A major theme in Cranford is leading a rich and fulfilling life without the presence of men. The first sentence of the novel refers to the small rural village of Cranford as “of the Amazons” (4), an allusion to the Greek mythological race of female warriors. The comparison is in one sense humorous because the Cranford women certainly do not possess the physical prowess and strength of the Amazon warriors. However, the Cranford women live in a feminist utopia in their little village—a place where widowed and single women are free to live life as they choose without the interference of a husband.

In mid-to-late 19th-century England, men and women played very different societal roles. In their patriarchal society, the man assumed the role of the provider, protector, and head of the family. Middle- and upper-class women were not given any responsibilities besides mothering children and maintaining a clean and respectable household. In Cranford, the women do pay careful attention to domestic details, but they do it for themselves, not to appease a husband. As an unnamed Cranford woman remarks to Mary in Chapter 1, “A man […] is so in the way in the house!” (5).