How To Answer the Question "How is ‘The Cage at Cranford’ by Elizabeth Gaskell Representative of a Victorian Literary Work"

This question is asking for you to engage with the history of Gaskell’s writing as well as with the given text itself. Incorporating knowledge of other texts that may have influenced Gaskell in her writing of this story, including her own previous works, is another way you can contextualise and add to the reading and analysis of ‘The Cage at Cranford’. In this introduction, I have written a very short preview listing in order what I will be discussing in my essay, showing an understanding of the literary history of that time period, and mentioning a previous Gaskell text that I will repeatedly be referring to:  Engagement with the past and the attempt to reconcile it with the industrial present; boundary crossing as a comic phenomenon; dealing with bereavement and loss; these are some of the themes that the literature of the Victorian era is preoccupied with. ‘The Cage at Cranford’ is a continuation of the way that Cranford deals with these themes. It suggests change in the town’s attitudes towards some of them, and comic fixedness in its dealings with others. Then, I follow with my paragraphs on each theme. The structure of these paragraphs is as follows. 1. Outline theme and point of paragraph. 2. Add one or two pieces of contextual information that add to our understanding of the theme being discussed. 3. Use evidence from our main text and analyse it in accordance with the theme of the paragraph. Sometimes, focusing on one device, such as the instances of repetition in the text, helps to have a focused analysis. 4. Throughout my evidence and analysis, I make small references to Cranford, Gaskell’s previously published novel, almost a ‘prequel’ to this story, to show how the treatment of these themes and devices has evolved, also peppering in small mentions of historically accurate information that adds to this understanding and analysis. 5. Come to an evaluating mini-conclusion about how the text treats this theme. 6. Repeat this structure for each paragraph/theme that I write on, always using points 1, 3 and 5. Points 2 and 4 are used only when they are relevant and actually add to the essay to make an interesting point/exploration. This is shown here: The Cranford ladies find it difficult to accept a co-existence of the picturesque past and the commercial present. The scientific advances of the time created a deep anxiety in a lot of people about the price or meaning of that progress, and an uncertainty of knowing that these advances were movements in uncharted waters. In the case of ‘The Cage at Cranford’, the past can be seen to be depicted as the female sphere of provincial Cranford itself, whereas the male sphere of global industrialisation is representative of the ever-changing present. These two realms are juxtaposed in this story, in which fashion is a changing, male-dominated and global marketplace that the ladies remain out of touch with. The story’s proceedings are set off by a male arrival, Mr. Ludovic, and from the first page the reader is told by Mary that ‘there is such a thing’ as ‘too fashionable’. A male arrival being the catalyst for yet another confusing communication with the outside world, and an admission that yet again the modernisation of the fashion industry does not suit Cranford, aligns the males of this story with the global world and a part of the dominant economy of which Cranford is outside.This is repeated for the amount of points that you'd like to make! Writing a conclusion is equivalent to writing a more in-depth introduction, and driving your evaluation home. Most times, it’s a space to add every mini conclusion that you’ve made at the end of each paragraph into a cohesive, big picture that answers the main question of the essay. Sometimes, while writing, you may even make some new links that you hadn’t thought of before – which can also be incorporated into your conclusion! In mine, I reiterate the judgements I had come to in previous paragraphs, making sure to reference the continuation between Cranford and ‘The Cage at Cranford’, and how that affects or is affected by the themes explored. With this, I answer the essay question definitively. This is shown here:  Therefore, Gaskell depicts the co-existence of the sexes necessary to the co-existence of the past and the present; they are not mutually exclusive and must be reconciled in the Victorian mind to be rid of anxiety. She suggests that there has been significant progress towards that sentiment, but it is still difficult for some to accept and they provide the comedic content for this story. While the exploration of this conflict in Cranford causes tragic loss to the Jenkyns family, in ‘The Cage at Cranford’ it allows redemption and relief for not only Peter, but also the reader. With the exploration of these themes of bereavement, women’s relation to men, and the reconciliation of the past and the present as well as a preoccupation with the past in a comic light, ‘The Cage At Cranford’ can be argued to be a work that is not wholly but greatly representative of the literary work of the Victorian era.