48 pages • 1 hour read
Elizabeth GaskellCranford
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1853A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
The Village of Cranford
Mary Smith may be the novel’s narrator, but the fictional village of Cranford itself acts as the novel’s protagonist. Cranford, a small rural pocket outside the industrialized city of Drumble, almost seems like a fantasy that exists in a realm of its own, untouched by the modernized city a mere 20 miles away. The village of Cranford symbolizes pre-industrial England and the era of rural aristocracy. Instead of bustling with industrial innovation and the rise of capitalism, Cranford is bustling with female camaraderie and a collective dedication to their old ways.
The first major event that points to Cranford’s function as a symbol of the old era is the death of Captain Brown. The women of Cranford may turn a blind eye to the drastic changes happening outside their walls, but they can’t stop the changes from gradually invading their peaceful pastoral space. The Cranford women “vehemently petitioned against” the “obnoxious” railroad that neighbors their little town (9), their disdain symbolic of their resistance to change. When Captain Brown is “killed by them nasty cruel railroads” (33), the Cranford women are shocked and devastated. His death symbolizes the Cranford women’s fear of the rapid industrialization of the world outside their little village, but like a speeding train, they can’t stop change in a progressing society.
Literature
Literature acts as a motif illustrating the tension between the old and the new, the traditional and the modern. Men in Cranford often read literature that is more modern; Captain Brown reads the work of a young Charles Dickens. Captain Brown and Miss Jenkyns’s literary dispute symbolizes Cranford’s resistance to modernization. Miss Jenkyns scoffs at Captain Brown’s argument that Dickens’s The Pickwick Papers is superior to the writing of Dr. Samuel Johnson, a highly renowned and established author and scholar of the 18th century. She primly responds that Dickens “is young. Let him persevere, and who knows what he may become if he will take the great Doctor for his model?” (18). Though the Cranford women come to accept Captain Brown into their community, Miss Jenkyns never lets go of her literary grudge against the captain, even after his death. When her mind is ailing and she is on her deathbed, she remarks that “poor Captain Brown was killed for reading that book by Mr Boz” (45). Captain Brown was killed by a train—another symbol of modernization—as he was reading The Pickwick Papers, which suggests to Miss Jenkyns that modern innovation will ruin or tarnish Cranford’s safe, comfortable rural lifestyle.
Miss Matty’s former suitor, Mr. Thomas Holbrook, is another example of a man with a penchant for new and original works of literature. Mary notes during their visit to Mr. Holbrook’s estate that he has a vast collection of books that he seems to have chosen “in accordance with his own tastes, not because such and such were classical or established favourites” (64). He has “all kinds” of “poetry and wild weird tales prevailing” (64). Yet he can quote from the classics as well, from Shakespeare to George Herbert, showing that he is well-rounded and open to a wide range of literature. Mr. Holbrook is a traditional man who doesn’t like the “newfangled ways” (65), but his book collection suggests there is some appreciation for the new and the imaginative. He reads Lord Tennyson’s famous poem “Locksley Hall” (1842) aloud to the ladies, a fairly new poem at the time of Cranford’s publication. Although Mr. Holbrook abides by tradition in many ways, his book collection signals that he might be more open to change than someone like Deborah, who will only read what is old and familiar.
Clothing
Clothing acts as a symbol for the Cranford women’s unique identities. Each of the Cranford women has a slightly different sense of style that represents some facet of their identity. Miss Jenkyns, Cranford’s matriarch, wears “a cravat, and a little bonnet like a jockey-cap” (26), an ensemble that verges on masculine. Her attire represents her status as the leader of Cranford, a role she successfully fills without the assistance of any man. In contrast to Miss Jenkyns’s conservative style, Miss Pole’s style is more garish. Mary notes that one time Miss Pole wore seven brooches, variously attached to her cap, her scarf, her collar, and her gown. Miss Pole is the most outspoken member of the Cranford community, so it makes sense that her clothing would be the most ostentatious. Miss Matty’s style is more unusual, as evidenced by her disappointment that Mary’s gift to her of a “pretty, neat, middle-aged cap” is not the sea-green turban she was hoping for (159). Miss Matty comments that the cap is “just like the caps all the ladies in Cranford are wearing, and they have had theirs for a year,” but admits that she “should have liked something newer” (159). Matty’s choice of clothing reflects her independent, more open-minded way of thinking, which often runs counter to the rigid or even close-minded Cranford ideals.
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By Elizabeth Gaskell
