel’s theme of nostalgia.

“I did not know whether he was speaking to me or not; but I put in an assenting ‘wonderful’, although I knew nothing about it, just because I was tired of being forgotten, and of being consequently silent.”

Mary’s annoyance at being forgotten during her walk through the gardens with Mr. Holbrook is an ironic—perhaps even meta—commentary on Mary’s role as the novel’s narrator. She states that she is tired of being silent, which is ironic since she reveals so little about herself in her recounting of events in Cranford. Mary occasionally drops a line about her father or makes a quippy comment that reminds readers that she is still present, but her unobtrusive narration makes Cranford the focus of the narrative, not her.

“I never knew what sad work the reading of old letters was before that evening, though I could hardly tell why. The letters were as happy as letters could be—at least those early letters were. There was in them a vivid and intense sense of the present time, which seemed so strong and full, as if it could never pass away, and as if the warm, living hearts that so expressed themselves could never die, and be as nothing to the sunny earth. I should have felt less melancholy, I believe, if the letters had been more so.”

Time is not always linear in Cranford, such as when Mary reads the letters or when Miss Matty tells the story about her poor brother Peter. The episodic style of Cranford lends the eponymous town a sense of timelessness, as if the small rural village of Cranford and its residents exist in their own dimension of time and space. When Mary reads Miss Matty’s letters, she is taken back to when the letters were written, reflecting the novel’s theme of nostalgia.

“In short, we were evidently to be feasted with all that was sweetest and best; and we thought it better to submit graciously, even at the cost of our gentility—which never ate suppers in general, but which, like most non-supper-eaters, was particularly hungry on all special occasions.”

Never eating supper even though they are always hungry is a perfect example of how the Cranford women’s rules and manners often border on absurd. The Cranford ladies detest waste of any kind, but there are times when their obsession with wastefulness gets in the way of living a fulfilling life, even if it’s just eating a nice meal at supper time.

“If the heads were buried in smart new caps, the ladies were like ostriches, and cared not what became of their bodies. Old gowns, white and venerable collars, any number of brooches, up and down and everywhere (some with dogs’ eyes painted in them; some that were like small picture frames with mausoleums and weeping willows neatly executed in hair inside; some, again, with miniatures of ladies and gentlemen sweetly smiling out of a nest of stiff muslin), old brooches for a permanent ornament, and new caps to suit the fashion of the day—the ladies of Cranford always dressed with chaste elegance and propriety, as Miss Barker once prettily expressed it.”

The Cranford women repeatedly emphasize the importance of elegance and simplicity, so it is ironic that their clothing appears to be anything but elegant and simple. Their ostentatious style of dress (especially Miss Pole, who wears multiple brooches) symbolizes their idiosyncrasies. The Cranford women take their rules very seriously, even when it makes them look silly to an outsider.

“As to astronomy, in a private and confidential conversation, she had told me she never could believe that the earth was moving constantly, and that she would not believe it if she could, it made her feel so tired and dizzy whenever she thought about it.”

Miss Matty’s confusion over the Earth’s rotation works on two levels; it emphasizes Matty’s lack of life experience and also reflects the static nature of Cranford. Miss Matty, along with most of the women in Cranford, has seen little of the world outside their small rural village. In Cranford, almost nothing changes, so it is hard to believe that the Earth continues to spin, even for those who live in Cranford.

“And now her theory was this: the Cranford people respected themselves too much, and were too grateful to the aristocracy who were so kind as to live near the town, ever to disgrace their bringing up by being dishonest or immoral; therefore, we must believe that the robbers were strangers—if strangers, why not foreigners?—if foreigners, who so likely as the French?”

The Cranford community is wary of outsiders to the point of xenophobia, as in the case of Signor Brunoni. Before the women know that the conjurer is actually an Englishman named Samuel Brown, they believe him to be a foreigner due to his broken English. When there is an outbreak of crime, the Cranford women jump to the conclusion that Signor Brunoni or the French must have something to do with it. It isn’t until they see that Signor Brunoni is not only an Englishman, but an injured (and therefore dependent) Englishman that they accept him into their community.

. “‘Well!’ said Miss Pole, sitting down with the decision of a person who has made up her mind as to the nature of life and the world (and such people never tread lightly, or seat themselves without a bump), ‘well, Miss Matty! men will be men. Every mother’s son of them wishes to be considered Samson and Solomon rolled into one—too strong ever to be beaten or discomfited—too wise ever to be outwitted. If you will notice, they have always foreseen events, though they never tell one for one’s warning before the events happen. My father was a man, and I know the sex pretty well.’”

As Cranford’s most outspoken resident, Miss Pole often tends to be short-sighted in her judgment. Her declaration that “men will be men” is a humorous denunciation of the entire male sex. She claims to know men very well because her father was a man—a logical fallacy that highlights the difference between her and someone like Miss Matty, a Cranford resident who isn’t always fond of men but often wonders what it would be like to have one in her life.

