A Period Of Great Change In Howards End

The twentieth century seen the world go through some very important changes. Major industrial-technological and societal changes occurred. The world was beginning to shrink as it become increasingly easy to reach faraway locations in the world. discuss trains etc. During this time Forster wrote on a range of things… Another of Forster’s novels that deals with personal relationships is ‘A Passage to India’. However, within this novel personal relationships and ideas having been carefully entwined with each other to give the other a deeper meaning. While it deals with ideas and causes, it does not do them as explicitly as his other novels. Note basically personal relationships are one of the most dominate themes within Forsters writing however he has to entwine ideas and causes to give his work a certain level of depth.

Edward Morgan Forster began writing just after the end of the Victorian Era/ beginning of the Edwardian Era. The context of his most famous novel, ‘Howards End’ is set during this time in the first years of the twentieth century in England. During this time there were a great many changes that allowed Britain to advance into one of the strongest Empires in the world. During this time the world was going through some extraordinary changes that changed how humans live and operate their lives. This was a period of great cultural, political, scientific and industrial change. How the world operated, and the way people interacted with each other took a major spin. Society changed and this brought great tension between groups of people. Traditional cultures and values began to collapse and were replaced by modern almost alien actions in a new and modern world.

In Forster’s writing, personal relationships do take on a special predominance in telling his story. However, I believe he could not have given his characters the believability if he made them passive and unaware of the changing world around them these personal relationships would have little depth is they were not presented against a significant back cloth of ideas and causes that were happening in the world around them. In this essay I plan to present a range of examples demonstrating the characters engaging in personal relationships, and how the ideas and causes gave these relationships a certain meaning and depth… I plan to look at Forster’s most famous novel, ‘Howard’s End’, ‘Passage to India’ and … to demonstrate my point…

Need to discuss how pr are dominant.

‘Howard’s End’ is one of Forster’s most notable piece of work because of its exploration of society when tensions were beginning to build as traditional society, culture and value faced extinction in place of Modern culture. Along with the combination of forward thinking, ‘Howards End’ has remained relevant in today society. Why. Within the novel we look at three families from different backgrounds and learn how they interact with each other in this new and changing world. Personal relationships are prevalent within this novel due to the family connections each character has. A particularly interesting idea within this early twentieth-century novel is the personal relationship between Helen and Margret. This relationship is modeled on Forsters own personal relationship with the Stephen sisters from the Bloomsbury Group. They have had to look after each other and their younger brother since the death of their parents, maneuvering their way around a man’s world and in doing so defied social expectations in 1900s Britain. Their strong personal relationship is emphasized at certain points in the novel, particularly when Henry and Margret learn of Helens pregnancy. Henry’s reaction…QUOTE leads to a significant outburst from Margret as she jumps to defend her only sister. This is significant because instead of agreeing with what her husband thinks she is illustrating her own personal thoughts on the situation and men… quote. This is a remarkable statement to make within early 1900’s literature, but it indicated Forster’s understanding of the changing position of women in society. They were no longer voiceless people etc. Instead they were thoughtful, intelligent people with an understanding of their changing position in society. In this time women still had very few rights and were expected to follow a stereotypical role that included marrying and bearing children for their husband, in that order and pass any wealth or land to their husband. The females in Howards end do not live up to these expectations through a range of actions.

Through their personal relationship, they can live up to important causes such as the moving position of women in 20th century Britain.

Margret and Helen oversee their family with no male leading them. Their family is led by Margaret with no males to insist they go a certain way. This throws the gender roles into question in Howards end. The actions and words of Helen and Margaret

They are presented as thoughtful and intelligent with their own ideas of society and how it should function.

They are outspoken, this is demonstrated when Helen attacks Henry… ‘No one has ever told you what you are – muddled, criminally muddled’ (p300). These replies may seem insignificant when reading them today but writing them in 1910 was a significant leap for a male author who was aware of the advancement of women. b

moving position of women that Forster addresses. By presenting Margaret and Helen as major characters that are both thoughtful and intelligent, Forster is giving them the traits that were uncommon of females in 20th-century literature. In general society, men were permitted to act and say as they wish without having to face the consequences. This is evidenced in Henry’s…

Forster is highlighting within his novel that if the old world (in this case the Wilcoxes) are unwilling to move forward into the modern world they will be left behind in their old world with nothing.

It has been described as a ‘condition of England novel’.

Class distinction- Helen having a child with a lower-class man and no personal relationship throwing out traditional views

Another of Forster’s novels that deals with personal relationships is ‘A Passage to India’. However, within this novel personal relationships and ideas having been carefully entwined with each other to give the other a deeper meaning. While it deals with ideas and causes, it does not do them as explicitly as his other novels. This novel takes a different perspective on personal relationships. Each relationship or friendship within the novel is a jagged one, through these jagged relationships Forster is able to present important causes and ideas in the 1920s. Written in 1924, just when there were signs that the colonial presence in India was coming to an end…

Due to this, the dynamic between and Indians was very hostile leaving little room for personal relationships to develop. Forster is able to craftily hide important ideas and causes behind tense relationships. Because of this, ‘A Passage to India’ has been described as “the most comfortable and even conventional of Forster’s novels” (Trilling). This description helpfully guides us into an understanding of the novel. Forster stated, ‘when I began the book, I thought of it as a little bridge of sympathy between East and West’. The

Within this novel personal relationships hold a special significance as they determine the characterisation …

Immediately into the novel questions whether or not personal relationships will succeed … it is built on a firm foundation of personal relationships and these are very complicated.

However, Forster has stated that “personal relationships are determined by the environment and circumstances” around them. The ideas and causes that Forster runs along with the relationship allows the reader to reach finality in their understanding that