This post contains major spoilers.
A Room with a View by E.M.
Forster is the story of Lucy Honeychurch. Like other works that I have read
from Forster, this is a story about people striving for and struggling to make human
connections. Having previously read both a Passage
to India and Howards End, I found
a lot of parallels in this book.
Lucy is full of life and beginning to appreciate the diversity inherent
in the world and in people. The novel opens in Florence, Italy, where she and her
friend Charlotte Bartlett are visiting as tourists. There she encounters a host
of other English travelers and expatriates.
Among them are Mr. Emerson and his son George Emerson. The older of the
men is intelligent, dynamic and empathetic, but in the terminology of our
present day, he would be called verbally unfiltered. He speaks what is on his
mind to the consternation of the book’s more conservative characters. Thus, he is often a driver of major and minor events.
George is moody and depressed but is also philosophical.
Eventually Lucy and George become attracted to one another. Though she
will not admit it to herself, the pair falls in love. Socially, it seems that
the two would make an unacceptable couple due to the Emersons’ odd nature. Thus,
Lucy flees Florence in an attempt to get away from George.
Later in the narrative, Lucy returns home to England. Lucy becomes engaged
to Cecil Vyse, a man who is cultured and who is a lover of art and
literature. Unfortunately, Cecil is also priggish and stifling to Lucy. When George
moves into the same neighborhood that Lucy lives in, complications ensue.
Like Forster’s A Passage to India,
but to a much lesser degree, this novel contains several transcendental moments
for the characters. These moments revolve around the common theme of understanding
a certain meaningless to life and an ensuing leap to find meaning. However, unlike
A Passage to India, which contained
in depth metaphysical musings, this work only touched upon such higher
intellectualizing. My commentary on that novel is here. My opinion in regards to A Room with a View is that it presents a lot of ideas that were
present in Howards End as well as in A Passage to India, but that they are
less developed here. I remember that those books contained more sophisticated
musings relating to several themes, including Forster’s favorite, the value and
difficulty in striving for human connections.
Like I often do, I would like to devote a few words to a particularly
interesting and insightful, but fairly minor, point in the narrative.
After a talk with George, Lucy comes to understand that Cecil is boorish,
cold and a terrible match for her. She decides to break off the engagement.
As is illustrated in Howards End, as
well as in a Passage to India,
however, Forster is all about people with differences attempting to connect and
coexist. It turns out that Cecil is more thoughtful than is initially apparent.
At being informed by Lucy that she is breaking off the engagement, he responds,
"…I fell to pieces the very
first day we were engaged. I behaved like a cad... You are even greater than I
thought." …"I'm not going to worry you. You are far too good to me. I
shall never forget your insight; and, dear, I only blame you for this: you
might have warned me in the early stages, before you felt you wouldn't marry
me, and so have given me a chance to improve. I have never known you till this
evening. I have just used you as a peg for my silly notions of what a woman
should be. But this evening you are a different person: new thoughts— even a
new voice—"
Nothing like this came from Cecil earlier in text. However, it is apparent
that Lucy never voiced criticism of his behavior before. It seems that Forster
is illustrating the tragedy of missed opportunity here. It is not at all clear
that Cecil would be capable of change, and even if he were, Lucy is in love
with George. However, I think that Forster is leaving open the possibility that
he might have gained by constructive criticism. The author never depicts
connections as easy, and folks attempting to connect and understand what is
different often run into all kinds of trouble, as is illustrated in this failed
relationship. All of this adds so much complexity and nuance to this work.
This is a very worthwhile book. The themes, of which I have only
scratched the surface of above, are intriguing. Several of the characters,
including Lucy and the Emersons, are well crafted, complex and interesting. The
story is compelling. Though perhaps a little less far along in terms of
developed themes than Forster’s later novels. This is an entertaining and very
compelling book.
