Critical Analysis Of E. M. Forster's Howards End

Inheritance, Industry, and Exclusion:

Concerns of England in The New Millennium With the turn of the 20th century, the English grew more distant from their connection to English land and nature and focused their efforts on production, industrialization, and capitalism. Country houses were frequently shut up, while London estates were torn down to make room for condos and new industry. This loss of estate changed English sensibility towards an industrious future, leaving the traditional old England behind. These changes are analyzed in E.M. Forster’s Howards End with a focus on inheritance. Who will inherit England? Will the new generation preserve English identity or destroy it? The question of inheritance is also gender specific: men are

Wilcox is charmed by Margaret, but she does not fit into her world. “There was no bitterness in Mrs. Wilcox; there was not even criticism; she was loveable, and no ungracious or uncharitable word had passed her lips. Yet she and daily life were out of focus: one or the other must show blurred” (Forster 65). When Mrs. Wilcox spends time with Margaret and her friends, she finds that she cannot keep up. She also does not share their modern beliefs, such as women should be a part of the political world. She is attached to the old ideas of England and her country house Howards End. R.N. Parkinson states in his critical analysis of the novel: “We know that the house is a spiritual as well as a material inheritance. Possession of it—or, more properly, possession by it—denotes imagination as well as sympathy: the house ensures the sentiments of the past which help to give meaning to the present” (Parkinson 59). Mrs. Wilcox’s sense of belonging is to her house and her heritage, she is attached in both spirit and physically to her past and her ancestors. She senses Margaret’s appreciation for this sentimentality, which moves her to choose Margaret to inherit Howards End, rather than her own

“In contrast with London, where homes are built and torn down according to the whims of capitalism, Howards End is understood to be part of that old, infinitely more authentic England” (Alghamdi 173). The countryside of England becomes more deserted as people move towards areas of industry and money-making. English people like Mrs. Wilcox remain attached to the earth and their heritage, not ready to embrace the emerging world. The pull of Howards End and all its history, enchants the sentimental characters in the novel, especially Margaret. This connection to nature is a part of English heritage that changes, but is not destroyed by the new