Cranford

“In the first place, Cranford is in possession of the Amazons; all the holders of houses above a certain rent are women.”

The first sentence of the novel compares the Cranford women to the Amazons, the mythological race of female warriors known for their fierceness, strength, and independence. The allusion contributes to the novel’s theme of female independence. The Cranford women are proud of their female-led village and firmly believe that men aren’t necessary to their society. While they have limited financial means, their power comes from their female camaraderie.

“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.