"Howards End" by E.M.Forster

One of the brightest representatives of British literature on the verge of 19th and 20th centuries, Forster depicted the life during fin de siecle, the transition from Victorian era to more modernised and technological 20th century. "Howards End" is an exquisitely successful description of the social issues of the time through the lives of three families - aristocratic Schlegels, bourgeois Wilcoxes and poor Basts. 

"Howards End" as a novel

"Howards End" crowns the first period of E.M. Foster's literary activity which means it was written by a young artist and consequently it is very idealistic in many ways. the idea this book reveals seems way too optimistic still it has the right to exist and the outer representation of this idea is perfect (I mean the style, the atmosphere and the plot of the book).

Although it is not an epistolary novel, it does start with letters. Helen Schlegel writes to her sister Margaret describing her visit to Howards End - the estate of the Wilcoxes whom the sisters met during their trip to Germany. Several letters about nature and weather, the house and the Wilcoxes are followed by a short note telling that Helen is in love with the younger son of the family, put just a fact, without explaining any reasons or consequences.

This note triggers the story of interaction between the two British classes which becomes the base for the plot.

Howards End as a house

I suppose everybody knows already that Howards End is a symbol of the whole country and the question "Who will inherit Howards End?" in this novel is similar to another one - "Who will inherit England?" But (I am not sure if it was the intention of the author) it has also become a symbol of home for many characters of the novel. A big wych-elm tree, vine on the red brick walls of Howards End, a huge hall which is a room itself, the smell of hay - all this small details create a marvellous picture of an old country house and become very familiar and dear to the reader by the moment has finished the novel. Everything begins in Howards End and everything ends in it as if the house has some power of bringing people together when they need that most.

The Schlegels vs The Wilcoxes

In this novel Forster presents two families - the Schlegels and the Wilcoxes, people of art and people of business. Those are in author's opinion two major classes of English people an the future of the country depends on them.

The Schlegels are educated people, literature, music, painting are of vital importance to them, they have their own opinion about certain philosophical ad social ideas and are much concerned about their inner lives.

The Wilcoxes are much less complex, they don't care about something they can't touch, see or hear, and abstract notions do not exist for them at all. However they are honest and hard-working.

Forster's preferences are evidently on the side of the Schlegels but he quite realizes that the society consisting of Schlegels only would not survive. The society full of Wilcoxes on the contrary could function economically but would not move forward. That is why the author uses the epigraph "Only connect..." Only if these two types of people unite the England will have a prosperous future.

There is also a third family - the Basts representing lower classes of the society but they are not of much importance for the author as they don't ave much influence upon the society. However they are a part of it and it is necessary to "connect" with them too, only in quite another way for sure.

Victorian Age vs Technical Progress

Aside from speculations about the connections within the social systems of England Forster takes interest in the technical progress as well. In "Howards End" old values of Victorian Age and changes introduced to the life of people by technical progress exist side by side. We can observes how the picture of London changes day by day - the buildings get higher, the cars - more numerous and here and there old mansions are replaced by blocks of flats. But the influence of old morals is very high - just remember he episode when Leonard walks along Regent Street and people cast strange glances on his jut because he has no hat on.

Charity to no one's benefit

The last and not unimportant topic which the author touches upon is charity. On the example of Schlegels and Basts he tries to show that charity is not always for the better especially when people don't want it. Trying to help Leonard and his wife Margaret and Helen Schlegel only ruin their lives even though they just wanted to help. The problem was that Leonard didn't really want his life to be changed although maybe it was not the life that he wanted but the most important is that he was satisfied with it and Schlegels had no right to interfere.

All in all I enjoyed this novel, it was a great picture of the beginning of 20th century, the author managed to show the social pyramid of England and mention all the important social trends of the time.