What is A Room With A View about?

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What is A Room With A View about, in your opinion? What methods does

E.M. Forster use to convey this message to the reader?

A Room With A View is about the social change occurring in England in

the early 20th century, post Queen Victoria's death. Darwin had just

published his book on the theory of evolution which was the catalyst

for the introduction of more liberal and secular ideas into a

conservative and religious England. In order to explain this process

of change, Forster likens it to the Renaissance, which is why it is

significant that A Room With A View begins in Italy. The problem with

a rapidly changing society is that members of that society do not

necessarily know how to behave because the boundaries are changing and

this is what Forster is trying to portray in A Room With A View.

Every character in the novel can be categorised into one of two

groups, the Victorian/Medieval characters and the 20th

Century/Renaissance characters. Certain characters symbolise different

periods. However, Forster is skilful enough to make these characters

realistic which is why they are capable of contradiction; for quite a

few characters, the reader believes that they belong to one of these

groups but then their behaviour is suddenly contrary to that group

thus confusing the reader as to what period they symbolise.

For example Miss Bartlett is immediately perceived by the reader as a

'Victorian' because in the first chapter she refuses Mr Emerson's

generosity because she feels it would be improper to accept. However

at the end of the novel, the reader is made aware that Miss Bartlett

purposefully does not interrupt a conversation between Lucy and Mr

Emerson, perfectly aware that he could persuade Lucy to admi...

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...es, where people believed in love, but despise

those defied convention to marry for love.

His novel is successful at doing this because it glorifies passion and

impulsiveness; he mocks those symbolising convention such as Cecil, Mr

Eager and Miss Bartlett and endorses those that represent love and

liberalisation. Cecil doesn't just represent convention he also

represents 'culture'. Lucy and George marry in the end to everyone's

surprise because it is Forster's hope to encourage romance. Although

Forster's novel is dealing with specific events occurring in English

history it never the less remains a novel which is still enjoyed today

because it deals with the universal theme that love conquers all. The

characters are creations that live today just as they did as when the

novel was first published, because they are so realistic and familiar

to the reader.

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