From Chapter 27, pages 276-277:

All went well — she did not dislike her own looks; and when she came to the necklaces again, her good fortune seemed complete, for upon trial the one given her by Miss Crawford would by no means go through the ring of the cross. She had, to oblige Edmund, resolved to wear it — but it was too large for the purpose. His, therefore, must be worn; and having, with delightful feelings, joined the chain and the cross, those memorials of the two most beloved of her heart, those dearest tokens so formed for each other by everything real and imaginary — and put them round her neck, and seen and felt how full of William and Edmund they were, she was able, without an effort, to resolve on wearing Miss Crawford’s necklace too. She acknowledged it to be right. Miss Crawford had a claim; and when it was no longer to encroach on, to interfere with the stronger claims, the truer kindness of another, she could do her justice even with pleasure to herself. The necklace really looked very well; and Fanny left her room at last, comfortably satisfied with herself and all about her.

Tony Tanner, in his introduction to Mansfield Park, offers an astute interpretation of Fanny Price’s amber cross and the two gold chains given to her by Edmund and Henry Crawford. He notes that “she is persuaded to wear Henry’s (just as they are trying to force her to accept him as a husband), but fortunately it will not go through the cross” (24). Continuing, Tanner suggests that, in joining Edmund’s “simple” chain to her brother William’s gift, “the two tokens of the two people she loves most are linked together round her neck when she leads her first ball: and in that moment the final emotional situation at the end of the book is foreshadowed” (24). While Tanner’s observations are convincing, he neglects, perhaps for brevity, several other symbolic effects of the amber cross and the sense of satisfaction Fanny feels at this point within the text. First, it is notable that both Edmund and Henry try to win Fanny’s affection through William. Second, the symbol of the cross itself can be interpreted as the intersection of both families and time whose junctions spin the narrative in new directions. Next, the mythic symbolism of amber — as sap-frozen tears — points to both Fanny’s initial sadness upon arriving at Mansfield Park and how, eventually, that place becomes solidly her home. And, finally, the fitting of Edmund’s chain contributes to the Cinderella-story, as though she has found her lost slipper and her prince.

If there exists a key to Southerton’s wilderness gate, or a key to a young woman’s heart, then for Fanny that key rests with her brother, William. Separated when she leaves to live with her aunt and uncle at Mansfield Park, William seems the solitary link to Fanny’s past and identity which she gradually transfers, or perhaps, improves. Fanny and William are connected by a bond of family and love and, as both Edmund and Henry notice, a connection to William might bring a closer link to Fanny. The chains which Edmund and Henry give Fanny represent that link as they aspire to win her love through her love for William. This moment is not the first in which William figures to be a way to Fanny’s happiness. For, in her first days at Mansfield, it is Edmund who enables Fanny to write her brother — in this act, Edmund becomes Fanny’s trusted friend and secret love. Henry, on the other hand, seizes upon Fanny’s love her William through manipulation. First, since he is neither relative nor allowed by propriety to give Fanny gifts, he uses the friendship of his sister Mary to give her the chain, which Miss Crawford immediately notes was a gift to her from Henry. Later, he uses his connections to his uncle, the admiral, to obtain a lieutenantship for William as though that gift would endear him to Fanny. For Edmund and Henry, the chains function to connect them to Fanny’s heart.

Apart from its religious symbolism, the cross evokes the image of two divergent worlds in intersection. At Mansfield Park, as visitors, suitors, and families arrive and depart, the cross represents the junctions of time which sets the direction of the narrative and the lives of its characters. These moments of connection, whether they be the arrival of the Crawfords, Maria’s engagement to Rushworth, Fanny’s own appearance at Mansfield Park, Yates’ play, or even Henry’s adultery, demonstrate how one’s lives are deeply connected to those of another. The cross shows how two individual paths in time meet, even for but a moment, which dictate how the future unfolds. In that sense, Mansfield Park is very much a railway station of time. Yates and Julia meet at Mansfield; they later elope. During play rehearsals, Henry’s advances to the then engaged Maria foreshadow their eventual affair. Fanny herself meets Edmund whom she marries. The cross reveals the union of a person’s timeline with another at that moment they connect.

As Fanny’s cross is made of amber, it recalls the Greek myth of Phaeton who asks his father, Apollo, to drive the Sun chariot. Coming too close to the earth, it is set ablaze and in saving the world, Zeus strikes Phaeton dead with a lightning bolt. After a time his three sisters, the Heliades, went in search of his grave. When they found it, they vowed to stay with their dead brother and wept day and night. Their wasting bodies took root and became covered with the bark of the surrounding trees; their arms turned to branches and eventually, the three were transformed into trees. Their tears continued to flow, and as they hardened in the sun, turned to amber.

One might argue that the amber cross signifies, as it does for the Heliades, Fanny’s love for her brother. However, it is the hardening of tears that connect the myth to Mansfield Park. Since her arrival, Fanny’s tears have had various agents: her separation from family, her being patronized by the Miss Bertrams, her Aunt Norris’ contention that she should never forget that she is low, and a sense of alienation towards the society of Mansfield Park. Yet, as Fanny puts on her cross and chain, for the first time, she is “complete” (277). She gains a sense of completeness and confidence. She recognizes that she is, taking root, a part of Mansfield — that it is her home. Her own tears, as though baked into amber, have solidified her identity and membership into the world of Mansfield Park.

Austen’s novel has a Cinderella quality to it with its odious Mrs. Norris cast as the wicked stepmother, the Miss Bertrams as the sisters who get to attend the balls and whom are courted by rich suitors, and Fanny as a Cinderella who must stay home and make tea. The fitting of Edmund’s chain to Fanny’s cross mirrors the fitting of Cinderella’s foot to the lost slipper. For Cinderella, the match means she is to marry the prince. For Fanny, the match foreshadows her marriage to Edmund who, as the younger son of Sir Thomas, is prince to Mansfield Park. The union is meant to be. Fanny’s connection to the cross through Edmund also commits her to his life within the clergy.

In the symbol of the cross, Fanny discovers herself, recognizes that she is a part of Mansfield Park, and finds a husband whom she has always loved. The mating of Edmund’s chain to her amber cross fulfills the intersection of Fanny’s past, present, and future lives whose destinies seem now fixed, like the setting of sap, in perfect unity.