In this conclusion I draw together my arguments for choosing two underexplored themes in Elizabeth Gaskell’s short stories: fathers and travel. I expand on my contextualisation of the theme of failed fathers by considering the century-long contemporary discourse around masculinity and the complexity and volatility of nineteenth-century debates about what constituted manliness and masculinity. I argue that this complex intermix of unstable cultural ideas is used creatively by Gaskell to demonstrate the fragility of home and family life and to challenge gendered norms. I further explore disrupted domesticity by linking women’s travel to modernity and change, building on the work of Wendy Parkins. The return to the boundaries of domestic confinement from the stimulation of travel and the positive act of recording new experiences are intimately connected with a sense of self, an active self with a purpose in the external world.