Cranford

Thus far I have found Cranford to be a very intriguing and perplexing story. What I found most interesting about the first few chapters is the emphasis on the “rules” of Cranford. Even within the first few pages there is references to the rules that the residents of Cranford must follow. On the second page of the text the narrator goes over the “rules and regulations for visiting and calls.”(2) The rules for calling are very strict one must “never let more than three days elapse between receiving a call and returning it.”(2) I think the concept of a rule oriented lifestyle is a very common aspect of spinsterhood. It is very important to the ladies of Cranford to have everything in order and always look their best in every situation. Generally spinster characters live by a stringent set of rules that the larger society has decided unmarried women must live by. However, there are also some women who deliberately choose not to get married and defy the rules of society by choosing to live in solitude. The rules laid out by the women of Cranford seem to be rules that have been made to undermine and even control the free choice a woman may have. The narrator describes the Cranford society as having rules about nearly everything. There are rules concerning how one must dress, eat, talk etc. I feel there is a direct correlation between spinsterhood and a life full of rules, however I do not believe the author is strictly commenting on the rules as they apply to spinsters. It seems to me there is a deeper commentary on the way in which society treats women as a whole and in many parts it seem as through Gaskell is poking fun at the very lady like women of Cranford.