Cranford - Chapter VII

[Silver]

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[Janice (JG)]

I'm fascinated by the assignment of gentility to a house and its tenants because of who might previously have lived there... in this case the house inhabited by Mrs. Fitz-Adams, which had once housed the spinster daughter of an earl, and therefore might give Mrs. Fitz-Adams a higher ranking. It also might give her 'unusual power of intellect' because the earl's daughter's brother-in-law (who did not live in the house) had written a couple successful plays, which somehow the residents of Cranford felt personally responsible for.

Is this typical of British class thinking of that (or any other) era? Or is the narrator just poking fun at all the protocol bound up in class structure?

[Deborah, Moderator]

Janice George wrote: "I'm fascinated by the assignment of gentility to a house and its tenants because of who might previously have lived there... in this case the house inhabited by Mrs. Fitz-Adams, which had once hous..."

I was fascinated by this as well. And can't wait to see what the answer to your question may be. The ownership of the home is noted along with a great deal of information on the lineage of the tenant that brought the dignity to the property. Very interesting.

I enjoyed the women secretly trying the brandy, and enjoyed even more Mrs Jameson's snores. Remarkable that the hostess was complimented by this occurrence instead of frustrated by it. Also enjoyed how the brandy makes Mrs. Jameson more talkative as she lets the cat out of the bag about her visiting relative.

[Karel]

Ok, I´m getting the hang of the humor in this novel. Sometimes it seems like the narrator is just telling the events as they were, and sometimes it seems like she is openly mocking the Cranford ladies. I smiled at the part when Matty is with two hats (Does anyone know how this hats looked like? I want to see them) and worried about the cards players while Miss Betty was only concerned with the fact that all the ladies should be aristocrats (of some sort at least).

[Karel]

Oh! and I would like to see how the "hood" looked like too. In my spanish copy is "capota" which translation is "hood" but I dont know which exact word Gaskell used.

[Deborah, Moderator]

Karel wrote: "Ok, I´m getting the hang of the humor in this novel. Sometimes it seems like the narrator is just telling the events as they were, and sometimes it seems like she is openly mocking the Cranford la..."

Karel there is a link in one of the threads (I don't remember which) which does show what the hats looked liked. Gaskell uses the word caps most often in reference to the women's hats. But there is also a turban (can't remember which chapter).

[Karel]

Thanks! I will certainly check it out later (Im in a lecture haha)