“Miss Matty and Miss Pole had been visitors on this occasion for many years, and now they gallantly determined to nail their colours to the mast, and to go through Darkness Lane rather than fail in loyalty to their friend.”

The Cranford ladies may fuss over superficial or trivial matters like gossip and etiquette, but there is one thing they care about more, and that is their steadfast loyalty to one another. The Cranford women put aside their fear of the supposed robberies in order to be by their friend’s side. This courage in the face of fear underscores the theme of female independence. The women do not need a man to be their protector—they can protect each other.

“But when she was gone Miss Pole began a long congratulation to Miss Matty that so far they had escaped marriage, which she noticed always made people credulous to the last degree; indeed, she thought it argued great natural credulity in a woman if she could not keep herself from being married; and in what Lady Glenmire had said about Mr Hoggins’s robbery we had a specimen of what people came to if they gave way to such a weakness; evidently Lady Glenmire would swallow anything if she could believe the poor vamped-up story about a neck of mutton and a pussy with which he had tried to impose on Miss Pole, only she had always been on her guard against believing too much of what men said.”

Marriage is looked down upon or feared in Cranford, but no one openly detests marriage more than Miss Pole. Miss Pole is a caricature of the “strong, independent woman” who serves both as comic relief and as an example of what happens when the Cranford women’s stubbornness becomes a liability. Miss Pole’s aversion to men and marriage seems to go beyond a longing for independence and instead leads to close-minded thinking where she is too proud to admit when she might have been wrong.

“‘Not to any particular person, my dear,’ said she, hastily checking herself up, as if she were afraid of having admitted too much; ‘only the old story, you know, of ladies always saying, “When I marry,” and gentlemen, “If I marry.” It was a joke spoken in rather a sad tone, and I doubt if either of us smiled.’”

Miss Matty is the novel’s most poignant example of a character who, while she isn’t unhappy with how her life turned out, regrets what might have been. Miss Matty is afraid to admit that there is a part of her that wishes she had married Mr. Holbrook and had children. Her fear of breaking the Cranford “rules” contributes to the novel’s theme of nostalgia, underscoring her longing for the life she could have had.

“I don’t know whether it is a fancy of mine, or a real fact, but I have noticed that, just after the announcement of an engagement in any set, the unmarried ladies in that set flutter out in an unusual gaiety and newness of dress, as much as to say, in a tacit and unconscious manner: ‘We also are spinsters.’”

Mary notices that the Cranford women cheerfully hurry out to buy new clothing when someone becomes engaged, as if to announce their status as “spinsters.” Their clothing may reflect their celebration of their independence while another woman is, in their eyes, giving hers away by marrying a man.

“We began to talk of Miss Matty’s new silk gown. I discovered that it would be really the first time in her life that she had had to choose anything of consequence for herself: for Miss Jenkyns had always been the more decided character, whatever her taste might have been; and it is astonishing how such people carry the world before them by the mere force of will.”

Miss Jenkyns’s presence still very much shapes the novel after her death. Miss Matty’s dependence on her older sister’s opinions continues long after she is gone, emphasizing the weight of Miss Jenkyns’s influence over not just her sister but all of Cranford. Miss Matty’s dedication to her older sister’s ideals reflects the novel’s theme of fear of change.

“I don’t mean to deny that men are troublesome in a house. I don’t judge from my own experience, for my father was neatness itself, and wiped his shoes on coming in as carefully as any woman; but still a man has a sort of knowledge of what should be done in difficulties, that it is very pleasant to have one at hand ready to lean upon.”

Miss Matty, often timid and unsure, is always anxious about how others may perceive her. Even so, Miss Matty shows in brief but pivotal moments that she has a mind of her own and can defy Cranford conventions. Miss Matty doesn’t believe that a man is necessary for a fulfilling life, but she can see how having a man could be helpful and even at times pleasant.

“She did so wish she was rich, she said, and this wish she kept repeating, with no thought of herself in it, only with a longing, yearning desire to be able to heap up Miss Matty’s measure of comforts.”

The women of Cranford are women of limited financial means. Even so, they all volunteer to donate some of what little money they do have to help Miss Matty, a friend in need. Mrs. Forrester’s wish to be rich purely so she could offer Miss Matty more encapsulates what Cranford is all about: kindness and loyalty to one’s friends above all else.

“But my father says ‘such simplicity might be very well in Cranford, but would never do in the world’. And I fancy the world must be very bad, for with all my father’s suspicion of everyone with whom he has dealings, and in spite of all his many precautions, he lost upwards of a thousand pounds by roguery only last year.”

There is a kindness and simplicity amongst the Cranford community that is hard to find outside the small village. The novel may occasionally poke fun at the absurdity of the Cranford women and their unspoken rules, but the way the ladies of Cranford rally together to help Miss Matty, even giving up some of what little income they have, suggests that Gaskell wants to leave readers with a fondness and appreciation for the fictional rural town where friendship and kindness prevail.